Glencraig

Glencraig was produced throughout the 1960s and ‘70s at Glenburgie on Speyside as a blending malt on a pair of Lomond stills.

In 1955 Alastair Cunningham and his Hiram Walker colleague, draftsman Arthur Warren, developed the Lomond still to produce a light, fruity spirit for the likes of Ballantine’s. After a successful trial at Inverleven, the malt whisky distillery within the firm’s Dumbarton distillery complex in Dumbarton, it was decided to install a Lomond wash and spirit still at Glenburgie in Moray in 1958. Christened Glencraig, its newmake spirit was distinct from Glenburgie’s, and gave Hiram Walker another malt for its blends without having to invest in a whole new distillery. Unfortunately the so-called rectifying plates in the neck of Lomond stills were notoriously hard to clean, and in 1981 they were abandoned at Glenburgie. Since then occasional bottles of Glencraig single malt have been released by Duncan Taylor, Gordon & MacPhail, Signatory and the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Today Glenburgie distillery is operated by Chivas Brothers, its whisky still largely used for the Ballantine’s blend.