Glengoyne's New Distillery Shop

Glengoyne Distillery is celebrating the launch of a brand new shop and visitor centre upgrade on the back of its most successful summer season ever.

The changes at Glengoyne, which include a complete overhaul of the shop as well as updates to the visitor centre, were completed in time for the end of the summer season which has so far seen a massive 48,500 visitors through the doors of ‘Scotland’s Most Beautiful Distillery’ – a 6% rise on last year.

A total of £300,000 has been invested in the visitor facilities upgrade in 2011 with further renovations planned for 2012. This comes in addition to the £200,000 spent on renovating the Manager’s House in 2007 for use as an events space and more than £2.5 million spent on operational upgrades to the distillery such as new warehousing and stills.

Glengoyne Distillery Shop - "Pour Your Own"

New features inside the shop include a new tasting area and the ‘Pour Your Own Dram’ facility, where guests are given the chance to fill and label their own bottle direct from an exclusive single cask, before logging it in the customs book. The cask currently available is an American Oak First Fill hoggie from June 2000, cask number 1016. It offers great tropical fruit flavours and plenty of hands-on whisky fun, priced at £75.00.

Glengoyne Brand Heritage Manager Stuart Hendry said: “The old shop area was very dark and didn’t make good use of space. Our brief to retail design agency Contagious was to create a brighter, more organised shopping area which showed off our award winning range but without losing the distinct Glengoyne character.

“I think we have hit the nail on the head and we are extremely happy with the outcome. Feedback from customers has been great and we have seen an increase in sales as a result.”

The shop renovations have allowed for the creation of a new bothy area where groups can relax before and after tours. Cosmetic upgrades have also been made to the visitor centre enabling the distillery to continue offering first class conference and events facilities to corporate and private clients.

Glengoyne Distillery Shop

A new series of Glengoyne films was also commissioned from Republic Productions to present a fun and informative look into life at Glengoyne for use during tours and events at the distillery and throughout the world. The films range from a short two minute promotional film, tasting notes and cooking demonstrations to in-depth films on distillation and maturation, all highlighting what makes Glengoyne unique. The well known characters from around the distillery including Head Stillman Duncan McNicoll and Engineer & Warehouseman Billy Edminston were chosen to star in the film, rather than actors, to help communicate the unique character of Glengoyne.

Stuart Hendry commented on the film: “The two aspects that contribute most to the Glengoyne flavour are undoubtedly our SLOW distillation (the slowest in the industry) and our devotion to sourcing the finest possible sherry casks from Spain. In order to fully understand where those flavours come from we wanted to take consumers inside the stills and on a journey to Jerez.

“The feedback from viewers is hugely positive. They enjoy getting behind the scenes and meeting the people. Visitors take particular pleasure in speaking to the stars as they meet them around the distillery yard.”

Glengoyne Distillery Shop

You can buy Glengoyne Malt Whisky from:-

• The Whisky Exchange
• Master of Malt
• Edencroft Fine Wine & Spirit Specialists
• Abbey Whisky
• The Drink Shop
• Whisky Online

About Glengoyne Distillery
Glengoyne Distillery is situated just 30 minutes outside Glasgow, looking out over the breath-taking West Highland Way.
It is owned by independent family company, Ian Macleod Distillers, Glengoyne, Scotland’s most beautiful distillery, and has been producing its unique and complex, Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky for over 175 years. Using methods passed down for generations, Glengoyne has nurtured and perfected the art of producing the authentic taste of Malt Whisky, untainted by peat smoke.
The result is a portfolio of multi-award winning whiskies including the core 10, 17 and 21 Years Old range, as well as special limited edition Single Malts, released each year.