The Clydeside Distillery
Glasgow has always played a major role in the story of Whisky.
In the second half of the19th century Glasgow’s industrial economy was thriving and alongside shipbuilding, whisky was big business. Alfred Barnard’s legendary ‘The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom’, first published in 1887, lists no fewer than seven operational distilleries within the then city boundaries: ‘Port Dundas, Dundas Hill, Adelphi, Loch Katrine, Yoker, Provanmill and Auchintoshan(sic)’ . The city’s strategic location along the River Clyde facilitated the export of whisky to markets both domestic and international, making it a key player in the whisky industry.
Despite all this, at the start of the 21st Century there was no longer a single working malt distillery within Glasgow City (Auchentoshan in nearby Clydebank being the sole survivor of Barnard’s initial survey). Things were set to change in the mid 2010’s with the arrival of The Glasgow Distillery Co in 2015, quickly followed by the Morrison family opening The Clydeside Distillery within the former pumphouse of The Queen’s Dock in 2017.
As the name suggests, The Clydeside distillery draws heavily upon its Clydeside location on our tour in the form of an introductory film told from the point of view of a wise cracking shipyard worker. This is then followed be a self-led museum style exhibition giving an overview of the history of the local area, particularly Glasgow’s industrial past as well as an introduction to the Scotch Whisky industry in general.
The production area containing the mash tun and the washbacks may be the cleanest looking production area I’ve seen at any distillery. The shipbuilding plimsoll line inspired branding being carried through to the distillery kit is a nice touch. The black, red and white sits nicely against the copper of the mash tun.
Similarly, the still house is a lovely space with the wash and spirit still contained within a glass box with fantastic views South towards Govan and the Science Centre as well as West towards the Tall Ship and the Zaha Hadid designed Riverside Museum.
Our tour guide Matthew did a great job of being entertaining and informative, particularly during the tasting element of the tour. We tasted a ‘Sherry Cask’ matured whisky and a ‘Bourbon Cask’ matured whisky, both at 46% with no further detail given. A good base-line to help people understand what characteristics each is likely to bring to a finished whisky. From there we tried the Stobcross, an expression made up of a marriage of Ex-Sherry and Ex-Bourbon Casks.
The staff in the shop were fantastic and offered us a taste of pretty much everything The Clydeside currently offers, including their new make spirit. In the end we opted for the 6 year old hand fill option which was priced at £61.50 inclusive of a 10% tour discount.
Cask #995, Bottle 147, Ex Bourbon (Oz Tyler), Distilled 22nd June 2018, 61% ABV.
The basic Clydeside Tour is quite clearly geared towards the general tourist rather than the whisky enthusiast. The time spent in the production areas felt very brief compared to the preamble in the museum / film screening etc. Having said that, we were under no illusions what with us being on the entry level tour and we still had a thoroughly enjoyable whisky afternoon, particularly due to the generous and engaging distillery staff.
Between The Clydeside and The Glasgow Distillery Co, Glasgow is most definitely back on the malt distillery map.