Founded in 1879, this distillery had a troubled beginning with it almost losing all funding thanks to the Bank of Glasgow collapsing. Luckily the local Presbyterian church (despite being teetotalers) invested in the distillery, saving it. Quickly things changed when the quality of the whisky was noted enough that it was considered worthy for inclusion within Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse. After a devastating fire in 1962, the period from the 1960s to the 80s saw the distillery double in capacity due to investment, weirdly at a time when the rest of the whisky market was in recession.
In 1994 the distillery moved from blending contributions to single malt releases. This transition paid dividends as the whisky market moved towards premiumisation. The distillery itself is one of the few which has its own onsite cooperage, the distillery makes heavy use of sherry casks with occasional bourbon for particular releases.
