Glen Ord Distillery

Built in 1838 on the Black Isle in the Northern Highlands of Scotland, Glen Ord was founded by local landowner Thomas Mackenzie. But Mackenzie never ran the distillery himself, preferring instead to lease it out. The first to take him up on that were D. McLennan and Robert Johnston, who ran it until Johnston’s bankruptcy in 1847.

In 1855 it was taken over by Alexander McLennan, a relative of the original lease holder, and Thomas McGregor. McLennan’s widow took over operations after his death in 1870. She then brought Glen Ord back to the Mackenzie clan when she married Alexander Mackenzie. The distillery was ravaged by a fire in 1878, just a year after Mackenzie had taken out a 19 year lease. A brand new still house Mackenzie had recently built was completely destroyed in the fire.

In 1925 Glen Ord was bought by Distillers Company Limited, setting it on the path to current owners Diageo. In that time the distillery has undergone near constant expansion. The number of still was increased from two to six in 1966 and a Saladin box was installed in 1961 to replace floor maltings. This would operate at the distillery until 1983.

Drum maltings began on site in 1968 and continue to this day. Not only do they make Glen Ord self-sufficient for its malt, but they also supply other Diageo distilleries. The distillery is currently equipped with two mash tuns which each have a capacity of 12.5 tons, 22 wooden washbacks, and 14 stills. Water for production is drawn from Loch Nam Bonnach and Loch Nan Eun.

Since 2006 Glen Ord has been part of the Singleton brand at Diageo when the 12 year old was launched, replacing a release of the same age from four years earlier. It has since been joined by the 15 and 18 year old single malts which together make up the main distillery bottlings. The Singleton of Glen Ord 12 year old is a light whisky, with aromas of milk chocolate and honey, followed by hints of orange. On the palate it is sweet and clean, with notes of malt and ginger.

The Singleton brand, which combines Glen Ord, Glendullan, and Dufftown distilleries, has been heavily promoted by Diageo in recent years with the goal of making it a market leader. Glen Ord is the best selling of the three distilleries that fall under this umbrella. It’s also the only Highland whisky next to the two Speyside distilleries.

In addition to the core range Glen Ord has also seen two bottlings in the Diageo Special Releases in recent years. 2018 saw the release of a 14 year old matured in five different casks to give it a complex wood character. An 18 year old matured in freshly charred American Oak hogsheads was released in 2019.