Glengoyne

By the distillery's account, George Connell began distilling in secret at Burnfoot Farm in 1820.¹ In 1833 he took out a licence to distil; the distillery calls the site Glenguin of Burnfoot, while other histories call it Burnfoot.^1,2,3 In 1836 he took a 99-year lease on the land, which reserved the right to take all the water of the burn.¹ In 1851 he stepped back, and John McLellan took over and effectively became the owner.^2,4 John's son Archibald inherited the distillery in 1867 and died of tuberculosis that year, though one history dates his ownership from 1872.^2,4 Cochrane Cartwright became distillery manager in 1869 and, by the distillery's account, slowed the stills.^1,8,9 From 1870 the distillery used sherry casks consistently to mature its spirit.^1,8

Lang Brothers Ltd., Glasgow blenders who had been buying its whisky, wanted a supply of malt for their blended whisky.^2,3,4 On 20 March 1876, George Connell's lease passed to Archibald's widow, and the Langs acquired it that same day for £4000.^2,3,4 Most histories say the Langs then renamed it Glen Guin.^1,3,10 In 1883 the land across the road was leased, and the warehouses there sit in the Lowlands while the stills are in the Highlands.^1,6 Alfred Barnard's 1887 book describes malt dried over coke and peat, six washbacks, and two pot stills with worm tubs fed by the burn.

Robertson & Baxter took over Lang Brothers in 1965.^3,4,10 In 1966 the distillery was rebuilt in its present form with a third still, tripling production to 1,200,000 litres a year, a figure not given as pure alcohol.^1,3,4 In 1967 George Connell's tall chimney came down when the fuel changed from coal and coke to oil.¹² Duncan McNicoll, a butcher by trade, joined as head stillman in January 1977.¹ Robertson & Baxter became part of Edrington in 1996, or in 1999 by another account.^4,13 A new boiler arrived in 1999, with a lower chimney on almost the exact spot of the original.