Oban

The railway reached Oban in 1880, which let the whisky be sent to market.^1,6,7 J. Walter Higgin bought the distillery in 1883 and improved it bit by bit, keeping it in production.^1,7,10 Alfred Barnard's 1887 book says the present owner had added three annexes and built two new bonded warehouses.¹¹ Barnard recorded two pot stills heated by fire, seven washbacks, a kiln heated with peats, and an output of 35,000 gallons a year.¹¹ In 1890 fire broke out in several buildings and slowed production.^1,6 That year Higgin began rebuilding to his own standards, and the builders found a long-sealed cave behind the distillery holding Mesolithic remains.^1,7,12 Whiskypedia says the distillery seen today is his design.^1,7,12 From 1894 the architect George Woulfe Brenan designed warehouses and alterations, probably including the 3-storey office building.³

In 1898, at the height of the whisky boom, Alexander Edward, who also owned Aultmore, bought the distillery through the Oban & Aultmore-Glenlivet Co.^1,4,7 That year Charles C Doig worked on the kiln.³ In December 1898 Pattisons of Leith, a blender that held shares in the distillery, began falling apart, and the distillery suffered major losses.^4,13 In 1900 production carried on despite the crash that followed the boom.¹ In 1923 the distillery was sold to the Oban Distillery Co, a subsidiary of John Dewar & Sons.^4,7 In 1925 John Dewar & Sons joined the Distillers Company Limited, taking Oban with it.^4,7 One Whiskypedia passage instead says Edward kept the distillery until 1930, when the Distillers Company Limited took it.^4,7 In 1926 Doig worked on the kiln again.³ Scottish Malt Distillers bought Oban in 1930.^1,7 Production stopped in 1931, and the distillery stayed silent until 1937.^4,7 In 1960 the stills were converted to mechanical stoking, so machines fed their fires.¹

Sources

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