Glenlochy whisky

The Glenlochy water source was the River Nevis which today provides quite good day fishing for salmon and sea trout when in spate using fly and worm. However spinning and float fishing are not allowed but fishing for brown trout is allowed but only above the lower falls at Polldubh as migratory fish cannot run beyond the falls and no permit is required above that point. The River Nevis is about 1/2 mile from the town centre and the fishing is controlled by the Fort William Angling Club. The distillery was silent during World War I, the period from 1919-1924 and 1926-1937.

During its short life the distillery endured a myriad of owners/licensees and in the period between 1934-'37 Thomas Leslie Rankin, motor hirer, used the distillery as a base for his business. In 1937 the distillery was purchased by Train & MacIntyre Limited (included in the shareholders was Joseph Hobbs, the colorful Canadian millionaire who also owned nearby Ben Nevis Distillery) and in 1938 was transferred to its subsidiary Associated Scottish Distillers Limited.

In 1953 the Distillers Company Limited purchased the assets of Train & MacIntyre Limited from its American owners, National Distillers Products Corporation and Glenlochy distillery was transferred to the Scottish Malt Distillers (a subsidiary of the Distillers Company Limited). Also included in the sale were Glenesk, Benromach, Glenury Royal and the Company of Train & MacIntyre was wound up in 1960. In 1968, Glenlochy was once again closed along with Oban and Glengarioch distilleries.

The distillery had one wash still and one spirit still and was extensively modernized during in the 1960's and 1970's.  In May 1983 Glenlochy along with Banff, Brora, Dallas Dhu, Glen Albyn, Glen Mohr, Knockdhu, North Port and St. Magdalene were closed and the equipment was quickly removed.

In April 1986 an application to demolish was made to the Lochaber District Council which was rejected.
The building and 3.5 acre site fell into decay and finally much of the warehouse and building were demolished. The pagoda and maltings remain and in 1992 were sold to West Coast Inns. The most common example of the whisky today is the bottling known as the "Rare Malts" but even the this offering has now expired except in the realm of the collector. The surviving distillery buildings are in the process of being converted into flats for sale and rent, a better fate than being turned into a shopping complex I suspect.

Lawrence Graham, Canada
 
 
Sources; The Scottish Whisky Distilleries by Misako Udo; Scotch Missed, the Lost Distilleries of Scotland by Brian Townsend; A Century of Whisky by Gavin Smith; The Scotch Whisky Industry Record by H Charles Criag.

1) The Glenlochy distillery became operational on April 4th, 1901 (although it was established in 1898).

2) The current owner of the remaining Glenlochy buildings is the Lochaber Housing Association.

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

Glenlochy 24yo 1980 (58.6%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, 6.211)
Nose: 'Serious', but not very expressive. Apple pie. It improved with some time and water.
Taste: Feels good on the palate, although just like the nose it's not very complex or expressive.
Score: 80 points - which makes it recommendable, but just barely...

Glenlochy 27yo 1974/2002 (53.3%, Signatory Vintage, 29/11/1974, 11/11/2002, C#4459)
Nose: Sweet and polished with some sherry - but not too much. They have got the balance just right.
It was just delightful on my tongue; sweet and creamy. Lovely stuff! A highly recommendable dram.
Score: 87 points - which I have to admit was a surprise; most obscure distilleries are obscure for a reason...

Glenlochy 49yo 1952/2001 (43%, Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask, Bourbon Refill)
Nose: Wood & tobacco. Heavy fruits. You can smell the time. Maggi! Pipe smoke? Crayons? Clay? Pine? Sorrel?
Taste: Oy... A tad perfumy in the start. Mellow fruity centre. Salt. Bubblegum. Something faintly metallic.
Score: 88 points - by far the oldest Glenlochy I've ever tried was also the best so far.

Glenlochy 1977/1994 (40%, G&M Connoisseur's Choice, 70cl)
This was bottled in 1994, which makes it around 17 years old.
Nose: The nose was very restrained for a malt way in its teens. A hint of smoke and cigar tobacco. Coffee?
Taste: The taste was very soft as well. Sweetish, with a little smoke. Just not enough character.
Quite a disappointment considering its age (this one is almost twenty years old) and its steep price.
Score: 67 points - OK - this proves that age doesn't improve everything.
 

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Glenlochy whisky I've tried over the years.
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 distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the whisky made 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.
 
 

The Glenlochy distillery in the Highlands was founded in 1898
by David McAndie of the Glenlochy-Fort William Distillery Co. The
distillery gets it name from the Lochy river that flows through
the town of Fort William at the foot of Ben Nevis mountain.
Apart from Ben Nevis and Glenlochy, there used to be another
distillery in the area; named 'Nevis'. These days Ben Nevis is
the only remaining active distillery in this part of Scotland.
 
Glenlochy was one of the many distilleries that were founded
during the 'whisky boom' at the end of the 19th century - and
unlike many other malt whisky distilleries that were founded in
the same period it managed to remain operational afterwards.
 
Glenlochy was silent from 1919 to 1924 and from 1926 to 1937,
during which period the distillery changed hands a few times.
The ownership was transferred to DCL / SMD in 1953, but they
didn't manage to turn it into a winner. Glenlochy was closed in
1983; the typical distillery buildings are now used as offices.

That's all I have to report on for now...
Fortunately, Lawrence Graham wrote a more extensive profile for Malt Maniacs;
 

Glenlochy Distillery Profile by Lawrence Graham, Canada

The original meaning of the name Glen loch dae is "Glen of the Dark Goddess" and the distillery was founded by David McAndie of the inspirationally named Glenlochy-Fort William Distillery Company Limited in 1898 with registered offices at 51 Church Street, Inverness and Hugh M. Graham held the position of Secretary.
(source: Harper's Directory 1914.)

The distillery was built in the shadow of the mountain Ben Nevis.
For a brief decade Fort William could claim three distilleries, Glenlochy, Ben Nevis and the Nevis Distillery. It was not to last and now only the Ben Nevis distillery, owned by Nikka of Japan, is the last surviving Fort William distillery.