1) Glengyle was the very first Scotch malt whisky distillery to open in the 3d millennium.

2) The stills that are used in the new Glengyle distillery are second hand stills from the Ben Wyvis distillery.

3) More trivia about Glengyle will be added later...
 

Ehm....
 
I'm afraid that I haven't tried any expressions of Kilkerran yet...

I'll add my tasting notes when I've managed to sample a single malt whisky distilled at Glengyle...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the complete whisky list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most single malts I've sampled and scored, though. You can find a specific expression through the search box at the top of each distillery profile. The mAlmanac now contains (purely personal) selections of some of the best single malts and the worst whiskies I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value. But those tasting notes and scores only reflect my own, purely personal opinions.

On Serge's Whiskyfun website you can find another perspective on the whisky that's produced at this distillery.
Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 
 

Incidentally, this Glengyle distillery isn't the first one
by that name in Campbeltown. Another distillery by
the name Glengyle was built around 1873 by one
William Mitchell after a fight with his brother John at
the Springbank distillery. It was closed again in the
year 1925 - probably as a result of the prohibition
in the United States. Glengyle was the first of many
distilleries in Campbeltown to be closed; at the
beginning of the third millennium only 2 distilleries
remained - Glen Scotia and Springbank.
 
Oddly enough, the single malt whisky that is now
distilled at the Glengyle distillery will never be sold
under that name. The rights to that name belong
to the Loch Lomond distillery now - also owners
of Glen Scotia distillery by the way...
 
That's why the single malt that is distilled at the
new Glengyle distillery be sold as 'Kilkerran'.

Opinions are divided when it comes to the Glengyle distillery - is it an
actual distillery or more like a 'dependance' of Springbank distillery? For
the purposes of this 'DD' section, I'll treat it as a separate distillery.

During the first half of 2003 the buildings were fitted with a mash tun, stills and a spent grains removal system (among other things) by the main contractor, Forsyth's of Rothes. The mash tun arrived in April 2003 and according to Distillery Manager Frank McHardy the wooden washbacks (built by Arthur Brown of Dufftown) were in place by September 2003 - the heaviest part of the job was now done.
 
The rest of the necessary equipment (mill, dresser, dust extractor, cooling tower, pipework, condensers, milling system, electric supply, pumps & valves, etc.) was installed just a few months later and Glengyle was officially opened on March 25, 2004 by Winnifred Ewing and Hedley Wright. The first 'whisky' (Kilkerran) wasn't bottled until 2007 - and it will probably be a while before it's widely available. The owners planned to release the first bottlings in 2012.
 
Those plans could have changed though... In the summer of 2008 malt whisky lovers around the world were shocked by the news that Springbank and Glengyle would be temporarily closed down; at least until 2009. Not to worry - it seems they are 'live' again now...

The first Glengyle distillery was built in 1872 or 1873 by William Mitchell.
He built Glengyle after a quarrel with his brother John prompted him to
leave Springbank. The new Campbeltown distillery operated for half a
century, until it was finally closed in 1925. Finally? Well, apparently not,
because around the start of the new millennium the Mitchell family (the
owners of Springbank) announced their plans to rebuild Glengyle on
the original site. The production buildings at Glengyle were pretty much
restored by the end of 2002, so equipment could be installed.

Springbanks marketing philosophy trickled through in Glengyle's advance cask offer.
The first six casks filled from the first spirit will be set aside to be bottled at 10 years old. All six casks will be of different wood types. A limited number (obviously) of 700 bottles of each wood type will be bottled. You can pre-order a set of 6 bottles (one of each wood type) for the princely sum of £950 - including duty, tax, etc. Because people who have pre-ordered will also receive a miniature set after five years, it seems they will have to select some big-ass casks if they want to have enough whisky to fill 700 (70cl?) bottles at 46% after 10 years. If the miniatures are 5cl, that equals another 35 liters or 50 bottles. To fill those 750 70cl bottles they will need 525 liters of whisky at 46% in 10 years time. Most likely the whisky will have a higher proof than 46% ABV by then, so they can add water to the whisky to increase the volume. Assuming the cask strength whisky has reached 60% after 10 years, they still would need more than 400 liters in each cask in the series by 2014 - if my calculations are correct. Seems impossible...
Well - mathematics was never my strong suit, so I have no idea...