Glenlossie
Glenlossie is a comlex of two distilleries. The Glenlossie and the Mannochmore distillery. They have two still houses and are used one after another. But they share the same warehouse.
| Information about the Distillery | |
|---|---|
| Scotland, Speyside | |
| -3.320139 57.598762 | |
| Active | |
| Diageo | |
| 8 t | |
| 1876 | |
| 1,100,000 l |
| Average tasting notes Tasting notes |
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|---|---|---|
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Nosing
Fruit:
Sweet:
Sherry:
Zitrus:
Herbs:
Spices:
Caramel:
Raisin:
Vanilla:
Pineapple:
Floral:
Nuts:
Chocolate:
Honey:
Oak:
Ginger:
Tropical Fruit:
Peach:
Pear:
Fruit:
Apple:
Oil:
Sweet:
Plum:
Pineapple:
Nutmeg:
Heather:
Lemon:
Banana:
Malt:
Lemon Peel:
Orange:
Grass:
Hazelnut:
Raisin:
Oak:
Vanilla:
Herb:
Grapefruit:
Peat Smoke:
Dried Fruit:
Berries:
Date:
Hay:
Melon:
Green Apple:
Pepper:
Cherry:
Zitrus:
Herb:
Tropical Fruit:
Honey:
Coffee:
Grass:
Nuts:
Chocolate:
Lemon:
Sherry:
Berries:
Mint:
Cake:
Kiwi:
Alcohol:
Cinnamon:
Almonds:
Walnut:
Dark Chocolate:
Coffee:
Tasting
Sweet:
Spices:
Fruit:
Zitrus:
Pepper:
Malt:
Nuts:
Chocolate:
Caramel:
Oak:
Oil:
Pineapple:
Herb:
Orange:
Honey:
Sherry:
Peat Smoke:
Lemon:
Lemon Peel:
Apple:
Vanilla:
Peach:
Dark Chocolate:
Alcohol:
Herbs:
Cake:
Cherry:
Coffee:
Spices:
Banana:
Ginger:
Fruit:
Oil:
Sweet:
Floral:
Tropical Fruit:
Pear:
Heather:
Green Apple:
Grass:
Dried Fruit:
Pineapple:
Caramel:
Honey:
Plum:
Raisin:
Walnut:
Barley:
Hay:
Leather:
Lime:
Date:
Bonfire Smoke:
Black Currant:
Red Currant:
Sherry:
Vanilla:
Chocolate:
Nuts:
Malt:
Oak:
Pepper:
Floral:
Peach:
Alcohol:
Finish
Spices:
Nuts:
Sweet:
Oil:
Oak:
Herb:
Sherry:
Fruit:
Dark Chocolate:
Chocolate:
Vanilla:
Malt:
Honey:
Pepper:
Peat Smoke:
Spices:
Zitrus:
Herbs:
Raisin:
Coffee:
Sweet:
Oak:
Alcohol:
Heather:
Grass:
Fruit:
Tropical Fruit:
Chili:
Cinnamon:
Ginger:
Hazelnut:
Caramel:
Apple:
Herb:
Herbs:
Alcohol:
Oil:
Pepper:
Heather:
Grass:
Rye:
Lemon Peel:
Maritime Notes:
Cake:
Pear:
Ham:
Wheat:
Green Apple:
Plum:
Salt:
Dried Fruit:
Lemon:
Pineapple:
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The Whisky
Glenlossie distillery, which lays in the east of Speyside, has no official bottlings. The closest that it comes is it’s feature on the Diageo Flora and Fauna range, and a Manager’s Dram. There has, however, been a number of independent bottlings performed at the site. Gordon & MacPhail’s bottlings have been predominately vintage bottlings, mainly from the 1960s, whereas Douglas Laing and Signatory Vintage have released more standard aged bottlings, which include a 15 year-old, 17 year-old and a 20 year old. Glenlossie is part of several Blends, but the names are not disclosed. In the past it was a major component in Haig’s Blends.
The Production
The water used in Glenlossie is drawn from the local Bardon Burn. The production capacity of the distillery stands at 1.1 million litres. The production at the distillery is powered by a full lauter mash tun, which can hold over 8 tonnes.
The Pot Stills
Glenlossie has three wash stills and two spirit stills. The three wash stills each have a capacity of 15’600 litres, while the spirit stills have a capacity 13’500 litres. Both the wash and spirit stills are pear shaped, with wide spherical lids, and gradually narrowing tall, concial necks. The spirit stills use a 'purifier' between the lyne arms and the condensers. This purifier acts as a mini-condenser, which returns some of the alcohol vapors back to the pot to be re-distilled. The action of 'purifiers' increases the amount of reflux within the stills, which results in a lighter, more delicate Whisky.
Maltings
Glenlossie sources its maltings from an industrial site: Burghead Maltings, located in Elgin. The maltings used are very gently peated, which creates a wonderfully subtle smoky affect.
The Warehouses
The distillery has ten dunnage warehouses onsite, which can hold up to 200’000 casks of malt Whisky. The Single Malt is aged in a combination of Sherry and American oak casks.
The History
There are several factors that make Glenlossie a remarkable distillery, the first of which being the fact that the site houses not one, but two distilleries. Mannochmore distillery was built alongside Glenlossie, and the two distilleries have a very interconnected history. John Duff, the former manager at Glendronach distillery, founded Glenlossie in 1876. Duff managed the distillery until 1896, at which point he stepped down to become more involved in Longmorn distillery. H. Mackay, one of the founding partners of the distillery took over the management of the site in his wake. Operations continued successfully into the twentieth century, and in 1919, Glenlossie was purchased by DCL, who had spotted the capital potential of this small, relatively obscure distillery. After a major fire in 1929, Glenlossie was transferred to Scottish Malt Distillers in 1930. In 1962, the numbers of stills at the site were increased from four to six, and then in 1971, Mannochmore distillery was constructed on the site by SMD. The distillery’s fist semi-official bottling came along in 1990, as part of the Flora and Fauna Series after Diageo had obtained the distillery through a merger with SMD. Today, Glenlossie continues to operate merrily under Diageo’s management. Although there are no 'true' official bottlings coming from the distillery, but it looks like Glenlossie isn’t going anywhere, and perhaps we can expect some soon.
Visitor’s Centre
Sadly there is no visitor’s centre at the site, nor is it possible to take tours of the facility.
Glenlossie Distillery
Glenlossie Rd
Birnie
Elgin
IV30 3SS
Tel: +44 (0)1343-862000
User Notes about the Distillery
Share your experience with other whisky lovers. Write a note about your trip to the Glenlossie distillery.
Dr Daniel Howard