Prince Charles continued his distillery tour this week when he visited the Glen Garioch Distillery in Oldmeldrum.
Garioch Distillery is one of the oldest operating distilleries in Scotland, and it is currently undergoing a restoration and upgrade project to reinstate traditional production processes and reduce the distillery’s carbon footprint.
This includes the reintroduction of floor maltings as well as the installation of direct-fired heating to the wash still to enhance the quality and complexity of their whiskies – methods still used by only a handful of distilleries. The state-of-the-art method for direct-fired distillation is expected to reduce the distillery’s carbon footprint by around 15%.
Prince Charles toured the distillery with the local team and learned how Glen Garioch is returning to its roots to further enhance its small batch, hand-crafted Highland single malt.
He was hosted by Mick Ord, Director of Operations, Kwanele Mdluli, Distillery Manager and Pom Nijs, Assistant Visitor Centre Manager. As well as being invited to nose the the whiskies, and being presented with a 1978 bottle of Glen Garioch, signed by Master Blender, Ron Welsh, he unveiled a plaque dedicated to Alexander (Akki) Manson, a direct descendant of the distillery’s original founders.