Glenkinchie

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Founded

1837

Region

Lowland

Status

Operational

Company

Diageo

Production type

Single Malt

Production capacity

2,500,000 litres per year

Glenkinchie is a malt distillery located in Pencaitland in the East Lothian region of Scotland. It is currently part of the Scotch whisky holdings of Diageo and is particularly important to its Johnnie Walker blends, for which is the Lowland constituent of its four regional brands homes (along with Caol Ila, Clynelish and Cardhu).

The distillery was founded in 1837 by the Rate brothers and was initially unsuccessful. It was revived in 1881 before being rebuilt in its current form nine years later. In 1914 it formed the Scottish Malt Distillers (SMD) group alongside Rosebank, St Magdalene, Grange and Clydesdale, which was later merged into the Distillers Company. By the end of the century, Glenkinchie was the only SMD distillery still in operation after it was chosen by United Distillers to be one of its six Classic Malts of Scotland.

The emergence of the Glenkinchie single malt brand was something of a surprise when it was launched in 1988 as part of the Classic Malts of Scotland. Its sister-distillery, Rosebank, had an established brand for example, however Glenkinchie was the chosen site to promote as its proximity to Edinburgh was believed to provide better opportunities for tourism.

The debut distillery bottling was a 10-year-old, which is the only of the original Classic Malts of Scotland age statements to have ever been discontinued after it was replaced by a 12-year-old in 2007. It remains the flagship and sole permanent expression to this day. The only other regular release in the annual Distillers Edition, while limited editions have been made available as part of the Diageo Special Releases over the years.

Current owner

1997-present

1986-1997

1925-1986

Scottish Malt Distillers

1914-1925

Glenkinchie Distillery
Pencaitland
Tranent
EH34 5ET
Scotland

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