Auchentoshan

Auchentoshan is currently the closest distillery to Glasgow, lying just to the north of the citys northern suburbs. The distillery practices triple distillation and is the only Scottish distillery to permanently do this (although others produce triple distilled spirit from time to time). All other Scottish distilleries only distil their spirit twice. Auchentoshans water for whisky production is taken from Loch Katrine in the Highlands, which is 35km north of the distillery. The visitor centre opened in 2004 and is one of Scotlands most visited and the whole core whisky range has just been re-designed and re-branded in early 2008. Auchentoshan translates as corner of the field from Gaelic. The distillery was officially granted a license and opened in 1823, although there is evidence that a distillery was operating on the same site from the late 1700s. At this time, Glasgow was surrounded by numerous distilleries but now Auchentoshan is the last. The distillery has changed ownership on several occasions in its history, including a spell under Scottish brewing firm, Tenants during the 1960s. The current owners are Morrison Bowmore, who took control in 1984 and were subsequently taken over themselves by Japanese drinks company, Suntory in 1994. They have radically turned around the distillerys fortunes, actively raised the profile and made its whisky much more popular.