The least remarkable distillery in Scotland

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:23 pm

We read so much about whiskies being unique, the best, excellent, one-off, etc. We read of distilleries being the oldest, newest, prettest, smallest, etc. We read of ghosts and legends, anecdotes and downright lies. Craftsmanship, care, love, quality, ...
Is there a distillery out there with no claim to fame - no unique whisky - no stories or quirks - apart from being the least remarkable distillery in Scotland?

by **les taylor** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:30 pm

How about St Magdalene. It has been demolshed and it now has a block of flats on the original site. I hope I haven't missed the point.

by **Paul A Jellis** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:42 pm

Without thinking too much, how about Braeval, renamed from Braes of Glenlivet in 1996, now owned by Pernod.

The only reason I thought of them is because you asked the question, otherwise they are completly uninspiring.

by **Lawrence** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:44 pm

Some of the Dageo distilleries just toil away producing fodder for blends wiith their malts rarely seeing the light of day; Dailuaine for example. I had some of this malt both OB and IB and it's pretty good.

by **The Fachan** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:45 pm

I'll go for Caperdonich, if you dont what it is the last thing you would think of is a distillery.

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:14 pm

Dailuaine was the one I had in mind when I posted the thread but I am sure there must be a story in there somewhere.

Any other contenders for the crown? Auchroisk?

by **vitara7** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:16 pm

les - st mag's still stands, the distillery itself wasnt demolished, listed building, it did get gutted and converted into flats.

by **vitara7** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:17 pm

id say for the purpouse of this posting, prob imperial or glencadam.

by **vitara7** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:26 pm

or also, glenburgie or Allt a' Bhaine chivas dont bottle any to allow us to try it, buggers. although i did hear a rumor that one of the next chivas bottles that you can only buy at their distilleries is going to be a allt a bhaine, they done a caperdonich and aglenallachie previously...

by **Bullie** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:53 pm

Nick Brown wrote:Dailuaine was the one I had in mind when I posted the thread but I am sure there must be a story in there somewhere.

Dailuaine has got a nice train story. They've even had their own locomotive, which also was named Dailuaine. It still exists.

Dailuaine was also the first distillery to be equipped with the now so famous pagoda-style ventilators, by Mr.Doig.

by **les taylor** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:56 pm

Vitara7 wrote:-

les - st mag's still stands, the distillery itself wasnt demolished, listed building, it did get gutted and converted into flats.

Thanks Vitara7. Its nice to know the building is still there, but as a block of flats its quite unremarkable as a distillery.

by **vitara7** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:09 pm

your spot on C_I that was the main reason for diagio in keeping glenkinchie over rosebank as their lowland classic malt.
just look at tomatin, i may be wrong, but if i remember rightly, the tomatin distillery produces more whisky than any other single malt distillery in scotland, but how often do you drink tomatin whisky... it must be going to blends... to be honest, the distillery itself is bogging...

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:16 pm

Certainly the least memorable distillery is...uh....

by **les taylor** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:28 pm

Mr T wrote :-

Certainly the least memorable distillery is...uh....

That is spot on. :wink:

by **Iain** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:25 pm

Allt a Bhainne. The ultimate boring distillery.

No good stories, a recently-invented "traditional" Gaelic name, looks like a concrete box. Not sure anyone even works there full-time!

I have a bottle of the stuff (from the Castle Collection, I think) I bought at the whisky shop in Tomintoul, but I've never bothered to open it...

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:50 pm

Good point. The place reminded me of Smallcreep's Day.

by **vitara7** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:02 pm

that road to tomintoul is bleak, but i think that allt get built on the bleakest part of it... and thats saying somthing

by **TheLaddie** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:55 am

Teaninich.

Looks like a factory. No visitors centre. Little single released. Goes in Johnny Walker. Owned by Diageo. Totally unnecessary syllable in the middle.

Most interesting fact: Uses hammer mill manufactured in Belgium rather than standard roller mills. Whoop de doo...

Nuff said.

by **vitara7** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:02 am

yeh, its in the middle of an industrial estate, fits right in as well.

by **The Fachan** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:08 am

Loch Lomond also in the industrial estate, hardly inspiring

by **vitara7** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:10 am

never been to loch lomand distillery, i seen a picture of it once on there web site a couple of years back, though "thats one ugly distillery" big, but ugly.

by **Lawrence** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:30 am

I would think that 'big ugly' is in itself remarkable and thus makes the distillery remarkable.......

Also how about Glendullun? It's only recently with the MMcD bottling that's it's a little more wide spread.

by **TheLaddie** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:36 am

Lawrence wrote:I would think that 'big ugly' is in itself remarkable and thus makes the distillery remarkable.......

I can just see the marketing men now: "Tomatin: The most remarkably big and ugly distillery in Scotland..."

As for Glendullan, having the word "dull" form part of your name is trying too hard...

by **Admiral** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:18 am

Glenlossie?

Allt-a-bhaine?

Cheers,
AD

by **Wave** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:39 am

A couple distilleries I'll throw into the mix are:
Coleburn
&
Pittyvaich

Also how about Glendullun? It's only recently with the MMcD bottling that's it's a little more wide spread.

One of the very first bottles of SM I ever bought was a Glendullun 12yo (94 proof?) OB, it just hasn't been around for some time. :wink:

Cheers!

by **kallaskander** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:02 am

Hi there,

there are no unremarkable distilleries in Scotland. Linlithgow and Pittyvaich and the likes are gone as building but their remainignwhiskies are remrkable.

There are a few which have no OB bottlings and almost everything goes into blends.

And I do not think that there is a unremrkable distillery anywhere in the world.

Greetings
kallaskander

by **Deactivated Member** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:28 am

Last night I had a flash of inspiration - Deanston! So dull we didn't even think of it. And I'm sure I've never tried one of their whiskies.

by **Bullie** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:01 pm

Nick Brown wrote:Last night I had a flash of inspiration - Deanston! So dull we didn't even think of it. And I'm sure I've never tried one of their whiskies.

Oh, but Deanston has some remarkable points though. That's the only distillery with their own supply of electricity from their own turbines. They even sell some of the overproduction. Also, the view over Dun Castle must be worth a mention as well. Their 10yo is a rather big seller in the US...

I must agree with kallaskander in this question. There are no unremarkable distilleries. There are a lot of interesting facts about them all, just as long as you are willing to do some research.

by **vitara7** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:04 pm

you just need to drive past deanston distillery to know it was an old mill, nice location though, they used to have a nice hotel up the back, but not a hotel anymore.

by **Iain** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:19 pm

"I must agree with kallaskander in this question. There are no unremarkable distilleries. There are a lot of interesting facts about them all, just as long as you are willing to do some research"

Let me take you up on this and issue a challenge - can you present one or more *interesting* facts about Allt a Bhainne?

This could make for a fun series of threads - maybe a title along the lines of

"Fascinating Facts About the Xxxx Distillery".

by **TheLaddie** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:25 am

Iain wrote:"Let me take you up on this and issue a challenge - can you present one or more *interesting* facts about Allt a Bhainne?

There are no official bottlings of Allt-a-Bhainne.

Allt-a-Bhainne means "The milk burn"

by **forrix** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:33 pm

I would have to agree with the Diageo Kilmarnock site, big red plant for mass production, no history to be seen from it.