Glencadam

GlencadamSingle Malt Scotch Whisky

The new owners refurbished the distillery with two new stills in 1959 and ran Glencadam until the 1980s, when Hiram Walker was bought by Allied Lyons.

 An interesting feature at the distillery is the stills, whose lyne arms run at a 15-degree vertical angle instead of sloping downwards. This encourages greater reflux during distillation, giving a lighter, more delicate spirit.

Allied continued to run the distillery under the Ballantine's umbrella, but decided that they had been over-producing and closed the distillery in 2000. Thankfully Glencadam was not silent for long. In 2003 the London-based blenders and producers Angus Dundee bought and re-opened the distillery. The new owners have been a breath of fresh air, operating the distillery at full capacity (around one-and-a-half million litres/year) and re-vamping the range, with a 10 year-old, 15yo and the recently-released 30yo now available.

Independent bottlings of Glencadam are rare, but some have appeared in the last few years from the likes of Douglas Laing.

From the website

This pretty and immaculately maintained distillery opened for business in 1825, just one year after legitimate distilling on a large scale was legalized. Since then a number of owners have operated the distillery and produced Glencadam malt in their blends. Happily, each owner was careful not to spoil the charming character of Glencadam.

Since 2003, the distillery has been owned by Angus Dundee Distillers Plc who for the first time in its history, bottled Glencadam Highland malt commercially as a 15 years old expression in 2005. The distillery is capable of producing around 1.5 million litres per year and has a storage capacity of approximately 20,000 casks. Plans are under way to increase capacity for storage in the vicinity of the town. The distillery holds stocks of quality whisky up to 30 years old.

Glencadam has operated two pot stills since the beginning. The shape of the stills at Glencadam has never altered over the years. An unusual feature about the stills is that their lye pipes run upwards at an angle of 15 degrees rather than downwards. The belief is that this helps to produce a particularly delicate and mellow spirit which after maturation yields sweet and fruity notes in the final product.

The essential supply of pure water for distilling depends on Glencadam's long-held rights to springs at The Moorans, some 8.7 miles away and perhaps the longest water supply for distilling purposes of any Scottish distillery. This precious resource then flows through the Unthank hills on its way to the distillery. The distillery also has rights to draw water from Barry Burn for cooling purposes.