Overseas demand gives revived Glenglassaugh distillery a maiden profit

A SCOTTISH distillery that reopened just three years ago posted its maiden profit on Monday thanks to strong demand for its older whiskies from Asia, Russia and the United States.

Glenglassaugh, near Portsoy in Aberdeenshire, was mothballed by Famous Grouse maker Edrington in 1986 and was then bought by Scaent, a Dutch group, for £5 million in 2008.

Managing director Stuart Nickerson said that the move into the black has come much earlier than he had predicted.

He said: “It had been expected that it would take at least seven years and possibly as much as ten years for Glenglassaugh to turn a profit. That estimate was based on the performance of other distilleries that had recommenced production after a period of mothballing.

“None of the models we compared ourselves with had such a long gap between closing and reopening as Glenglassaugh, so that in itself makes the achievement even more surprising and exceptional.”

The thirst for whisky in emerging markets in Asia and the resurgence of traditional markets such as the US have helped Glenglassaugh to turn a profit of £100,000 for 2011 on the back of £1m in sales.

The firm bought about 500 older casks of Glenglassaugh whisky when it took over the distillery and has been selling bottles of the vintage Scotch to 25 countries.

Nickerson said: “Glenglassaugh already had a loyal following in parts of Europe, but we built on that by working with specialist importers in our target markets.”

He added that the company had also experience strong demand for its small “octave” casks of whisky, which are bought by companies, whisky clubs and even brides looking for presents for their grooms.

Glenglassaugh, which was founded in 1875, has been refurbished to produce Revival, a single malt that tries to emulate the taste of the whiskies being produced at the site up until the early 1980s.