Bladnoch Single Casks Virtual Tasting with Master Distiller Dr. Nick Savage

Join us in another virtual tasting as we present to you a very special line-up of Bladnoch Single Cask whiskies! Presenting the whiskies to us is the man who created them, Master Distiller, Dr. Nick Savage, who will be joining us all the way from Scotland on the night.

Brief history on Bladnoch
Bladnoch Distillery was established in 1817 by Thomas and John McClelland. The distillery is located south of Glasgow, in Wigtonshire, Dumfries & Galloway. Bladnoch's production had always been low and intermittent, with the ownership of the distillery constantly changing. Prominent owners include Dunville & Co (1922-1937), Inver House Distillers (1973-1983), Arthur Bell & Sons (1983-1985), Guiness Group later Diageo (1985-1993). In 1994, two brothers from Northern Ireland, Colin & Raymond Armstrong buys the distillery from Diageo with the intention of turning it into a holiday village. They later wanted to start making whisky there again (contrary to the terms of sale).

It took them 6 years of persuading Diageo to allow them to make 100,000 litres a year, way below capacity and just enough to turn a profit. Most of the distillery's profits came from tourism, events and wareshousing rented out to other producers. Production remained intermittent at Bladnoch until finally being mothballed around 2009/10. The brothers finally put the distillery into administration in 2014, which brings us to the current owners of Bladnoch.

In July 2015, Australian businessman David Prior, who had just sold off the "five:am" yoghurt brand for $80M, purchased Bladnoch along with its existing stocks. Under the direction of industry veteran of 46 years, Master Distiller Ian MacMillan, created a few lines of single malts such as Samsara, Adela and Talia using the matured stocks. He also created a new blended whisky called Pure Scot. Production officially restarted in June 2017, with the current spirit style being more typical Lowland-like, grassy and malty. In 2017, Bladnoch also celebrated its 200th Anniversary.

In 2019, Ian leaves Bladnoch to establish a whisky consultancy business. He is replaced with current Master Distiller Dr. Nick Savage, ex-Master Distiller of Macallan. Dr. Nick had also previously worked at William Grant & Son's grain facility, Girvan, and prior to that he had worked at Diageo.