One of but a handful of Scotch whisky distilleries that possess onsite barley maltings, Glen Ord has a decidedly large maltings capacity of around 36,000 tonnes annually, thus it also provides malt for several other Diageo-owned distilleries. The Glen Ord distillery lies in the village of Muir of Ord to the north of Inverness. It was during the 13th century that King Alexander III gave areas of land to the Mackenzie’s of Ord. In 1820, Thomas Mackenzie inherited a plot of land and used much of it to grow barley.
The Black Isle, as the area is known, has long since been associated with the cultivation of barley and accordingly the Ord Distillery Company was founded in 1838 and licensed to Donald MacLennan and Robert Johnstone. The pair filed for bankruptcy some nine years later, but continued to run the distillery illegally until Thomas McGregor and Alexander McLennan applied for a new licence in 1855. There have been several bottlings over the years, including a few limited releases and a couple of twelve year-olds, including the Singleton of Glen Ord, which is destined for Asian consumers.
Glen Ord had long since been serving the Asian market and exporting overseas; during the 19th century Scotch whisky from the distillery was sold in British Colonies including South Africa and Asia. Acquired by John Dewar and Sons in 1923, who amalgamated two years later with Distillers Company Limited, Glen Ord was eventually transferred to the subsidiary, Scottish Malt Distillers. They in turn were acquired by Guinness in 1985 and following the merger between Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997, the whisky distillery is now in Diageo hands.