Ardgowan Distillery, Inverkip: Whisky Returns to Inverclyde

Overview

Ardgowan is the first new distillery in Inverclyde for more than a century. It stands on the Ardgowan Estate at Inverkip, on the Firth of Clyde. It revives the name of the old Ardgowan distillery in Greenock, which ran from 1896 until German bombs destroyed it in the Greenock Blitz of May 1941. The new £20 million distillery broke ground in November 2023, filled its first cask on 20 June 2025, and opened for tours in August 2025. The estate has belonged to the same family, the Shaw-Stewarts, since a royal grant in 1404.

Where it is

The distillery is on the Ardgowan Estate just outside Inverkip, on the A78 coast road about 5 miles south-west of Greenock. Glasgow is about 30 miles east, around 40 minutes by the M8 and A78, and Inverkip has its own railway station. Across the Clyde are the Cowal hills and Dunoon.

The full history

Ardgowan and the Stewarts

In 1404 King Robert III granted the lands of Ardgowan to his natural son, John Stewart. His descendants, the Shaw-Stewart baronets, still live at Ardgowan House. The present owner, Sir Ludovic Shaw-Stewart, 12th Baronet, backed the distillery as the centrepiece of the estate’s regeneration. See Clan Stewart.

The old Ardgowan distillery, 1896–1941

Greenock was a great Victorian industrial town of sugar refineries, shipyards and distilleries. The Ardgowan distillery was built there in 1896, mainly making grain whisky for blending. On the nights of 6 and 7 May 1941 the Luftwaffe bombed Greenock heavily. The distillery and its bonded warehouses burned, and the whisky fire lit up the town for the bombers. The distillery was never rebuilt.

Planning to production

The modern company was formed in 2016–17, and Inverclyde Council approved plans for a Lowland malt distillery in March 2017. Raising the money took years. The distillery was first meant to open in 2019, and it sought investors in Britain and America. Ground was finally broken in November 2023. Whisky veteran Willie Phillips, a former chairman of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, joined the team. The first cask was filled in June 2025, and tours began that August. While its own spirit matures, the company sells the Clydebuilt range, named after the Clyde’s shipbuilding trades, including the Draughtsman blended malt and the Riveter single grain. It also makes gin in a still named “Marie”.

How it’s made

Ardgowan makes Lowland single malt in copper pot stills in a modern building designed to sit low in the landscape. Its gin still, “Marie”, was named by visitors at an open day in 2023. The first single malt will be released once the spirit has matured for at least three years.

Clans, kings & the Clyde

• The Stewarts of Ardgowan, holders of the estate since 1404.
• The Lamonts and Campbells held Cowal across the firth. See Clan Campbell.
• James Watt, whose improvements to the steam engine helped drive the Industrial Revolution, was born in Greenock in 1736.
• Shipbuilding: Greenock and Port Glasgow built thousands of ships, from sailing clippers to wartime convoy escorts, which is where the “Clydebuilt” name comes from.

Churches, lochs & the coast

• The Old West Kirk, Greenock: the first church built after the Reformation in Scotland, in 1591, and the original resting place of Burns’s “Highland Mary”, Mary Campbell, who died in Greenock in 1786.
• Loch Thom, the reservoir in the hills above Greenock, built in the 1820s to power the town’s mills. It is a lovely walk with views over the Clyde. See our lochs guide.
• Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park runs behind Inverkip, with moorland walks and the Greenock Cut aqueduct path.
• For carved stones and ancient sites, see our standing stones guide.

Visiting

Ardgowan opened its visitor centre and tours in 2025. Check ardgowandistillery.com and book ahead. Combine it with the coast at Inverkip and Wemyss Bay, and the ferries to Bute and Cowal.

Nearby distilleries

• Auchentoshan, Clydebank (about 20 miles): triple-distilled Lowland malt.
• The Glasgow Distillery, Hillington (about 22 miles).
• The Clydeside, Glasgow (about 28 miles).
• Loch Lomond, Alexandria (about 25 miles via the Erskine Bridge).
• Lochlea, Ayrshire (about 40 miles).

The Glasgow & Clyde Whisky Trail and the whisky hub cover the region.

Sources

• Ardgowan distillery — Wikipedia.
• Ardgowan Through the Ages.
• Scotch Whisky magazine.