Royal Lochnagar

As we have added Royal Lochnagar to our lists for the first time, it is fitting that this should be our featured distillery. The distillery is a very traditional distillery with an output of just 500,000 litres per year. This put very much into context when you think that is only just over 7 litres of whisky for each of the 70,000 visitors the distillery receives each year. Diageo's new distillery at Roseisle will have a capacity of around 10 million litres per year so I wonder if they will be receiving 1.4 million visitors a year? Somehow I think not!

The distillery had a difficult start to life when it was originally licensed as it was alleged to have been burnt down by whisky smugglers in 1824. If only the founder had carried pistols like George Smith of Glenlivet. The Lochnagar distillery that we know today was built by John Begg in 1845 and was awarded the Royal warrant in 1845 when John Begg invited Prince Albert to visit the distillery. The following day he arrived along with Queen Victoria and their two children and the rest as they say is history. It has been reported that Queen Victoria enjoyed a drop of whisky in her Claret and therefore destroyed two classic drinks although other sources say she enjoyed it in her tea!

The distillery sets out to produce a light spirit which goes against the convention of tall stills light spirit and short stills heavy spirit - the classic Glenmorangie / Macallan analogy. The stills at Lochnagar are tiny with the wash still holding 7000 litres and the spirit still holding just 5500 litres however they say that when firing the stills they do it in such away as to control the conversation between the copper and the spirit to produce the maximum contact and therefore producing a lighter spirit. The middle cut is still collected using the old water test using the stillman's skill to know when to take the cut rather than taking it after a certain time. The spirit is condensed in traditional worm tubs, which is believed to create a heavier spirit although most authors do not commit to an answer on this issue by stating that it merely makes a difference.

The fermentation is also relatively long between 72 and 120 hours which also helps to produce a lighter spirit. The fact that they are only required to do four mashes a week allows them to have such a long fermentation a luxury that is not often afforded at distilleries these days.

Posted on 26/03/09
Royal Lochnagar

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