The Glenury distillery, just outside Stonehaven on Scotland's East coast, was founded by Robert Barclay in 1825, a local MP and rather famous athlete of the time. Through Barclay's influence (and a friend at court only referred to only as Mrs Windsor) he was able to secure permission from King William IV to attach the epithet 'Royal' to the name of his fledgling distillery. Only Royal Lochnagar and
Royal Brackla share this privilege.
But tragedy struck just weeks after opening when a fire destroyed stocks of barley, along with the kiln and parts of the malting floor. Two weeks after the fire, worker James Clark died after falling into the boiler. The maltings of Glenury Royal were closed in 1968. The distillery then kept producing malt whisky for almost two more decades, but eventually it was mothballed on May 31, 1985.
In 1992 the owners decided to cease the malt whisky production at Glenury Royal for good. The buildings of the distillery were sold in 1993 to a property company who turned part of these buildings into apartments.
There are a handful of independent releases and official bottlings are rare. In 2003 Diageo released a 50yo official bottling; only 498 bottles were produced. A limited release of a 36yo bottling was released in 2005.Show more