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Release Notes
For the Distiller's Edition, hand-selected casks were double-matured in old Muscat cask-wood, its sweet, floral nature elegantly complementing the sandalwood accents of the malt.
Royal Lochnagar
3rd Party Tasting Notes
Nose: intense aromas of fresh fruit, malty
Palate: fruity and round with sweet floral notes
Finish: Warm and sweet.
Palate: fruity and round with sweet floral notes
Finish: Warm and sweet.
Weinquelle.de
The Distillery: Royal Lochnagar
| Established: 1845 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Balmoral, Crathie, Ballater, Aberdeenshire AB35 5TB, Scotland, UK |
| → website |
In the new Millenium
The Royal Lochnagar distillery was built in 1826 by founder James Robertson. Three years earlier James had actually founded another whisky distillery in Glen Feardan. Just like distilleries like Glenlivet and Mortlach, this distillery started production around 1823, when the Excise Act that legalised whisky production came into effect. Unfortunately, this distillery (on the north side of the river Dee) was burnt down by James Robertson"s competitors.
After the rebuild Royal Lochnagar runs with a cast iron mashtun, three washback (two Oregon pine and one Scottish larch), two stills and two cast iron worm tubs. Royal Lochnaga used to have its own maltings too, but the buildings were converted into a warehouse with room for +/- 1000 casks.
With an annual production of circa 450,000 litres of alcohol, Lochnagar is Diageo"s smallest distillery. According to the "2009" edition of the Malt Whisky Yearbook only five active distilleries in Scotland have a smaller production than Lochnagar; Glenturret, Bladnoch, Daftmill, Edradour and Kilchoman. One might imagine that a malt whisky distillery with such a limited production capacity would bottle all its whisky as a single malt, but part of it is still used in blends - notably VAT 69.
The new distillery from 1845 was appropriately named "New Lochnagar". It operated relatively undisturbed for many decades (well, perhaps apart from a temporary closure in 1860), until John Begg passed away in 1882 and his son Henry Begg took over. He passed away in 1896, but Royal Lochnagar remained a family business for a while longer. Henry"s son Albert Begg and his other children rebuilt the distillery in 1906 and stayed in control for a decade until Albert Begg (Henry"s only male heir) passed away in 1916. Royal Lochnagar was sold to John Dewar & Sons in the same year.
John Dewar & Sons became part of Distillers Company Limited in 1925. In 1930 administration of Royal Lochnagar was transferred to SMD (Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd.) and they seemed to be pretty good at it. Apart from the time the distillery was closed during World War II, SMD managed to keep Royal Lochnagar running until a significant reconstruction in 1963.
James decided to build another distillery near a mountain with the name Lochnagar, again on the north side of the river. James must have been lacking in social skills, because this distillery was burnt down as well. The second fire occurred in 1841.
In 1845 a new distillery was constructed by John Begg - nearby, but on the south bank of the river Dee this time. This was the same distillery you can see these days, so the owners consider 1845 as the official opening year of the Lochnagar distillery. In the mean time (in 1837, to be precise) the reign of Queen Victoria had started. She ruled for 64 years - so long that they named an entire period in British history after her. The Victorian era coincided with the industrial revolution, so it was a very important time for the Scotch whisky industry as well. Queen Victoria visited the nearby Balmoral Castle for the first time in 1848, as well as the nearby Lochnagar distillery. Apparently the people at the distillery had managed to impress her majesty, because they received a so-called "royal warrant" in the very same year, allowing them to use the world "royal" in their name - just like Royal Brackla and Glenury Royal.
Royal Lochnagar is one of the first distilleries I"ve actually visited myself. During the trip to Speyside that a few malt maniacs made in 2003 we dropped by the distillery - but I recall it was during the weekend and nobody was there to show us around. We still had a good time though, enjoying the scenery and wildlife in the area. In fact, if memory serves it was there that we discovered that a disproportionate number of malt maniacs are avid bird watchers (the feathered variety of course).
So, even though Royal Lochnagar is located slightly off the beaten track (not far from Balmoral Castle on Deeside) and there are no other distilleries nearby, the surroundings make a detour well worth the effort.
2004 - The last "UD Rare Malts" bottling of Lochnagar is released; the Royal Lochnagar 30yo 1974/2004 (56.2%, UD Rare Malts). It"s the successor of the Royal Lochnagar 23yo 1973/1997 (59.7%, UD Rare Malts) and the Royal Lochnagar 24yo 1972/1997 (55.7%, UD Rare Malts) which was bottled especially for the USA.
2005 - Lochnagar is added to the "Classic Malts" range of Diageo. This range used to contain only six different single malts - Cragganmore, Dalwinnie, Glenkinchie, Lagavulin, Oban & Talisker - when it was introduced in the late 1980"s but in 2005 a bunch of other single malts suddenly became classic, including Caol Ila, Cardhu and Clynelish.
2008 - Now that Royal Lochnagar is "promoted" to the status of "Classic Malt", a Distillers Edition is released as well, double matured in Moscatel casks.
Trivia:
- Corgarff Castle in the Grampian Mountains is located inbetween the Royal Lochnagar and Glenlivet distilleries. One of the unique characteristics of the historic building is the fact that it has been used for both the production of whisky and control of the illegal whisky trade. During Scotland"s violent past the many castles in the area had a military function. Before the production of whisky had even started in Scotland, Corgarff Castle had been burnt down four times - in 1571, 1689, 1716 and 1746. Not long after James McHardy had acquired a permit to distill whisky at Corgarff Castle the facilities were set on fire in July 1826 - probably by competitors. In 1827 the army obtained the castle and repaired the damage. After the reconstruction a garrison of the 25th regiment was stationed at Corgarff Castle in order to combat whisky smuggling in the area. James McHardy used the new situation to his advantage; he acted as supplier to the garrison and even added a small hospital to the castle. Even though the garrison didn"t have more than 58 soldiers they managed to put an end to most illegal whisky production and smuggling in the area by the time they abandoned the castle again in 1831.
- The (Royal) Lochnagar distillery is named after the nearby Lochnagar mountain which overlooks the distillery.
- Rumour has it that John Begg used to be involved with illicit distilling before 1845.
- Queen Victoria"s favourite cocktail was a mixture of red bordeaux and Scotch whisky. This might seem like an unusual combination at first sight - until you realise that many whiskies are "finished" in ex wine casks these days.
- At times the distillery has also been known as "Lochnigar".
from Malt Madness
The Owner: Diageo
| Established: 1997 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: 8 Henrietta Place, London, W1G ONB, UK |
| → website |
Diageo also distributes Unicum, its lighter-bodied variant Zwack and Jose Cuervo tequila products in North America. However, Cuervo operates as a separate company in Mexico and is not owned by Diageo. Similarly Grand Marnier is distributed by Diageo in many markets, including exclusively in Canada, and a deal was reached in 2009 to significantly expand this partnership in Europe.
Furthermore, Diageo owns the Gleneagles Hotel.
Diageo was formed in 1997 from the merger of Guinness plc and Grand Metropolitan plc. The creation was driven by the two executives Anthony Greener and Philip Yea at Guinness plus George Bull and John McGrath of Grand Metropolitan. The product portfolios of Guinness and Grand Met were largely complementary with little overlap.
Diageo is the world"s biggest whisky producer with 28 malt distilleries and two grain distilleries.The company operates the Scotch whisky distilleries of Auchroisk, Benrinnes, Blair Athol (situated at Pitlochry), Caol Ila, Cardhu, Knockando, Glen Elgin, Clynelish, Cragganmore, Dalwhinnie, Glenkinchie, Glen Ord, Lagavulin, Oban, Royal Lochnagar, Strathmill, Talisker, Teaninich, Mannochmore, Mortlach and Glenlossie, which are sold not only under their own name but used to make the various blended scotch whiskies sold by the company, and owns the stock of many closed distilleries such as Port Ellen, Rosebank, Brora, Convalmore, Glen Albyn, North Brechin, Banff, and Linlithgow. The company have opened a new malt distillery adjacent to their maltings at Roseisle (1st new make spirit produced Spring 2009). This will be one of the largest malt distilleries in Scotland. The new building contains 14 traditional copper pot stills. An expansion programme is also underway at its Cameron Bridge Grain Distillery in Fife that will make it the largest grain distillery in Scotland. Diageo also owns the Port Dundas Grain Distillery in Glasgow, and jointly operates the North British Grain Distillery in Gorgie, Edinburgh, with The Edrington Group.
Diageo plc (LSE: DGE, NYSE: DEO) is the largest multinational beer, wine and spirits company in the world. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has American Depositary Receipts listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The word Diageo was formed from the Latin dia (day) and the Greek geo (World), symbolising the use of the company"s brands every day, everywhere. Its head office is located in the City of Westminster in London. It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Trivia:
- In December 2003, Diageo provoked controversy over its decision to change its Cardhu brand Scotch whisky from a single malt to a vatted malt (also known as a pure malt) whilst retaining the original name and bottle style. Diageo took this action because it did not have sufficient reserves to meet demand in the Spanish market, where Cardhu had been successful. After a meeting of producers, Diageo agreed to make changes.
- In 2006, the Cardhu brand quietly changed back to being a single malt.
- In July 2009, Diageo announced that, after nearly 200 years of association with the town of Kilmarnock, they would be closing the Johnnie Walker blending and bottling plant as part of restructuring to the business. This would make 700 workers unemployed and caused outrage from press, local people and politicians. A campaign against this decision was launched by the local SNP MSP Willie Coffey and Labour MP Des Browne. A petition was drawn up against the Diageo plans, which also involves the closure of the historic Port Dundas Grain Distillery in Glasgow.
- In February 2009 it was reported in the Guardian that the company had restructured itself so as to avoid paying tax in the U.K., despite much of its profits being generated in the U.K.
- Diageo is engaged in a tax scheme in the United States of America, commonly referred to as the "Rum Bailout", which will guarantee it USD$3 billion in revenues and profits.
- The National Puerto Rican Coalitionplans to run a series of ads in New York City and Puerto Rico urging a boycott of Diageo-owned alcoholic drinks to protest the giant British-owned corporation"s controversial production move of its Captain Morgan rum from Puerto Rico to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
from Wikipedia