Port Dundas Distillery Story

Name: Port Dundas Distillery Story from GreatDrams Whisky Reviews
Uploaded: 2020-04-23T13:12:00+01:00
Channel: Greg
Description: Now we have our own Port Dundas release - the first dead distillery release we've done - it makes sense to tell you about the distillery and the place

Greg|

April 23, 2020

let’s begin

Now we have bottled our own cask of Port Dundas - the first dead distillery release in the GreatDrams range - it makes sense to share some stories about the distillery and tell you all about the place, once the largest distillery in Scotland, Port Dundas sadly no longer thrives like it used to.

Two Hundred Years of Whisky

In fact, Port Dundas no longer exists. So it’s not so much a case of not thriving as it is a case of not doing anything at all.

Before its deconstruction, the distillery had a long and exciting history of malt making. it was first opened in 1811, at the highest point in the city of Glasgow. Because of this, it became somewhat of an icon, although it is not very well known today. Back then it was renowned.

The high vantage point also gave it the best commerce and trade links, which lead to Port Dundas becoming big name in the whisky game. Glasgow itself was becoming well known for blending due to the access to grain markets and ease of transport. It makes sense the Port Dundas would be part of that success.

Early Innovation

Port Dundas were ahead of the game for their time. With five pot stills and two Coffey stills, allowing them to make 2 million gallons of whisky a year, their output was impressive.

As well as the huge scale that they were working to, they also innovated by using a more American style mash bill for their whisky. It was made up of American corn, barley and rye, something that was not seen in Scotland at the time.

Port Dundas 10 Year Old Single Cask Single Grain Scotch Whisky

£65

Drams like this, with its smooth palate laden with creme brûlée and vanilla notes, are far too rare to burden with heavy-handed words, as Chaucer might have said. Here you have a bottle of whisky from a now-silent distillery, which means there is not only no production there any more, but the whole site has now been torn down so no more Port Dundas whisky will ever be produced.

Non-chill filtered
Natural colour

Distillery	Region	Age	Bottled
Port Dundas	Lowlands	10 Years Old	4th February 2020

Cask type	ABV	Limited
First Fill Bourbon Barrel	48.2% ABV	193

Merging and Growing

Eventually, in the 1860s, Port Dundas merged with the nearby Cowlairs Distillery, giving it even more room to make whisky. This was aided by the fact that both of the distilleries were using Coffey stills at the time as well, which are also known as continuous stills, allowing malt to be constantly produced.

This was not the only merger in the life of Port Dundas and in 1902 they merged again with Dundashill. At this stage they were already the biggest distillery in Scotland, but their crown was now cemented.

The merger with Dundashill made Port Dundas all the more impressive because the distillery itself was huge. Dundashill was the biggest pot still distillery in the world, with 10 spirit stills and the tallest brick chimney in the world, at 138 metres.

Closing Down

Despite their huge size and innovative outlook, Port Dundas was eventually closed in 2011, 200 years after it had opened.

At this point it was owned by Diageo who decided to concentrate on Cameronbrdige as their main grain producing distillery. Port Dundas had last been modernised in the 1970s and while there were offers from other distillers, the sheer size and scale of another modernisation meant that these fell through.

The distillery was closed and demolished but there are still rare and exclusive bottlings that appear every no and again, if you’re ever curious to try it.

Port Dundas 10 Year Old Single Cask Single Grain Scotch Whisky

£65

Non-chill filtered
Natural colour

Distillery	Region	Age	Bottled
Port Dundas	Lowlands	10 Years Old	4th February 2020

Cask type	ABV	Limited
First Fill Bourbon Barrel	48.2% ABV	193

Have you tried Port Dundas whisky? Let us know in the comments!

Tags: Port DundasPort Dundas DistilleryScotlandWhisky

Greg

My name is Greg, and I’m a brand strategy consultant, writer, speaker, host and judge specialising in premium spirits. My mission is to experience, share and inspire with everything great about whisky, whiskey, gin, beer and fine dining through my writing, my brand building and my whisky tastings.