Strathclyde
Translation: Valley of the River Clyde
Region: Lowlands
A minute's silence for Kinclaith.
The Strathclyde Distillery is probably more famous for the Kinclaith Malt than for its own Grain Whiskey. And that's what happened: The Kinclaith Distillery was built in 1957 on the distillery of Strathclyde - and closed again in 1975. Short life, few bottlings, interesting Malt: So Kinclaith became a coveted myth among collectors. An early death not only helps rock stars to later fame. And Strathclyde? Lives and just keeps producing. Which is not the worst thing.
A little history
The Strathclyde Distillery was founded in 1927 by the Scottish Grain Distillery Co. The conveniently located in the middle of Glasgow distillery should serve exclusively for the production of grain whiskey. In 1957, however, the Kinclaith distillery, which produced malt whiskey, was also built on the premises. Already in 1975, after the sale to Whitebread & Co, Kinclaith but was closed again to make room for the extension of Strathclyde. In 2002, the distillery was modernized and expanded. Since 2005 Strathclyde belongs to Pernod Ricard.
What do I actually have in the glass?
To describe the basic Strathclyde character is not so easy, because there is no official Destillerieabfüllung. And the few bottlings of the independents are sometimes very different. What they all have in common is the vanilla sweetness and soft body typical of Grain Whiskeys.
3 reasons to love Strathclyde
1) Because without Grain Whiskey there would be no blends and therefore (almost) no malts.
2) Because we somehow owe Strathclyde the Kinclaith as well.
3) Because deserve the love that are not beauties.
The one drama for the lonely island
The 40 year old Strathclyde 1974/2014 from the XOP Selection by Douglas Laing XOP is a dream. Unfortunately not a cheap one ...
numbers and facts
Address: 40 Moffat Street, Glasgow G5 0QB
Founded in 1927 by the Scottish Grain Distillery Co
Status: active
Owner: Pernod Ricard
Capacity: approx. 39,000,000 liters
7 Coffey stills
Water: Loch Katrine
Visitor Center: -
Telephone: +44 (0) 141 429 2024
Website: -
