1872In this year William Mitchell, a Campbeltown farmer, built his own distillery called Glengyle. He was already an experienced whisky distiller, having previously owned the Springbank Distillery together with his brother John, also a farmer. But the two brothers had a severe quarrel about sheep and William left to join other brothers who had established the Reichlachan Distillery. He then decided that it was better to be independent. |
1925Glengyle Distillery was sold to Highland Malt distilleries Ltd in 1919 and resold in 1924 for the princely sum of £300. Like the majority of Campbeltown distilleries the business could not survive the nationwide economic downturn which followed the First World War and production ceased altogether in 1925. The entire stock of whisky at Glengyle was auctioned off on the 8th April that year. |
1940The Glengyle distillery buildings were rented as a rifle range to the Campbeltown Miniature Rifle club before being bought in 1940 by Bloch Brothers who also bought the still functioning Scotia Distillery. Because of the restrictions of the Second World War, Sir Maurice Bloch's plans to reopen Glengyle came to nothing. |
1957A further attempt to return the Glengyle buildings to their original function was made in 1957 when Campell Henderson Ltd applied for outline planning permission to undertake a £250,000 reconstruction of Glengyle but once again plans for the reopening failed to come to fruition. |
1970By now there were no vestiges left of the distilling plant or equpment and the buildings had become the depot and sales office of the Kintyre Farmers Cooperative. The Malt kiln had become a plant for the packaging of agricultural feedstuff and the Malt floors themselves had been partitioned off into a series of offices and stores. One of the warehouses had long since been converted into a garage and it seemed inconceivable that whisky would ever again be made on the site. |
November 200075 years after Glengyle had last produced spirit a new company, Mitchell's Glengyle Limited, was formed under chairmanship of Mr. Hedley Wright with the intention of operating a completely refurbished Distillery at Glengyle. Mr. Wright is the great great nephew of William Mitchell, the original builder of Glengyle and also heads J & A Mitchell & Co Ltd., the owners of the nearby Springbank Distillery. |
December 2000Actually buying the buldings was the easy part; The Glengyle buildings were but a shell inhabited only by flocks of pigeons which made their homes amongst the abandoned agricultural machinery. The herculean task of transforming the poorly maintained, dirty, but architecturally sound Victorian buildings into a new distillery, the first of the millennium, now began. |
February 2001The clear up operation involved the disposal of the assorted plant left behind by the Kintyre Farmers Cooperative and making the empty space wind, water and pigeon-proof. Special attention had to be given to the complete removal of thick deposit left by the birds on the floor, walls and rafters. |
October 2001Althought structurally sound, the Glengyle buildings needed a year of civil restoration work to bring them up to an acceptable standard. As grade B listed buildings, like so much of Campbeltown, any restoration or renovation had to be sympathetic to the original. Buildings were re-roofed, gutters replaced, new windows and doors fitted and all the exterior walls chipped and pointed. Alterations made during the occupation by the Farmers Cooperative were reversed using matching stonework. Roof joists were replaced and new skylights put in to allow more natural light into the dark stillhouse. New concrete floors were laid and a fresh drainage system installed. |
January 2002Information was received that the stills from the former Ben Wyvis distillery at Invergordon were still in existence and available. They were examined by Mr. Hedley Wright and Mr. Frank McHardy. The pots were found to be in excellent condition though the configuration of the shoulders and necks were considered to require modification. The complete stills and condensers were brought to Campbeltown and Forsyths of Rothes were commissioned to make the alterations required. Recent alterations to and expansion of the Craigellachie Distillery on Speyside enabled the purchase a suitably sized malt mill for the smaller capacity Glengyle Distillery. |
March 2003Forsyths were commissioned to install most of the interior fittings and equipment, with the exception of the wash backs and work commenced on the drainage system and effluent disposal plant. Interior work in the still house started. |
April 2003The specially commissioned mash tun arrived at Glengyle from Glenrothes together with the mash water heaters and the draft bin. Construction of the steel framework to support the mezzanine working platform started. |
June 2003With the working platform now in place, the brick bases for the two stills were constructed by local tradesmen and the still pots positioned in their final location. Forsyths now started the final fitting of the redesigned necks carrying out part of the work at their Speyside premises and part actually on site at Campbeltown. |
October 2003By the end of the month the remainder of the distilling equipment, the condensers, low wines, feints and spirit receivers, were fitted together with the associated pipework. The spirit safe was installed and the water supply between the Crosshill Loch and Distillery was connected. |
November 2003The boiler, required for the generation of steam used in heating the mashing waters and the still heaters were fitted into its newly constructed boiler house, which is the only completely new building on the site. Final work on the draft handling equipment was carried out and the mashing machinery was completed. |
January 2004Four 30,000 litre washbacks were built on site from boat-skin larch by Arthur Brown Ltd. from Dufftown, who have also worked at Springbank Distillery maintaining and replacing similar vessels as required. The Mill Room was completed by Forsyths who installed the mill already obtained from Craigellachie. |
February 2004All the major production items are now in place and the electrical wiring was connected. Final heat insulation of the pipework was fitted. Painting of the exterior of the building and the interior plant has been ongoing since the start of the project but, like the Forth Rail Bridge, it is an unending task; but the bulk of the work is now over and the distillery now only requires a quick cleanup to be ready for production to start in March. |
March 2004The new Glengyle Distillery was officialy opened by Dr Winnifred Ewing an Mr Hedley Wright, Chairman. The first distillery to open in Campbeltown for ovr 125 years! The first distillery of the New Millenium! Perhaps it could also be called Scotland's newest old distillery for although it occupies the buildings of the original Glengyle Distillery of William Mitchell which are almost unchanged, not one item of the original production plant or machinery remains and it constitutes a completely new start for the buildings and an important landmark for the town of Campbeltown. |
May 2007Kilkerran's third birthday. The first spirit distilled at Mitchell's Glengyle Distillery legally became whisky in April 2007. To mark the occasion, guests from all over the world were invited to visit Campbeltown and enjoy a weekend of activities which culminated in a party in the distillery itself. The third birthday was a significant milestone in the resurgance of Campbeltown as a whisky region as the new Kilkerran whisky increased the number of single malts available from the area to five. To allow visitors to the distillery to find out all about the new whisky, a single cask of Kilkerran was made available in our Tasting Room - and was quickly emptied as whisky enthusiasts from all over the world came to Campbeltown to taste and buy bottles. The cask's popularity meant that it has now become a permanent fixture in the Tasting Room. |
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