Bladnoch

Sources name the founders as brothers John and Thomas McClelland, or Thomas and Andrew; one dates the first licence to 1825.^1,2,3 By 1845, 20 workers turned 16,000 bushels of barley a year into spirit.^4,6,7 Whisky Magazine dates its peak output, about 230,000 litres a year, to 1885, earning it the nickname "Queen of the Lowlands".^1,8 In 1878 the distillery was enlarged and modernised, and most of its present buildings date from then.^2,6,9 Those buildings are listed at Category B, which gives statutory protection to buildings of special architectural or historic interest.⁶ When Alfred Barnard described it in 1887, it had six washbacks, three pot stills, three worm tubs fed from the river, and kilns heated with peat.^4,6,9 He recorded an output of 51,000 gallons a year.^4,6,9 The McClelland family closed it in 1905, during a period of over-supply and low sales.^5,8

Belfast distiller Dunville & Co bought the McClelland firm in 1911 and reopened the distillery, though production was intermittent.^4,5,7 Glasgow whisky broker Ross & Coulter bought it in 1937 or 1945, as sources differ, and sent the distilling equipment to Sweden.^5,8 After Dunville & Co was liquidated, Bladnoch closed in 1937, though an official record gives 1938.^3,4,5 Other sources say whisky-making stopped at the outbreak of the Second World War.^3,4,5 Malting carried on to supply local breweries until 1949.^4,

AB Grant & Co reopened it in 1956, when Bladnoch Distillery Limited was created.^1,3,5 Ian Fisher and McGowan & Cameron took it over in 1964 or 1966, as sources differ.^4,5,10 The stillhouse grew to four stills in 1966.^1,5 Inver House Distillers Ltd. bought it in 1973.^3,4,5 Arthur Bell & Sons took over in 1983 and began modernising and computerising the plant.¹