Annandale Distillery: A Victorian Distillery Reborn in Burns Country

Overview

Annandale is a Victorian distillery brought back from the dead. It was founded at Annan in Dumfriesshire in 1836, bought by Johnnie Walker in 1893, and closed in 1924. Its buildings then stood empty for most of a century. In 2007 they were bought by Professor David Thomson and Teresa Church, who spent about £10.5 million restoring them. The first casks were filled in November 2014. Annandale’s two signature whiskies are named after two famous local Roberts: Man O’ Words (unpeated) for Robert Burns and Man O’ Sword (peated) for Robert the Bruce, whose family were Lords of Annandale.

Where it is

The distillery is on the northern edge of Annan, near the Solway Firth, just off the A75. Gretna and the English border are about 8 miles east, Dumfries about 16 miles west and Carlisle about 18 miles. Glasgow is about 1 hour 30 minutes away by the M74.

The full history

1836–1924: the first Annandale

George Donald founded the distillery in 1836, using Solway barley and local peat. In 1893 it was bought by John Walker & Sons of Kilmarnock, who were building Johnnie Walker into a world brand and needed malt. Annandale never recovered from the slump after the First World War, and Walker closed it in 1924. The well-built stone buildings survived.

2007–2014: the revival

Professor David Thomson, an economist, and his wife Teresa Church bought the derelict distillery in 2007. Helped by a government grant in 2008, they restored the listed buildings, including the old maltings and kiln, and built a new stillhouse. The visitor centre opened and the first casks were filled in November 2014, ninety years after the last.

Man O’ Words and Man O’ Sword

The first single malts came out in June 2018. Rugby legend Doddie Weir filled the first peated cask, and its bottles raised money for his motor neurone disease charity, the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. In 2019 Annandale spirit went into the Outlaw King blend, linked to the Netflix film about Robert the Bruce. Annandale is also one of the few distilleries that sell whole casks to private buyers, and it owns The Globe Inn in Dumfries, Burns’s favourite tavern.

How it’s made

Annandale has one wash still and two spirit stills, with a capacity of about 260,000 litres a year. Water comes from a borehole on site. It makes both unpeated and peated spirit, and much of it is matured in first-fill casks.

Clans, kings & poets

• The Bruces, Lords of Annandale. In the 12th century David I granted Annandale to Robert de Brus. The family’s first castle was the motte at Annan, and later Lochmaben, about 12 miles north. Robert the Bruce is sometimes said to have been born at Lochmaben. See Clan Bruce.
• The Johnstones and the Maxwells fought one of the bloodiest feuds of the Border, ending at the Battle of Dryfe Sands near Lockerbie in 1593. The Maxwells’ great triangular castle at Caerlaverock is 12 miles west.
• Robert Burns worked as an exciseman in Dumfries from 1789 and died there in 1796. In his last weeks he took a sea-water cure at the Brow Well, near Ruthwell.

Churches, stones & lochs

• The Ruthwell Cross, about 6 miles west: an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon cross carved with runes from the poem The Dream of the Rood. It is one of the most important early medieval monuments in Europe.
• The Lochmaben Stone, a great boulder by the Solway near Gretna, is all that remains of a prehistoric stone circle and was a traditional meeting place for Border truces. See our standing stones guide.
• Castle Loch, Lochmaben, a nature reserve beside the ruins of the Bruce castle. See our lochs guide.
• Gretna Green, famous for runaway weddings, is 15 minutes east.

Visiting

Annandale has a five-star visitor centre with daily guided tours and a café in the old maltings. Book ahead in busy months on annandaledistillery.com. It’s an easy stop just off the A75 or the M74.

Nearby distilleries

• The Borders, Hawick (about 45 miles).
• Bladnoch, Wigtown (about 70 miles), with tours.
• Galloway, Newton Stewart (about 65 miles).
• Lochlea, Ayrshire (about 70 miles).

The Southern Scotland Whisky Trail and the whisky hub cover the region.

Sources

• Annandale distillery — Wikipedia.
• Annandale Distillery, official site.
• Historic Environment Scotland (Ruthwell Cross, Caerlaverock).