Adelphi looking for new investors for distillery

By Kristy Dorsey
Published on Sunday 5 February 2012 12:00

WHISKY bottler Adelphi is looking to bring in fresh investment as it presses ahead with plans to build a woodchip-powered distillery on the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula in the West Highlands.

The facility, which is still subject to planning permission, is initially expected to produce up to 100,000 litres annually with capacity to rise to 300,000 litres.

The owners of Adelphi, Keith Falconer and Donald Houston, are preparing to bring in additional investors should the multi-million pound project go ahead. The distillery will employ ten staff and is expected to generate additional jobs from increased tourist and foresting activity.

Adelphi is hoping for a quick decision from planning authorities at Highland Council before local government elections in May bring their inevitable delay to regular business.

Builders are set to begin work on the year-long project immediately should approval be granted.

News of the plans to bring in fresh investment for the project comes as the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) trade body prepares to give MSPs details of the broader number of careers available within the industry.

The SWA will use its annual reception at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday to tell politicians about the range of work going on within the whisky industry in their constituencies.

Those jobs would be added to by Adelphi’s distillery, which would produce both peated and non-peated whiskies from the site at Glen More, less than two miles from Adelphi’s head office at Glenborrodale Castle.

The site forms part of the Ardnamurchan Estate run by Adelphi co-owner Houston.

The distillery would mark the return of in-house production by Adelphi, whose roots stretch back to its foundation in Glasgow’s Gorbals in 1826.

Distilling ceased in 1907 following a series of ownership changes, with the company’s name and bonded warehouses falling into disuse thereafter.

Since its relocation to the Highlands in 1993, Adelphi has specialised in bottling single casks of rare malts purchased from other distillers.

Adelphi’s sales in the current year are forecast to be in the region of £750,000. Though its products are exported to more than 25 countries, the company is finding it increasingly difficult to source the high-quality Scotch it requires.

“Demand is definitely overtaking supply,” said Alex Bruce, sales and marketing director at Adelphi. “Also, we are very selective – we only take about one in every 40 casks we are offered, which makes meeting demand that bit more difficult.”

The boutique distillery will be heated entirely from burning the by-products of nearby forestry operations on the estate.

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