Glasgow distillery raises glass to inaugural single malt after high demand

The first independent distillery to open in Glasgow in more than a century has sold out of its first ever single-malt whisky release after 'phenomenally high demand'.

The Glasgow Distillery Company said the release of 1770 had sparked international interest, with applications to the online purchase ballot coming in from as far afield as Hong Kong, Australia, North America and Japan, as well as “huge” interest closer to home.

It comes after the distillery recently secured £6 million in investment from its private investors and the Clydesdale Bank.

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The funding boost has allowed the team to order more stills and invest in other areas of the business which will ultimately see the distillery double its whisky production in 2019 to one million bottles per annum.

Launched in March, the whisky ballot was quickly oversubscribed and the decision was taken to both close it early and to limit purchases to a single bottle per person.

With just 5,000 bottles of the first release existing globally, successful applicants for 1770 Glasgow Single Malt Scotch Whisky were contacted on closure of the ballot and the product was sold out within days.

Liam Hughes, chief executive and co-founder of the business, said: “We couldn’t be more thrilled at the reception our first single malt whisky has received.

“We have been blown away by the demand generated, and in the end, we had to limit the bottles to one per person to try and ensure as many people as possible got their chance to buy our inaugural release.”

The Glasgow Distillery Company was established in 2012 by Hughes, Mike Hayward and Ian McDougall. Together, they opened the city’s first independent single malt distillery since 1902. Glasgow once had some 40 distilleries.