Glenury Royal

Glenury RoyalSingle Malt Scotch Whisky

He also had the somewhat peculiar distinction of being the first person to have walked 1000 miles in 1000 hours, a feat he accomplished in 1808.

Barclay's prominence created an advantage for the fledgling distillery:in 1835, through the influence of a friend in court (referred to only as Mrs Windsor), he was able to secure permission from King William IV to attach the epithet 'Royal' as a suffix to the name of his newly-constructed Glenury Distillery. Only Royal Lochnagar and Royal Brackla share this privilege.

The distillery hadbeen builtpartly to stave off the effects of an agricultural depression by providing the local farmers with a ready market for their barley. It remained under the stewardship of Captain Barclay until his death in 1847, after which it was put up for sale.

Glenury Royal was purchased in 1852 by William Ritchie of Glasgow, whereupon it fell dormant for six years. Reopening in 1858, it became a limited company in Ritchie's name in 1890. The Ritchie family company owned the distillery until 1938, when it was sold to Associated Distillers Ltd for £7500, and following another silent period during WWII the distillery became the property of Distillers Co. Ltd (DCL, later Diageo) in 1953.

DCL refurbished the distillery in 1965-66, doubling the number of stills from two to four. In 1968, though,it was decided that the 19th century malting floors would be better employed as storage for empty casks, after which the distillery had to buy in its malted barley from outside.The kilns were demolished in 1979.

Glenury Royal fell silent during the slump in 1983 and was closed for good in 1985. Ownership was transferred to United Distillers in 1986, but the license was returned in 1992 and the following year the site was sold to private developers who promptly demolished the distillery and built some houses.

In common with other Highland malts, Glenury Royal was spicy and fruity. Interest in the malt was revived by some stunning Rare Malt bottlings in the late 1990s, followed by an amazing official bottling of 50 year-old. Some independent bottlings are also available.