I have been so busy putting together the new webiste, and going to Whisky Live, that I did not even see the news that Glenglassaugh has been purchased by BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd, which also owns the sherry monster Glendronach, and is backed by South African and Scottish capital.
The deal was completed on Friday, March 20. From the official press release:
The company are delighted to announce the acquisition of Glenglassaugh Distillery in Port Soy, Banffshire, which completed on Friday 20th March.
Glenglassaugh, one of Scotland’s oldest dating back to 1875, has been purchased from its owners, the Amsterdam-based Scaent Group. It produces a range of single malt whiskies and currently has the capacity to produce 1.1 million litres of whisky a year.
We’re really delighted to buy Glenglassaugh, a renowned Highland single malt with a rich and distinguished heritage. It’s an excellent complementary fit with our existing BenRiach and GlenDronach brands. Part of its attraction to us is that it isn’t too large for our portfolio but its potential in contributing to the group certainly is.
It’s our intention to bring this iconic distillery fully back to life by giving it the investment, commitment and care it deserves. I believe our whisky expertise, proven brand-building ability and strong routes to market will help take Glenglassaugh to the next level.
The timing is good as there is no doubt we are currently in a golden age for scotch whisky. There’s unprecedented demand for high-end brands like ours in places like ours in places like Taiwan, Scandinavia, USA, China, India, Russia, the Middle East, South Africa and South America, and we now have the fantastic opportunity to re-introduce Glenglassaugh to these markets.”
Glenglassaugh is situated on the Banffshire coast close to the village of Portsoy. Operations stopped in 1986 and re-started after Scaent bought the mothballed distillery in 2008.
Well that explains some of the new hiring and expanded production at Glenglassaugh. It is our hope that Distillery Manager Director Stuart Nickerson will remain at the helm, after doing such a great job getting the veteran Scottish team together and leading the distillery out of mothballs and out onto the open market.
