Our new In Focus series offers you a deep dive into some of the distilleries featured across our store. This instalment comes courtesy of Geraldo's Whisky Ambassador, James Gillies.
Wonderfully situated on the Clyde, in the Stobcross area of Glasgow, is the beautiful Pumphouse, which once controlled access to and from the historic Queen’s Dock — which included coal and barley arriving, and casks of whisky departing.
The Pumphouse was built in 1877 by John Morrison, and was purchased in 2011 by his great-grandson, Tim Morrison, from the famous whisky family, the Morrisons; who once owned Bowmore, Glen Garioch and Auchentoshan distilleries.
Image of the Clydeside Pumphouse in the 1930s by Margaret Watkins courtesy of The Hidden Gallery
With the Pumphouse back in family ownership, Tim and his son, Andrew Morrison, embarked upon the revival of malt whisky-production in Glasgow, by establishing The Clydeside Distillery (TCD) within that beautiful building.
Interestingly, they had intended for the plant to be called The Glasgow Distillery (TGD), but due to excavation complications arising from the infilling of the Queen’s Dock, the resulting delay meant that in 2014, a different distillation organisation, The Glasgow Distillery Company, became the first to open a single malt whisky distillery in Glasgow for over 100 years, and named theirs the Glasgow Distillery.
Turning back to The Clydeside Distillery, work finally began on 1st August 2016, with the first distillation occurring on 6th November 2017, and the first casks being laid to rest on the 19th of December that year.
Having worked closely with Dr. Jim Swan, hailed as the “Einstein of whisky”, they were off to a great start and, since Alistair McDonald (formerly of Auchentoshan) became Distillery Manager, TCD has established its reputation for producing a high-calibre single malt — with their inaugural release, ‘Stobcross’, launched on 15th October 2021.
Employing only two stills [7,500 litre (wash) and 5,000 litre (spirit)], TCD focuses on quality over quantity and, therefore, with such a relatively low output [~475,000 LPA], apart from the distillery’s visitor centre (expertly run by their award-winning VC Manager, Bridgeen Mullen), Geraldo’s are one of the extremely few retailers that stock ‘Stobcross’.
You can explore Clydeside's range of Single Malts here.
To learn more about TCD or to book a distillery tour, visit their website.
