Oban

The Oban distillery was founded in 1794 by John ‘Johnie’ Ingram. It is one of the oldest operating whisky distilleries in Scotland, and was originally known as the ‘Oban Bay Brewery’. The Oban distillery was purchased by Walter Scott & Sons Ltd in 1883, and it remained in their ownership until it was bought by Distillers Company Limited (DCL) in 1916. DCL was later merged with United Distillers & Vintners (UDV) in 1987, and Oban distillery is now owned by Diageo.

The Oban distillery sits in the town of the same name and overlooks the harbour and the sea at Scotland’s western coast. The Oban distillery dominates the town, despite being rather small and its aesthetics are rather imperial. The pair of stills have a capacity of just 670,000 litres per annum and almost all of this is matured and bottled as single malt Scotch whisky.

Oban became part of the Oban and Aultmore-Glenlivet Company just before the turn of the twentieth century. In 1925, the company was acquired by Distillers Company Limited and five years later it was transferred to Scottish Malt Distillers. Following a brief few years of silence, the Oban whisky distillery reopened in 1937 and remained open until 1968 when the distillery was closed for renovation.

Oban's stills ran with spirit once more in 1972 and in 1988 parent company United Distillers released the Classic Malts range. Oban Scotch was the Western Highlands’ representative in said range. A year later, a visitor centre was inaugurated. The distillery’s popularity has increased greatly in recent years. Independent releases are nigh on impossible to find, though the official range is quite substantial.