Ardnamurchan Distillery
Adelphi and The Dancey Man
Ever hear of Adelphi?
Adelphi is an independent bottler of some very fine whiskies. All are single cask bottlings, making them limited to between 200 and 600 bottles. Adelphi used to be the name of a a distillery too. But before we get there, let’s talk a bit about Ardnamurchan. The Ardnamurchan distillery is built (duh! Guess where) on Ardnamurchan, which is Scottish Gaelic meaning headland of the great seas. It is a 50-square-mile (130-square-kilometre) peninsula in the ward management area of Lochaber, in the West Highlands of Scotland and is noted for being very unspoiled and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single-track road for much of its length. The most westerly point of mainland Great Britain, Corrachadh Mòr, is in Ardnamurchan.
Back to 1826 and Adelphi
The Adelphi Distillery, later known as Loch Katrine Adelphi Distillery, was built in 1826 by Charles and David Gray on the banks of the River Clyde. Just South of Victoria Bridge on the Northern end of the Gorbals on Adelphi Street. In 1880, Adelphi Distillery was bought out by Archibald Walker and Co, who owned distilleries already in Liverpool and Limerick. Walker and Co invested heavily in the distillery and expanded it to produce grain spirit as well as malt spirit. Mainly for the blended market. By 1886, the Loch Katrine Adelphi Distillery was one of the most advanced in Scotland. It had its own blending and bottling plants, and it was turning out half a million gallons a year. In 1903, the Distillery was bought by the Distillers Company Ltd.
Soon after in 1906 came “THE GREAT GORBALS DISASTER”. One of the colossal washbacks in the distillery collapsed, engulfing the neighboring street in a tidal wave of alcohol! Unfortunately, there was a fatality and malt distilling was stopped on the site. The distillery was not fully closed but never really recovered. It limped through until 1971 when it was finally demolished. Oddly enough, Glasgow Central Mosque was built on the former site of Adelphi Distillery. But the story does not end here. And what is this about the Dancey Man? Read on ..
The Dancey Man
In 1860, William Gladstone had passed a law which allowed Scottish Distillers to mature whisky tax free until it was ready for sale. Punch magazine celebrated this milestone of good fortune with the cartoon of “The Dancey Man”.
In 1993, Jamie Walker, the great grandson of Archibald Walker, decided to revive the name of Adelphi as an independent bottler “to explore the mysteries of malt whisky and to make a limited number of rare, well-aged, and top-quality whiskies available to the discerning whisky enthusiast. At the young age of 24, Jamie felt the old family connections tug so strongly he searched out the Adelphi name which was by this time held by a London wine company. In 1994, Jamie Walker acquired the copyright for Punch Magazines Cartoon of William Gladstone as the Dancey Man and adopted it as the emblem of the Adelphi brand. Which it still is today. Adelphi Mark 2 was born.
The New Distillery
In 2007, Adelphi had become so successful that the company started thinking about owning its own distillery. They could not go back to the original site as a thriving Mosque occupied it. So, they had to look elsewhere. They chose Ardnamurchan and building began in 2013 at the site. It is located at a place called Glenbeg,
This is the site of a distillery dreamt about in 2007 and eventually officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal on July 25th, 2014, having produced its first spirit in 2013.
Ardnamurchan believes in sustainability and relies on renewable resources. Less than two miles from the distillery, electricity is generated from a river that also serves as cooling water, and the wood chips for the biomass boiler also come from the surrounding, sustainably planted forests. The glass bottle of this bottling was also made from 54% recycled glass before it was filled with the whisky. The outer packaging is made from 100% composted cardboard.
The Whisky
The bottling of its first product in 2016 yielded 2500 bottles and they sold out overnight. 2017 saw the second bottling of 2500 bottles and the same thing happened. Sold out. They learned and in 2018 produced 5000 bottles. But try finding one of those now!
But there are some Ardnamurchan whiskies that you can buy.
Ardnamurchan AD/10.22:04 is available at between 50€ and 60€ per bottle. Not a bad price in my view for a 46.8% ABV whisky. This fourth release consists of half smoky and half non-smoky spirit, which is matured in bourbon (65%) and sherry casks (35%).
The more recently released AD/09.22 is bottled as a strong Single Malt at 58.4% ABV. The bottling contains a higher proportion of peat smoke than the normal standard bottlings and was matured in ex Bourbon casks, which brings out the coastal character of the distillery. Also recently released is Ardnamurchan AD/02.22 bottled at 58.7% ABV. This bottling was matured in former sherry casks and ex-bourbon casks, which makesthe whisky balanced and pleasantly sweet.
These last two sell for slightly above 70€. On the high side for such a young whisky.