Regarded as the 'finest example of a Lowland malt' bottlings of Rosebank are extremely rare. Built by James Rankine on the banks of the Forth-Clyde canal between Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1840 (on a site possibly distilling as early as 1798), Rosebank was one of the founding members of the Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd (later to be taken over by DCL).
Silent from 1862-64, the distillery
was extensively rebuilt and refurbished in 1864-65. Apart from another hiatus in the later years of WWI, it produced steadily until its closure in 1993. Diageo selected Glenkinchie as their Lowlander due to its size, accessibility and visitor centre potential; Rosebank, however, was much smaller, employed uneconomical triple distillation, and offerend awkward canal-side access. Also its effluent treatment would have required a £2m upgrade in order to comply with European standards.
In 2002, the distillery buildings and contents were sold to British Waterways by Diageo, and the maltings were demolished to make way for a housing development. In 2008 plans were started to open a new distillery in Falkirk original Rosebank equipment. However over Christmas that year the original Rosebank Stills (along with other equipment) were stolen by metal thieves and were not recovered.Show more