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1826 byggdes destilleriet
Lochnagar på norra sidan av Floden Dee av James
Robertson. Namnet Lochnagar kommer från berget (1155m)
strax intill. Arga grannar, illegala brännare, som
förargades över att en av dem skulle bli 'legal' och
brände helt sonika ner destilleriet till grunden.
Robertson byggde några år senare upp destilleriet men
det gick samma öde till mötes. 1845 byggde John Begg ett
destilleri på den södra stranden på floden vilket fick
namnet New Lochnagar. Detta år ses som det officiella år
då destilleriet grundades. John Begg tog tillfället i
akt tre år efter destilleriet var byggt och bjöd in
Drottningen som skulle bevista det närliggande Balmoral
Castle. Drottningen tackade för inbjudan och besökte
destilleriet den 12 september 1848. Efter det kunde Begg
stolt titulera whiskyn 'Royal' Lochnagar' samt utge sig
för att vara kunglig hovleverantör av whisky. Andra
kungligheter har besökt destilleriet, 1868 besökte
prinsen av Wales det. Även brittiska premiärministrar
har tagit svängen förbi före möten med kungligheter på
Balmoral. VAT69 som var en mäkta populär blendedwhisky
under sekelskiftet fick största delen av sin malt från
just Lochnagar. Efter 60 år i familjens ägo såldes det
till Distillers Company Limited och 'Royal' togs bort
från namnet en kortare tid under 70 och 80-talet. 1963
genomförde dåvarande ägarna UDV en omfattande
restaurering utan att tappa den traditionella karaktären
på området och whiskyn. Nu produceras större delen som
single malt whisky och Royal Lochnagar är idag en av
Diageos minsta destillerier. Whiskyn buteljeras
framförallt som en 12-åring. Varje år, 12:e september,
buteljeras dock en ngt exklusivare whisky för att hedra
drottningens besök på destilleriet 1848, Royal Lochnagar
Special Reserve för cirka £200.
Destilleriet tar sitt vatten från en damm bakom
destilleriet som är mjukt och torvsmakande. En stor del
av vattnet är smältvatten från berget Lochnagars
sluttningar. Framför destilleriet ligger även en damm
därifrån man tar vatten till kylningen. Kornet kommer
lättrökt från Roseisle, Elgin. Mäskkaret i rostfritt
stål utan topp tillhör en av höjdpunkterna på den
guidade turen. Destilleriet har tre jäskar i skotskt
lärkträ som de uppger ha en livslängd på hela 40 år. De
har två kopparpannor som är breda med korta tjocka
halsar. Spriten lagras i använda sherry och bourbonfat.
Det finns ett lagerhus på plats, tre våningar, där
whisky lagras för single malt. De få fat som används
till blended lagras centralt i Skottland. Buteljering
sker i Diageos buteljeringsanlägging i Leven, Fife.
Royal Lochnagar Distillery
Ballater
Aberdeenshire
AB35 5TB
Skottland
Tel: +44 (0)1339 742700
Besökare: Besökare tas emot oktober-april mån-fre
11.00-16.00. Maj-september mån-lör 10.00-17.00, sön
12.00-16.00. Guidad tur kostar £4 vilket man får igen £3
vid köp av 70cl flaska i butiken. Turerna går var 20:e
minut med sista turen en timme före stängning. Butiken
har ett stor sortiment från Diageos olika whiskys.
Servering finns inte. Missa heller inte imponerande
Balmoral Castle som ligger alldeles i närheten.
Ägare: Diageo
Hemsida:
http://www.discovering-distilleries.com/royallochnagar
Location: Crathie, Ballater, Aberdeenshire AB35 5TB
Roads: Off the B976 or from A93 Aberdeen - Braemar
Hours: 10am - 5pm, Mon - Fri; also Easter - October,
same times Sat and 11am - 4pm, Sun
Group bookings by appointment
Reception centre, shop, coffee shop, exhibition, (non-producing)
illicit still and audio-visual
Phone: 013397-42273
It is one thing for the new neighbours to drop in to
visit – quite another when they turn out to be Queen
Victoria, husband, children and lady-in-waiting. This is
what happened one evening in 1848 when John Begg looked
out of the window and saw the little gaggle of figures
walking up the driveway towards his house. He lived at
Crathie by the River Dee and the Royal Family were about
to buy the Balmoral estate next door to the new
distillery, which Begg had built just three years
earlier.
An early advertisement for John Begg’s Lochnagar whisky.
When the Royals arrived for their first stay at Balmoral,
Begg had handed in a note inviting them to ‘see round
his works’, rather impudently hinting that if they did
not get there by 6pm the following evening, they would
miss seeing the distillery in operation. No question of
extending the routine to accommodate Her Majesty – be
there or you miss it, he seemed, perhaps ingenuously, to
be saying.
The Queen and Prince Albert saw round, had the process
explained and dipped their fingers in the new spirit to
taste it while the little princes chased each other in
and out of the rows of casks. Some mature whisky was
taken from bond for sampling and, when Prince Albert
seemed about to drink it in a single gulp, Begg quickly
reminded him that it was cask-strength and very strong.
Subsequently Begg was permitted to describe his
distillery as ‘Royal’ Lochnagar and he was appointed, by
Royal warrant, ‘Distiller to Her Majesty’. Over the
years, further Royal Warrants followed. Sending that
note was the best thing for business Begg ever did.
Lochnagar Distillery became known as ‘Royal Lochnagar’
in the middle of the 19th century, after a visit from
Queen Victoria.
Scottish children try to trick each other by asking how
deep Lochnagar is, the catch being that it is not a loch
but a mountain. It not very high (3789 feet/1155m) but
it is bulky and dominates the smiling, tidy countryside
below.
The Royal connection has meant a string of famous
visitors to the distillery, many of them British prime
ministers taking an hour or so off between meetings with
the monarch of the day at Balmoral.
The first licensed Lochnagar distillery was set up on
the north side of the river in 1826 by a former illicit
distiller. That operation was burned down by fellow
smugglers aggrieved at one of their number ‘going legit’,
but it was rebuilt, so that in 1845 when Begg built his
distillery on the south bank he called it New Lochnagar.
The north-bank distillery had closed by 1860 and
Lochnagar continued to prosper although the Abergeldie
Estates consistently refused to sell the distillery the
grounds it occupied, preferring to see value being added
to their land through the erection of extensions and new
buildings necessary for Lochnagar’s continuing
development.
The distillery became a trust for Begg’s grandchildren,
then a limited company, and was rebuilt in 1906. In 1916
it was sold to DCL. Most of the 1906 structure
disappeared in the next rebuilding in 1963, although the
malt-barn and the kiln, out of use since 1966, still
survive, the latter reflecting evocatively in the
distillery pond on bright, windless days.
Braemar is the setting for the annual Royal Highland
Gathering, held in the late summer. As well as bands of
pipers, there are traditional Scottish sports such as
tossing the caber.
Lighting was by paraffin lamp until 1949 and power was
by waterwheel well into the 1960s. Most unusual are two
cast-iron steeping vessels, which are rectangular in
shape (these are almost universally cylindrical
elsewhere). Lochnagar has a lot of storage capacity for
raw materials so that distilling can continue when the
distillery is snowed in. There is a single pair of
stills but they are unusual in having lyne-arms (the
tapering conical top sections) which dip downwards; most
others are more or less horizontal. Each still has its
own worm-tub – cast iron instead of wood – to condense
the spirit.
Source of water: Lochnagar springs
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