A 133-year-old Highland distillery is to be revived, creating up to 20 jobs. The Glenglassaugh distillery will go into production for the first time since 1986 thanks to an investment by a Dutch company best known for its operations in the energy industry.
The Scaent Group has paid £5m to buy the mothballed distillery from the Edrington Group, planning to reopen it in the next six or seven months.
Whisky from Glenglassaugh, located in Portsoy, Moray, was a contributor to Famous Grouse, Laing's and Cutty Sark before production ceased 22 years ago.
But incoming managing director Stuart Nickerson has plans to target connoisseurs, saying the Glasglassaugh Distillery Company will initially sell older remaining stocks of the coastal malt with a longerterm plan of exporting their product worldwide.
"Glenglassaugh has the capacity to make one million litres of whisky a year and has high growth potential. The product will appeal to malt collectors, those on high disposable incomes and target markets include eastern Europe."
The deal has been put together with £2m of start-up funding from Barclays with the Scaent consortium putting up another £3m.
It is the latest instalment of a tumultuous history at the distillery which has been closed several times, first from 1907 to 1931, then again from 1936 to 1959 before making it through to 1986.
Scaent Group may be best known for its electricity generation and coal prospecting as well as trading in both sectors, but Jonas Garbaravicius, its executive vice-president, is adamant the opportunities offered by the whisky industry merit its reopening, which could ultimately lead to the creation of 20 jobs.
"Today the whisky market is a booming sector within the Scottish economy. We recognised that the Glenglassaugh distillery had massive potential and was a perfect opportunity to bring an historic Scottish business back to life for future generations to enjoy."
The deal is the latest in a series in a whisky market being driven by rising demand in emerging markets.
Edrington has revealed plans to invest £40m in expanding its Macallan distillery. The move should increase output from the Speyside plant by almost a third to more than eight million litres a year.
Pernod Ricard has also said it is reopening the Braeval Distillery it mothballed six years ago and plans to expand its flagship Glenlivet Distillery, while Diageo has said it is going to invest more than £100m in the sector. |
