Charles MacLean has spent almost thirty years researching, writing and lecturing about Scotch Whisky. In his new monthly column he is here to celebrate the release of Glen Garioch Founders Reserve from Aberdeenshire. Charles has been researching the history of the distillery and provides his thoughts on this whisky.
Deep amber in hue, the first scents are reminiscent of nutty muesli, with chocolate chips and steamed cream. Behind this a hint of Elastoplast, gradually becoming faintly smoky. Very spicy to taste at full strength, spritzich and warming; dark chocolate lingers in the after-taste. Water settles it down. The nose now gains a fruity dimension (dried orange peel?), but overall it remains dense.
Occasion: Convivial; drink any time in good company! With water or straight over ice.
Comment: The owners of Glengarioch Distillery are being modest when they fix 1797 as the founding date of their distillery: my researches suggest 1794, and possibly even 1785. Either way, it is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. The malt itself deserves to be better known, and I have no doubt that this newly released expression - handsomely presented in a heavy bespoke bottle, with a label which manages to recollect the distillery’s long history while having contemporary feel – will do just this.
History
First the name. "Garioch" is pronounced ˜Geery". The distillery is ˜Glengarioch" [˜Glengeery] but the malt whisky made there has long been known as ˜Glen Garioch" [two words]. It is situated in the market tow of Oldmeldrum, which was formerly known as ˜Old Meldrum"The Foundation of the Distillery
Cereal crops have been grown in the Garioch for over a thousand years the district is known as the granary of Aberdeenshire - while the crystal springs which supply Oldmeldrum made the town famous for its beer. So it is not surprising that a licensed distillery and brewery was established here as early as 1794 making it one of the oldest operating distilleries in Scotland. The founder was John Manson, aged twenty-seven; he was joined four years later by his nineteen year old brother, Alexander.The site chosen was on the very edge of Old Meldrum, with a track connecting it to the main road between Aberdeen and Banff useful for getting goods to market. It was formerly the site of a tannery - also owned by the Manson family and supplied with water from the Parcock Hills.
The Mansons had been living in the Garioch for several generations, although the family hailed originally from Caithness. They seem to have been relatively prosperous farmers, merchants and tanners. At least one was a vintner: a stone in a nearby graveyard, records Alex Manson vintner in Old Meldrum who lived an honest credibl[e] life who died 10th October 1765, aged 65.
In 1837, the year before John Manson died, they were joined by his son, also named John (1804-1877). He took over the business, and as well as operating the distillery, opened a snuff mill, continued the family's interest in tanning and acquired farms in the neighbourhood. He finished life as a small-scale landowner, with the proud title Laird of Fingask, derived from his main farm, and married Elizabeth Blaikie, a cousin of the explorer, David Livingstone.
Mosquito Manson
John and Elizabeth's second son, Patrick (1844-1922), was the first person to demonstrate conclusively the connection between mosquitos and diseases such as elephantiasis, and to postulate the origins of malaria, earning for himself the soubriquet Mosquito Manson. One of his tests involved locking a healthy volunteer, his son, in a room of mosquitos known to carry malaria and proving the volunteer became infected once bitten!Soon after graduating from Aberdeen University he was appointed to a post in Formosa (now Taiwan). Later he moved to where he first became interested in the connection between mosquitos and malaria. After many years of painstaking research he was able to prove that the insects transmitted the disease a revolutionary theory which would have profound broader implications for medicine. Prior to this it was believed that malaria was caused by a noxious vapour from the sun which destabilised the European constitution.
In 1883 Dr. Manson moved to Hong Kong where, as well as earning the reputation as the best snipe-shot in China, where he established the colony's first medical school. He also founded a dairy to supply fresh milk to the poor and sick, importing cows and their cattlemen from Aberdeenshire.
On his return to the United Kingdom he worked in London, where he founded what is now the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, becoming its first lecturer and teacher. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1900 and was knighted for his services to medicine three years later.
On his death in 1922, a memorial service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral, at which the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, delivered a tribute. He was buried next day in Allenvale Cemetery, Aberdeen. A fellow medical graduate, Sir Alexander Ogston, described him as: “Probably the most distinguished man of science who ever graduated in medicine in the University of Aberdeen.
The Sanderson era
Glengarioch Distillery remained in the ownership of John Manson & Company until 1884, when it was bought by a firm of wine and spirits merchants from Leith, J.F. Thomson & Co. Two years later they were joined by fellow Leither, William Sanderson.Sanderson was one of the most influential figures in the whisky trade, and the creator of VAT 69. Glen Garioch became the heart malt for this famous blend, contributing to the accolade bestowed by The War Office Times and Naval Review as the finest whisky sold at the present time.
William was succeeded by his son and grandson, and during the hard trading times of the Great Depression, the latter sold the family company to Booth's the gin distillers. In 1937 Booth's and Sanderson's, with Glengarioch Distillery, joined the Distillers Company Limited (DCL) then and now (under its present name, Diageo) the largest whisky distiller in the world.
Morrison Bowmore
DCL was never happy about Glengarioch's production levels, on account of œchronic water shortages and limited production potential, and in 1970 sold the distillery to the Glasgow whisky broker (and owner of Bowmore Distillery), Stanley P. Morrison for £150,000. He died next year and was succeeded by his son, Brian, who gradually sold the family's shares to the company's best customer, Suntory Distillers of Japan.Brian Morrison set about finding an alternative water source and with the help of a local farmer found what came to be called the ˜silent spring of Coutens Farm“ it could neither be seen or heard, but it flowed in sufficient abundance to increase production ten-fold.
The distillery was expanded from two to three stills in 1972, and to four in 1973, when it was largely rebuilt, although the floor maltings were retained and peating levels increased, the peat coming from New Pitsligo Moss nearby. Glen Garioch was bottled as a single malt for the first time in 1975. In 2004 a visitor centre was created in the former cooperage.
