Brora opened in 1819 as Clynelish, near Brora on Scotland's north-east coast.1,2,3 A larger Clynelish distillery was built next door in 1967, or 1968 by other accounts.4,5,6 Historic Environment Scotland gives 1975 for the old distillery's reopening, while other sources give 1969, when it began making heavily peated malt for blends.5,6,7 It stood silent from 1983 and began making spirit again in 2021.1,6,8
The Marquess of Stafford spent £750 on it under the Small Stills Act of 1816, as a market for barley from tenants forced off their farms in the Highland Clearances.1,2,3 Lessees ran it from 1825: James Harper, then John Matheson in 1827, Harper again in 1828 and Andrew Ross in 1834.7,9,10 George Lawson and his sons took over in 1846 and ran it until 1896.7,9,11 When Alfred Barnard visited in 1886, he found two coal-heated pot stills, four washbacks where the wash fermented, and a kiln that dried malt with peat alone.6,9,12 It made nearly 20,000 gallons a year, stopped in the summer months, and sold to private customers, turning away trade orders.6,9,12
Blenders take over
In 1896 the blenders James Ainslie & Co. and John Risk bought it and rebuilt it on a much larger scale to meet increased demand.3,6,13 They added new warehouses, including a row of 7 dated 1896.3,6,13 Ainslie's firm went bust in 1912, and the Distillers Company joined John Risk as an owner.7,11,14John Walker & Sons bought shares in 1916, mainly to secure supplies for its own blends.7,9,15 The Distillers Company took full control in 1925, or 1930 by other accounts, and in 1930 moved it to its subsidiary .
Two distilleries called Clynelish
Demand for blends kept rising, so the Distillers Company built a larger distillery with six stills next door, rather than expand the old one.4,5,6 For a time the two sites ran side by side as Clynelish A and Clynelish B, until the old one closed in 1968.2,4,7 One trade account says a 1968 drought on Islay left Johnnie Walker's blenders short of smoky malt, so trials ran at Port Dundas, a Glasgow grain distillery.5,6,7 Because two distilleries shared one name, it became Brora, said to be an early name; Historic Environment Scotland and several histories say 1975, others 1967 to 1969.5,6,18
Brora at work
1969–1973
Accounts of the heavily peated years differ: May 1969 to July 1973, to cover an Islay shortage, or 1970 to 1973, or 1972 to 1977.5,7,11 Accounts put its peating at about 30-35 ppm or 45 ppm, a measure of the peat used; the malt went to blends such as Buchanan's and Dewar's.5,7,11 Some accounts tie the peated runs to 1972 to 1974, when the Distillers Company rebuilt its Caol Ila distillery on Islay.7,9,19 One trade account says peating then fell to about 7 ppm, the usual Highland level, while a history says occasional peated runs went on after 1977.7
Next: Brora at work, Silent, Restoration, How it's made
It closed in March 1931, during the depression years, and restarted in September 1938.14,16,17
Wartime limits on barley for distillers stopped it again from May 1941 to November 1945.14,16,17
Rumours persisted that some low-level production carried on during the war.14,16,17
In 1961 the stills switched from direct coal fires to steam, ending, by one account, the use of coal mined at Brora; that account dates this to 1960.4,9,14
Sources disagree: when Distillers Company Limited took over. This page uses 1925.
In 1975 it closed for a time and reopened with a rebuilt mash house, where sugars are drawn from the ground malt.6,14,20
That history says Islay droughts could explain smoky casks from the 1980s, and another account suggests it took Clynelish's barley from the end of the 1970s.7,11,20
By 1980 its warehouses, built after 1896, were maturing whisky from the new Clynelish.8,21
Sources disagree: when this period ran. This page uses 1969.
It closed in 1983, on 17 March by some accounts and in July by another, when the Distillers Company chose to keep making whisky at the larger Clynelish.1,22,23 A glut of maturing whisky forced closures, 11 malt distilleries that year by one trade account, and the ledger recorded a 'silent season (undetermined period)'.1,22,23 Accounts of what was left differ, even between Historic Environment Scotland records: one says the equipment was removed, another that much remained, and Diageo says much still worked.1,6,8 In March 1984 the old buildings were listed as a Category B historic building.3 Guinness bought the Distillers Company in 1986, and its distilling business became United Distillers.7,13,24Diageo, formed in 1997 from a merger that included Guinness, has owned it since.7,25
Sources disagree: when it closed. This page uses 1983.
In October 2017 Diageo announced £35 million to bring back Brora and Port Ellen, planning to match the old spirit as closely as possible by 2020.11,23,26 After planning approval in October 2018, the stillhouse was rebuilt stone by stone and the original stills were refurbished by Diageo's Abercrombie coppersmiths in Alloa.11,23,26 The first spirit ran at the end of March, and on 19 May 2021 master distiller Stewart Bowman, son of the last exciseman, filled cask 001.11,22,26
How it's made
It has one wash still and one spirit still of 13,500 litres each, the same copper stills it had before it closed, refurbished for the reopening.11,27,28 Its master distiller says having only two stills makes distillation slow.11,27,28 Wooden worm tubs, long coils of pipe inside large tanks, turn the vapour from the stills back into spirit.6,9,29 As in 1983, it uses a rake and gear mash tun, a stirred vessel where sugars are drawn from the malt, and barley malted at Glen Ord.6,20,30 Its water comes from the Clynemilton Burn.11,20,28 A biomass boiler burning wood chips from northern Scotland powers the stills.1,26,27 Among Diageo's smallest distilleries, it can make up to 800,000 litres of alcohol a year.23,26,30 Diageo now describes its whisky as lightly peated; its reopening plans said medium peated, and one trade report says it makes both peated and unpeated spirit.1,22,23 Its whisky is known for a waxy texture.22,27
