The 10-year-old distillery that’s already a force in the whisky world
Acclaimed malts have put Annandale on the global stage.
The Scottish malt whisky industry is thriving, with the number of distilleries growing year on year. However, in an industry where reputation can take decades to establish it’s rare for a newcomer to garner not just national, but global, recognition and a string of prestigious awards all within its first 10 years.
But that’s what Annandale Distillery has achieved in the short time since the first spirit ran off the stills back in 2014.
This year in particular there’s a celebratory feel at the Dumfries and Galloway distillery. A series of 10-year-old whiskies has been released to impressive acclaim – and demand – and it’s been a time of reflection for the team, taking stock of just how far Annandale has come in such a short space of time.
“We launched our first 10-year-old whisky in November of last year, and we’ve been slowly releasing them cask by cask since,” said Lee Medd, head of place marketing, tourism development, and events at the Annandale Distillery Group.
“That’s what we do here at Annandale, we only bottle when the whisky is sensorially mature. We’ve been very picky about releasing those casks. As we’ve bottled each one, they’ve all sold out almost right away. The first three casks sold out within 36 hours.”
The distillery has been meticulously renovated and now includes a café and whisky shop.
Man o’Swords: The perfect encapsulation of distillery’s spirit
Currently, there is just one 10-year-old whisky available to buy (with more being released later in the summer), the Man o’ Swords Fresh Ex Bourbon. With Father’s Day approaching it would certainly make a very special gift for whisky loving dads, but with the 10-year-old whiskies in such demand – don’t wait to order.
Lee told us more about it: “Man o’ Swords is our peated whisky, named after Robert the Bruce, and what we’ve found with this release is that it encapsulates everything we’ve been looking to achieve with our single casks.
“It’s got a little bit of orchard fruits in there and Granny Smith apples, hints of subtle wood smoke and toffee and vanilla.”
Coming of age in the whisky world
The release of the 10-year-old whiskies marks a definitive moment in the evolution of Annandale Distillery. As Lee puts it: “It means we’ve grown up.”
He explained more: “The feedback we’re receiving from people buying our 10-year-olds is that Annadale whisky has always been beautiful to drink, and in the eyes of many people it’s always punched above its weight in terms of age.
“Now we have the 10-year-old age statement, for many within the whisky industry and for many whisky fans, that gives them something to compare us against. We’re being taken more seriously in the eyes of the whisky audience.”
Professor David Thomson’s passion for the distillery has reversed the fortunes of the historical site.
Mark Trainor, Annadale Distillery manager, agrees. He’s worked at the distillery for over 12 years, starting even before it produced its first whisky, and he’s incredibly proud of what the team has achieved in the last decade of production.
He believes it’s the passion that the distillery owners Professor David Thomson and his wife Teresa Church have in the project that makes Annandale – the spirit and the place – so special.
He told us: “I started off as the maintenance man. The build was half done when I started so I took over much of what needed done to get it finished. Even at that point I could feel the love affair that David and Teresa had with the buildings and the place, and for me that was just inspirational.
“I then started in the mash house as the mash man, and as time went on two friends joined me working here and basically the three of us ran the distillery for the first few years. As time went on more money was invested and we went onto full production.”
Mark continued: “Eight years later and I’m in a different role, but we’re still doing things as we did 10 years ago. We’re still single malt, single cask, cask strength whisky.”
Mark Trainor, left, the Annadale Distillery manager, was hands on in the renovation of the distillery.
Results beyond all expectations
The distillation process at Annandale was designed by the late Dr Jim Swan, known as ‘the Einstein of whisky’, and even with such a legendary name involved in the design it’s fair to say the resulting new-make spirit exceeded expectations.
“In the early days of the distillery I went on a cruise to promote Annandale’s whisky in Scandinavia,” Mark told us. “Nobody knew us, nobody was interested in such a young whisky. But as soon as I got someone to taste it, it was unbelievable. People were even asking me to sign bottles!
“The next thing was we sold out of everything. The whisky was only three years old then, people initially wrote it off and weren’t interested. But once they tasted it all that changed.”
He added: “We’ve always been proud of our new-make spirit. We’ve always known it’s phenomenal. And a good new-make spirit is always going to make good whisky.”
Casks from 2014 are gradually being bottled and are proving immensely popular.
A success that spreads across the community
The whisky may take centre stage at Annadale, but the successes are far reaching. Owner David is the driving force behind making the distillery carbon neutral – in fact, it will be the first distillery in the world to achieve that.
And the positive effects the distillery’s evolution is having on the wider local community and area are equally as impressive.
Lee explained: “The distillery building was built in 1836, was left in ruin for 100 years and was days away from demolition when David and Teresa found it, took it on and brought the team in to revive it.
“Now, 95% of our staff are from Annan. David and Teresa have created good skilled jobs in an economy and area that wouldn’t have had that otherwise.”
A local man himself, Mark is immensely proud of his team and greatly respects David and Teresa’s dedication to employing local people and using local contractors. He said: “When you go into our stillhouse or mash house it’s immaculate. It’s kept pristine as with the work David and Teresa have done to this place, they deserve that.
“I’ll be here to the day I retire, but before then I want to make sure that David and Teresa’s legacy lives on for them and will be remembered for the next 100 years.”
Explore the full range of Annandale’s whisky, arrange a tour of the distillery and discover a perfect Father’s Day gift that can be delivered to your door at the Annandale website.
