Status Active Founded 1964 | Capacity 30,000,000 litres | |
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Owner Loch Lomond Distillery Company No. of stills 1 wash still, 1 spirit still, 6 Lomond stills | ||
The Loch Lomond distillery is a Highland Single Malt Scotch whisky distillery in Alexandria, Scotland, near Loch Lomond.
Contents
History
A Loch Lomond Distillery was first established in Arrochar in 1814, but closed three years later. The present business was established in 1964 by the former owners of the Littlemill Distillery in Bowling. Production began in Loch Lomond the following year in 1965. In 1984, the distillery stopped production until Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouses acquired the business and resumed malt production in 1987. Grain whisky production began in 1993 and two new malt stills were added in 1999. At the time the Grain distillery opened in 1994, it was the only distillery in Scotland producing both Grain and Malt whisky. It also operates a unique set-up of three sets of stills.
In 2014, the distillery was acquired by the private equity group Exponent alongside the management team
Products
The Loch Lomond range includes Malt & Premium Blended Scotch Whiskies:
Loch Lomond Distillery also produces The Inchmurrin Island (largest of Loch Lomond's islands) Collection:
Equipment
The former owner of Littlemill Distillery, Duncan Barton, developed the current site for the Loch Lomond Distillery. He brought innovative pot malt stills which rest in the cylindrical necks of the spirit stills. Traditionally the necks of malt stills are open. The Loch Lomond stills include special distillation trays in the necks, allowing for greater contact with the cooling alcohol vapour, said to make the process more efficient. These stills can produce alcohol up to 90% ABV where normal stills deliver the alcohol at around 70% ABV. This style of still allows for different ‘ flavour notes’ to be captured and emphasised through the range of alcohol strengths that can be captured and rejected. This is much more difficult to achieve through a conventional pot still.
Investment
More new stills were installed in 2016 and grain whisky, single malt whisky and single grain whisky as well as blended whisky can now be made on the same premises. The bottling plant at Glen Catrine in Ayrshire is one of the biggest and currently produces more than 65 million bottles of whisky and other spirits each year.
Fictional depiction
Loch Lomond is the brand name of the Scotch whisky consumed by Captain Haddock in Hergé's famous comic book series The Adventures of Tintin.