Glengoyne Distillery: Astride the Highland Line
Glengoyne at a glance
| Region | Highland (Dumgoyne, near Killearn) |
| Founded | 1833 |
| Owner | Ian Macleod Distillers |
| Visitor centre | Yes |
| Tours | Tours & tastings daily — book |
| Opening | Daily — check the website |
| Website | glengoyne.com |
Overview
Glengoyne, at the foot of Dumgoyne hill north of Glasgow, has a lovely quirk: it sits right on the Highland Line, so its stills are in the Highlands but its warehouses, across the road, are in the Lowlands. It makes an unpeated, sherried Highland malt using famously slow distillation, and is one of the most popular and accessible distilleries to visit from Glasgow.
The history
Glengoyne was founded in 1833 in a wooded glen that had long sheltered illicit stills. It has always prided itself on using air-dried (unpeated) barley and the slowest stills in Scotland, and is now owned by the independent family firm Ian Macleod Distillers.
The water & the land
Glengoyne is made with water from a stream running off Dumgoyne hill into the glen.
Glengoyne had no founding clan, but its glen straddles the old frontier between Lowland and Highland — historic Buchanan and MacGregor country on the edge of the Campsie Fells.
Visiting
Glengoyne has a visitor centre and runs tours and tastings daily — book ahead; check the website. Just off the A81 north of Glasgow, at the start of the West Highland Way country, it’s one of the easiest Highland distilleries to reach.
Nearby & more whisky
- North at Doune: Deanston
- Towards the loch: Loch Lomond
- The whole picture: Scotch whisky — the full guide
Sources
- Glengoyne distillery — Wikipedia.
- Glengoyne / Ian Macleod.