Glen Garioch’s Oldmeldrum distillery announces its re-opening to the public for the first time in two years, following a £6 million investment by owner Beam Suntory. The distillery has been fully renovated, returning it to traditional processes such as floor malting and direct-fired stills and reducing its carbon footprint.

The significant investment in Glen Garioch has successfully fulfilled its ambition to restore and upgrade one of oldest operating distilleries in Scotland, honouring 225 years of heritage. To complement this return to tradition, Glen Garioch has developed a highly efficient and safe method for direct-fired distillation, which is expected to reduce the distillery’s carbon footprint by around 15%.

Kwanele Mdluli, distillery manager at Glen Garioch, commented, “It’s been amazing to re-open the distillery to the public after all this time, and especially to show them all the work that has been done so far to reinstate our traditional processes and drive towards our vision of a more sustainable future. It’s truly an exciting and milestone moment for Glen Garioch as we open this new chapter in our history...”

Glen Garioch is also launching a 1991 Bourbon Single Cask, from which visitors can bottle their own whisky in one of the distillery’s historic warehouses. At 46.4% ABV, the whisky is described as possessing sweet and nutty notes like dried fruits, white peach and gorse flowers on the nose; heather honey, salted toffee and roasted walnuts on the palate; and a sweet finish with oak spice and a drying mouthfeel.