Annandale distillery celebrates 10 year anniversary with launch of first aged whisky

Annandale distillery | Supplied

The distillery, which was established in 1836 and shut in 1919 when then owners Johnnie Walker ceased production, was brought back to life in 2014 by owners Teresa Church and Prof David Thomson.

The couple were made aware of the distillery after reading the book Scotch Missed, which is about lost distilleries. They bought it in 2007 and, after a multimillion pound restoration of the buildings, which had fallen badly into disrepair, the distillery started production 10 years ago, laying down its first liquid to age. With a focus on single cask, single malt whisky, this charming distillery (which has a fab cafe and on site self catering accommodation) is ‘historically correct, but with a modern twist,’ according to Ms Church. It was designed to house stills which were made to specification with help from the late Jim Swan - tributes to whom were paid during a celebration of the anniversary on 22 November.

Ahead of this milestone moment, we visited Annandale to record a special bonus episode of our food and drink podcast, Scran. Our day started with a tour from Emma O'Neil, who told us about the history of Annadale and what made it unique from the start. She said: “We were established in 1836 by George Donald who was an excise officer, which meant he was traveling about the area taxing anyone who made spirit, which didn’t make him very popular. So he flipped the script and along with seven other people from Annan and the surrounding area, they set up a syndicate and established the distillery. We are a lowland distillery but are unique in the fact that George Donald had access to a peat bog, so we were making spirit from the getgo. He ran the distillery for about 50 years with his wife Margaret - who ran the stills - and their 12 children.”

We also chatted with James Rogerson, Annandale's spirit and tasting expert, Mark Trainor who is head of production, buildings and estates at Annandale and Grant Warwick who is a cask custodian. These members of staff all had very different jobs before starting at the distillery. James told us about how he started as a tour guide, eight years ago, before going on to work in most departments before getting his role as spirit and tasting expert. That means he’s in charge of the cask stock held in the bonded warehouses as well as nosing and tasting the whisky. Of the cask programme, James said: “As much as we do offer private ownership of casks, we’re very keen on laying down a wood policy for the future of Annadale distillery so we can offer a variety of single cask, single malts, which is something that we really push to be a gold standard product.”

This focus on single cask, single malts is relatively rare for a distillery, as James explained: “Most distilleries will do the odd single cask release but most of their stock is vatted together so they’ll bring in maybe 1000 casks, vat them together and look for something that’s as consistent as possible every time. Whereas we take individual units, which are the casks that are all unique, and we like to celebrate the fact that every single cask has got a unique characteristic to it. The fact that you can have two casks, filled within a minute of each other, sitting in the same warehouse is spectacular to look at.” The distillery’s whiskies - Man ‘O Words, Man ‘O Swords and Storyman - are now joined by the 10 year old Man O’Words from cask 39, a Re-fill ex-Bourbon.

Mark Trainor was one of the first members of staff to join the team, 11 years ago. Former mechanic and RAC breakdown patrol, Mark has worked his way up through different roles - including mashman - to become head of production, buildings and estates. Mark explained that many of the staff have come from different backgrounds, but the vast majority are local. He said: “We've got folk that worked on the roads, we’ve got a butcher that works here, a mental health nurse - we’ve got all different people that come from all different backgrounds. Once you start here, the love you get for it is great.”

The staff have grown from three to around 50, with 70 percent of staff from Annan, which is something David and Teresa are very passionate about. Mark is in charge of the bonded warehouse at the distillery as well as other businesses including the Comlongon Bank Museum, Comlongon Castle and its three houses and a bakery and kitchen project next to the Globe Inn in Dumfries. Of what David and Teresa have achieved, Mark said: “we’ve got an amazing team here and I just want to make sure that everything works and everything is running well as this is the legacy of David and Teresa. They’ll be known for this for the next 200 years at least.”

On the podcast, we learned all about the restoration of the distillery, how they are doing things differently and the huge effort being put into creating a real community that is invested in its people and its legacy. The 10 year anniversary and whisky is obviously a huge point of pride for David and Teresa but it’s also a huge moment for the staff and local community, who have helped add to the next chapter in this distillery’s history.

To hear more about Annandale distillery, search Scran wherever you get your podcasts or find it here.