Whisky Magazine – August 2019

48 Whisky Magazine | Issue 161

SPEYSIDE

HIGHLANDS

SCOTLAND

STRATHISLA

DISTILLERY

MacDonald Ingram & Co. in 1830.

Unfortunately, the distillery was not

to have a happy life in the 1870s when

it was almost destroyed by two separate

fires, one in 1876 and then an explosion

in the malt mill in 1879. But it picked

itself up and continued on, and even

had its own bottling plant added when

it was rebuilt.

Longmore continued to own the

distillery until his death in 1880, when

it passed to his son-in-law John Geddes-

Brown. It was under Geddes-Brown’s

steerage that the name of the distillery

was changed back to the original of

Milton. This may have been a bad move

however, as the distillery entered a five

decade period of silence shortly after.

During this time the majority of

shares in the William Longmore &

Co. Company were bought by one Jay

Pomeroy. Pomeroy wasn’t the most

honest of business men and his dodgy

dealings eventually meant the company

shut down completely.

This gave what was then Seagram’s

the perfect opportunity to swoop in

and claim this picturesque distillery

for their own, renaming the distillery

Strathisla again in 1951. They had

previously been in talks with Pomeroy

about acquiring the distillery, before

his company went bankrupt, but his

demands were too high and so they

backed out. This time when they

went to buy it, It was offered at the

reasonable price of £71,000. They

snapped it up and became part of

Chivas Brothers not long after. It has

been the spiritual home of Chivas

Regal ever since, with brand tours,

and messaging bringing their blending

prowess to life.

Fast forward a few years and in 2018

the distillery experience went through

a complete overhaul to modernise the

way the brand of both Chivas Regal

and of Strathisla interact with whisky

tourists who travel from far and wide to

visit what is undoubtedly one of the few

distilleries that all whisky nuts should

ensure they visit in their lifetime.

Ewan Hudson, head of brand homes

experience for Chivas explained

that, “The core objective of the

refurbishment was to create an

engaging, immersive experience that

focused on the art and craft of blending

and celebrated Strathisla’s history and

heritage as the oldest working distillery

in the Highlands. The new blending

room brings to life the challenges

involved in creating a super-premium

blended whisky, in a fun, intimate and

interactive way.”

The distillery really does give you

a great opportunity to get to know

whisky on a basic level, if that’s what

you are after, and then to understand

exactly what the brand and production

nuances have been evolving both past

and present. The tours are personable

and welcoming and have less of a

corporate feel than in bigger distilleries.

There are even ’secret’ tasting areas in

one of the warehouses for both Royal

Salute and Chivas Regal where you get

to sample some of their incredibly rare

whiskies straight from the cask.

“We listened closely to the feedback

from visitors which enabled us to curate

and create experiences that placed the

visitor at the heart. We were careful

to ensure that we had something for

everyone; the whisky buff, the whisky

collector and the whisky drinker but

also the historian, the shopper and

those that like a good story and a

Opening page:

Strathisla Distillery.

These pages,

clockwise from top

left picture:

The still room at

Strathisla; Casks

maturing at

Strathisla; The nearby

river; The tun room in

full effect

Distillery Experience Strathisla

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