The Glasgow Distillery

By the twenty-first century Glasgow's only working distillery was the Strathclyde grain plant; Kinclaith, a small malt distillery inside it, had closed in 1975. The company says it was started by two friends in 2012 to bring distilling back to the city. ScotchWhisky.com reports that it leased a site at Hillington Business Park in 2013 and began with a single still for Makar Gin, launched in 2014.

Malt whisky production began in spring 2015. A first limited single malt followed in 2018 and the widely sold 1770 range in April 2019. In June 2018 the company announced two more copper pot stills from Carl in Germany, copies of the first pair, and seven more washbacks. Companies House shows the company incorporated in December 2012 and, since July 2022, one individual holding 75% or more of the shares.

The distillery is at 8 Deanside Road on the Hillington industrial estate, on the south-west edge of Glasgow, in the Lowland region. The company describes the site as part of the city's industrial heritage and says it has little automation, an unusually large distilling team for its size and its own cooper on site. Its water comes from Loch Katrine, the city's supply. Casks mature on site, and visitors can book small-group tours of the working plant.

ScotchWhisky.com lists four copper pot stills with boiling balls and descending lyne arms: wash stills of 2,400 litres and spirit stills of 1,400 litres, which the company has named Tara, Mhairi, Margaret and Frances. Mashes of 1.1 tonnes go through a lauter mash tun, and fermentation lasts about 72 hours in stainless steel washbacks. Peated and unpeated malt are both used, and some spirit is distilled three times. Capacity is given as 400,000 litres of alcohol a year.

ScotchWhisky.com describes the spirit as light and fruity, and says that with no historic Glasgow style to follow the founders set out to create their own "metropolitan" style. The Glasgow 1770 Signature Range has three whiskies, The Original, Peated and Triple Distilled, and the company says all are non-chill-filtered and natural in colour. A Small Batch Series shows the three styles in other casks; ScotchWhisky.com mentions port and Sauternes casks among its experiments.