Glenburgie

The Irish author Maurice Walsh trained for the Civil Service. On the 2nd July, 1901 he started work for the Customs and Excise Service as an Assistant Revenue Officer. Posted to Scotland, Walsh spent some time at Glenburgie whisky distillery. One of his works, The... Quiet Man, would later be reproduced in a film starring John Warne and Maureen O’Hara and released in 1952. The Glenburgie distillery was first founded in as the Kilnflat Distillery in 1810 by William Paul. Production did not begin until almost twenty years later.

Following closure in 1870, the distillery reopened in 1878. It was licensed to Charles Hay under the name Glenburgie-Glenlivet. Hiram Walker acquired the distillery in October of 1936. The subsequent boom in spirit demand after the Second World War left a large hole in whisky stocks. Accordingly, the distillery was extended. In 1955, one of the chemical engineers at Hiram Walker, namely Alistair Cunnigham, designed the Lomond still which produces a heavier, fruitier spirit. In 1958, Lomond stills were installed at the Glenburgie distillery, though they were eventually replaced with a more conventional design in 1981. However, one can still find whisky distilled using the Lomond stills at Glenburgie, though it is bottled as Glencraig.

Allied Lyons acquired Hiram Walker toward the end of the 1980s and in 2004 they spent £4.3 million on renovations. Two years later, following Chivas Brothers acquisition of Allied, a further two stills were installed and the current six have a combined annual capacity of some 4.2 million litres. The principal reason for the recent increase in capacity was the requirement of the whisky as a blending agent for Ballantines Scotch blends; Ballantines popularity has increased dramatically in recent times. Single malt whisky from Glenburgie is quite rare today.

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