La Martiniquaise

French drinks company operating two Scottish distilleries.

La Martiniquaise was established in 1934 by Jean Cayard to act as a rum importer and distributor. After the Second World War, in 1946, the firm diversified into the marketing of Cognac, calvados, kirsch, Madeira, Port and natural sweet wine, going on to launch Label 5 Scotch whisky in 1969. The Glen Turner subsidiary was established in 1981 but did not start operations until March 2004, and during that year the company’s first Scotch whisky maturation and bottling facility was developed at Bathgate, in West Lothian. The decision was taken to switch from buying all Scotch whisky from external sources and blending and bottling in France to producing spirit in Scotland, and then maturing, blending and bottling it there. Accordingly, in 2008 Glen Moray malt distillery was acquired from Glenmorangie, while a new grain distillery was constructed at Bathgate, with production commencing in 2011. As well as bottling whisky in Scotland, Glen Turner exports bulk spirit to La Martiniquaise operations in France.