Glenglassaugh Distillery: buried treasure on the Moray Coast

Picturesque fishing villages, unspoiled coastlines, fortifying local food, little shops, challenging golf courses, and, of course, distilleries. Sound like a tourist authority's dream?

It is, and then some, because the Moray coast between Aberdeen and Elgin possesses all these and is off the well-worn tourist tracks as well. It is an area often by-passed and its distilleries are seldom visited. The Moray coast is truly one of Scotland.s best kept secrets; and the now .closed. Glenglassaugh Distillery is one of its hidden treasures.

Nestled between Sandend and Portsoy, Glenglassaugh is situated with striking views of Scotland's Moray Firth. Only new warehouses and the remains of an old windmill are visible from A98, but the rest of the distillery spreads beyond the warehouse to cliffs that drop to a crescent beach below. The wind off the Moray Firth is bracing, and the view of the small fishing villa of Sandend is stunning. At first glance, new warehouses and the new distillery, constructed in 1959, do little to recommend the place and stand in stark contract to the dramatic beauty of its site. But the 1950's architecture encircles the four original warehouses, and these post war buildings serve to mask what remains of the old nineteenth century Glenglassaugh, the buried treasure at this distillery.

The day I visited Glenglassaugh these old buildings stood outlined against the cliff grass and gorse that has grown in the Moray sand for centuries. And the time spent at the distillery in the company of Iain Stothard of Highland Distillers and John Bulman, the guardian of the buildings and the whisky stocks at Glenglassaugh, would prove to be a rare day of reminiscences about whisky and distilling. We ambled slowly through buildings, admired vintage craftsmanship, lingered among timeworn equipment, nosed old whisky, examined even older casks, and talked, of course. Introductions and questions gave way to easy conversation, musings, and memories. Both Stothard and Bulman talked easily about distilling and other generations who had worked in the industry at a different time. I was in the company of two men who cared not only for whisky but for its traditions, as well.

Since the oldest buildings spoke loudest to these traditions and times, they demanded our attention and exploration before any of the others. The few original structures still remaining at Glenglassaugh make it very easy to imagine how the distillery was designed and how it would have appeared in the, largely untouched, landscape around it. The malting barn, used in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, is one of the earliest buildings to survive demolition. It stands much as it did during the early part of this century and is built of local stone at the top of an incline that, even today, leads to the coastal cliffs. The top floor of the barn was used for storage while the two long floors below appear to have been malting floors. These floors sloped to the steeps at one end where distillery workmen soaked the barley in water before spreading it on the floor to begin germination.

Even though many of the buildings no longer exist, it is possible to imagine the design of the nineteenth century distillery. Old photographs show, and Alfred Barnard.s nineteenth century description confirms, that the distillery continued down the hill with the malt kilns next to the barn; followed by the Brew House, Still House, and Spirit store. Clearly, the wagons bringing barley to the distillery discharged their loads at the top of the hill and the process flowed logically from one building to the next. The only other buildings to escape removal are a part of the maltings, now attached to the present malt storage area, and a solitary worker's home that shelters in the curve of a hill at the end of a solitary track.

Local businessmen built Glenglassaugh Distillery in 1875 on property that boasted two water mills and one windmill. Most importantly, it was a location that provided a pure source of water for distillation. Alfred Barnard in the Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom noted that a water mill supplied the power to Glenglassaugh, and the windmill actually formed an entrance to the distillery. Mary P. Mackie in The Windmill at Glassaugh. (1979) corrects Barnard by noting that the windmill 'stood at some distance from the old distillery, but the track from the distillery to Glassaugh Station went right through the windmill by the North and South arches'. Consequently, the old windmill (now derelict beside the A98) formed an impressive approach to the distillery and appeared to be an entrance, almost by default.

Highland Distillers later bought the distillery in 1892 when whisky was in high demand. Following the recession in the whisky industry in 1890, production at Glenglassaugh Distillery dropped, and the distillery closed in 1907. Although whisky production ceased, barley was still malted here to be used at other distilleries owned by Highland. In 1959, Highland rebuilt Glenglassaugh in order to meet the post-war demand for whisky. They no longer carried out malting at Glenglassaugh, but rather brought the required supplies of malt from Tamdhu Distillery where they had installed new Saladin maltings The rebuilding of Glenglassaugh included plans to bring post war technology to the art of distilling, and the design of the buildings reflected the practicality of the time.

Nevertheless, much of the refitting at Glenglassaugh still had some ties to the older distilling traditions. The mash tun was cast iron with a distinctive copper and brass cover. Initially, Corten steel washbacks were installed but later were replaced with traditional wooden ones with thin metal hoops to hold the staves. When two additional washbacks were added, however, the distillery followed the latest practice of installing ones made of stainless steel instead of wood. While the rebuilt distillery included condensers, rather than the worms that the copper stills had used previously; the stills, themselves, displayed a very traditional design. Both the wash and spirit stills had a boil ball between the tall thick necks and the sharply sloping shoulders that allowed some redistillation of the heavier flavour elements.

Some of the whisky distilled at Glenglassaugh was aged in refill sherry casks, most was aged on site, and virtually all of it was bound for the blenders. vats. It was seldom released as a single malt. In the past, Highland Distillers occasionally released their whisky as a single malt for foreign markets. Only recently, Highland gave Glenglassaugh 'centre stage' when they bottled a very distinctive 1973 vintage as part of its limited edition family 'Silver' selection. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society and other independent bottlers have offered a few bottlings, including the most recent appearance of a 1984, fifteen year old, Glenglassaugh on the Society's Winter 2000 Bottling List.

The result of these independent bottlings is a rather singular whisky. Each bottling can have unique flavours and aromas that include liquorice, florals, citrus, and fruit. But despite these variations, vintages from 1960, 1961, and 1905 seem to have a common 'sweet/salt' profile that balances a clear coastal tang with a distinct sweetness. It is certainly worth tasting the Glenglassaugh single malt, and even seeking a bottle, because the whisky is not easily categorised. Additionally it was produced for a fairly brief time with limited single malt bottlings. The post war distillery at Glenglassaugh operated for just twenty seven years and completed its last filling in November 1986. Now all of its equipment is silent, and the casks rest quietly in the warehouses. Only the warehouses are put to their intended use; and only occasionally, does some of the whisky leave the warehouse to become a single malt bottling. Glenglassaugh malt whisky may not be the jewel in Highland Distillers. crown, but it may well be one of its hidden gems. Meanwhile, the buildings at Glenglassaugh, both those built more than a century ago as well as those half that age, remain as only shadowy reminders of what was once a busy distillery on this windy section of the Moray Firth.