The Scottish Giant is faltering...
by Ernie Scheiner
A personal Instagram message by the Glenglassaugh Distillery Production Operator, Tijay Salhotra, made the current development public. The whisky community is shocked and brought the owner Brown Forman into the headlines. Explanations were necessary.
The paradisiacal years of continuous growth seem to be over. Sales in the Scottish whisky industry are falling by double digits. A trend is continuing.
"Figures from trade body the Food & Drink Federation (FDF) found that UK whisky exports were down by 28.5% in volume and by 36.4% in value to £2.8 billion (US$3.5bn) in the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period 2023."
Source: UK whisky exports drop 36%. The Spirit Business. December 2024
Distilleries announced a reduction in their usual annual production:
Ardbeg laid off two employees and reduced shifts, now producing only half of the normal output;
Bowmore, the spirit flow is reduced from 1.8 million liters to one million liters, the silent periods are getting longer;
Bruichladdich, Caol Ila and Glenmorangie are reducing their annual production... others have followed or will follow.
The whisky producers are reacting to the falling global demand for Scotch whisky. The years of excessive expansion, not only in Scotland, the doubling of the production capacity of many existing distilleries, the construction of new ultra-modern production facilities and the new craft distilleries are feeling a strong headwind.
The spirits companies and distilleries are falling into a severe recession. Cash flow and profits are dwindling dangerously. Managers are reacting with layoffs, periodic shutdowns, closures, production reductions, dumping prices and restructuring of their portfolio.
The Bang
Glenglassaugh's Production Operator Tijay Salhotra made a palpably disappointing announcement on Instagram on January 27th, 2024 about the sudden termination of his employment by the American Owner Company Brown Forman:

"And just like that my time at Glenglassaugh and Brown Forman has come to an end.
Due to the decline in the whisky industry and a change in the corporations activities, Glenglassaugh is closing for a while and production roles made redundant.
It’s been an amazing 3 years with the company, beginning from my time at Glendronach in the visitor centre and the last 2 years at the helm of Glenglassaugh."
The personal message of their employee irritated Brown Forman and International Brand Manager Stewart Buchanan because it suggested a permanent closure of the distillery. Speculations have started. The news did not fit in with the harmonious image of the marketing management, which wanted to make the Glenglassaugh single malts more popular again with a recent brand relaunch.
Elizabeth Convay, Brown Forman's Director of International Communications, explained the situation in The Spirits Business on January 28th, 2025 as follows:
“We are implementing a shared production model with BenRiach, which will involve periods of production alongside occasional silent seasons, as has been the case traditionally. This allows us to optimise resources and expertise across both distilleries.
“This shared production model, and our ongoing demand planning process, resulted in a small number of redundancies. We deeply value the contributions of those impacted and are committed to providing support to them throughout this process.
“Our commitment to crafting exceptional whiskies remains as strong as ever, and we are grateful for the continued support and enthusiasm of our customers and markets worldwide.”
One of the reasons for this decision is probably the drop in sales of [mainly] Benriach and Glenglassaugh: 22% financial decline over a half year period.
The Salhotra news was not unexpected, however, because the Glenglassaugh visitor center of the East Highland Distillery had already been closed for some time. Production had been reduced. It is reported that the employees were far more busy with warehouse activities than with distilling whisky. In fact, since the distillery closed in 1986, the extensive steelrack and dunnage warehouses had been popular storage spaces for some Speyside distilleries.
After the Benriach Consortium, led by Billy Walker, acquired the production facility in 2013 and the first spontaneous renovation work, things went quiet again at the distillery on the North Sea coast of Portsoy. The standard Glenglassaugh portfolio was stagnating.



After the distillery was reopened by the Scaent Group in 2008, the busy and highly experienced master distiller Stuart Nickerson, together with Ronnie Routledge, managed to bring the distillery, which had been closed since 1986, back into the consciousness of the global whisky community with a remarkable, innovative portfolio. The most successful Cask Owner program brought investment funds into the up-and-coming distillery. In Germany, it was the dedicated importer Andrea Caminneci in particular who increased Glenglassaugh's considerable sales. He made the brand popular among German and Austrian whisky connoisseurs in the early years.

A special Glenglassaugh Revival release fueled new hopes.

A historic moment. Investor Billy Walker meets Stuart Nickerson to hand over the keys and documents in the offices of Glenglassaugh Distillery in Portsoy. Stuart was visibly shocked by the current developments, as he had put a lot of heart and soul into renovating the distillery facilities and optimizing the distillation of Glenglassaugh's New Makes.
Some weeks before, in a press release in March 2013, Billy Walker pointed out the following:
“We’re really delighted to buy Glenglassaugh, a renowned Highland single malt with a rich and distinguished heritage.
It’s an excellent complementary fit with our existing BenRiach and GlenDronach brands. Part of its attraction to us is that it isn’t too large for our portfolio but its potential in contributing to the group certainly is.
It’s our intention to bring this iconic distillery fully back to life by giving it the investment, commitment and care it deserves. I believe our whisky expertise, proven brand-building ability and strong routes to market will help take Glenglassaugh to the next level.”

Unfortunately, the attention of the new owners around Billy Walker did not develop into a marketable portfolio. Walker's interest was mainly in the product development of Glendronach. The only new Glenglassaugh whiskies that attracted a wider attention were the Walker rare Glenglassaugh releases from the old 70s and 80s stocks.

Glenglassaugh Torfa marked a new beginning, which, however, was not followed up with a differentiated new product line in order to stabilize and expand the market presence. Years later Billy Walker said he should have made more attention to developing Glenglassaugh whiskies.
The sale to the American company Brown Forman came as a surprise. The Brown-Forman Corporation (Jack Daniel's) had finally completed the takeover of the Benriach Distillery Company Ltd. (Glenglassaugh, BenRiach, GlenDronach, Newbridge Bottling Plant) for around 285 million pounds in 2016.
A promotional relaunch with the single malts 12 Year Old, Sandend and Portsoy again raised new hopes in 2023. The malt whiskies were created by Master Blender Dr. Rachel Barrie.

'Temporary' Silent Season
According to Ingvar Ronde's Malt Whisky Yearbook 2025, the production of the fully hands-on distillery Glenglassaugh should have increased to 620,000 liters of pure alcohol in 2024.
However, end of January 2025, the Glenglassaugh's Bloom came to a surprising end. The production of spirits was suspended until further notice.
The team around the young production operator Tijay Salhotra was disbanded. The newcomer came from the Glendronach Distillery. The globally well known and most active Brand Manager Stewart Buchanan said:
"The fellow who posted was originally a visitor centre guide that has moved to production about 2 years ago.. a great guy..."
According to Brown Forman, production at Glenglassaugh will be continued in cooperation with the Benriach Distillery at certain phases in future in a "shared production model" as needed. Accordingly, production at Benriach will probably be reduced by a silent season then.
It remains tobe seen how this "shared production model" will actually work for both distilleries.
The Glenglassaugh Distillery story will actually unfold in the near future.
One thing is certain: The damage will be considerable, because the production expertise developed and passed on over the years by Graham Eunson (now Tomatin), Stuart Nickerson (now Tipperary), Mhairie Winters (now The Cairn), Billy Walker (now Glenallachie), and Alan McConnochie (retired, now Glenallchie) and Tijay Salhotra will be lost as the present distillery team has been disbanded.
These guys have shaped the Spirit of Glenglassaugh over the years: Graham Eunson, Stuart Nickerson, Mhairi Winters, Alan McConnochie, Billy Walker (apologies no photo of Tijay Salhotra)
Rare Find
Glenglassaugh 41 Year 1968/2010. The Manager`s Legacy Bert Forsyth, distilled 1968, bottled 2010, refill Sherry butt 44.9% abv, only 300 bottles..handfilled at Glenglassaugh...Portsoy...a rare and a very special dram of a life time....feeling highly privileged...thanks to Douglas Cook, Director of Brand Development at Brown Forman.


Brighter Days

Trend
The American company Brown Forman is already showing the first signs of changes in the global market.
In mid-January, the company announced the closure of the Brown-Forman Cooperage, founded in 1945 (formerly known as Bluegrass Cooperage). This means that the oldest cooperage in Kentucky will become history. The cooperage, previously known as the Louisville Cooperage, will close its doors on April 25th, 2025. 210 people will lose their income and their jobs. Every day, the coopers in the second largest Kentucky cooperage set up around 2,500 American Standard Barrels made of American white oak. According to Brown Forman, the barrels for whisky maturation will come from third parties in the future.
A further 400 employees will lose their jobs in the Brown Forman company. This is expected to save 60 to 70 million dollars annually. According to the managers' plans, around 12.4% of the 5,400 person workforce will lose their jobs.
It is unclear which other Brown Forman products might be taken off the market. It remains to be seen whether the US economy will have any further negative effects on the economic development of the global whisky industry.
Mind: Bourbon producers have also expanded in recent years. The result: their rackhouses are full of barrels which have to be sold very soon.
It is open in which way the markets will develop and which distilleries will actually close in the coming months or years. Some might also be sold to investors or funds.
Die Louisville Cooperage, aka Bluegrass Cooperage.
Slane Castle Distillery
Let's look at Ireland. It remains to be seen how the economic changes will affect the Irish distillery Slane. Since the takeover of the Slane Castle Whisky Company, founded by Lord Henry Mount Charles and his son Alex, by Brown Forman in 2015, the annual loss has increased to 3.2 million euros (2023). In total, according to the Irish Times, this means that the owner Brown Forman will have lost around 25.7 million euros so far.
However, the signals are positive. Ireland's whiskey exports grew by 14% in the 2024 financial year. This means that the performance figures of the Irish whiskey industry bucked the international trend, especially in comparison to its Celtic Cousins in Scotland. Even in Germany, Irish whiskey sales rose by 11% compared to the previous year.
Slane Team in 2014. Allan Anderson (now Carpathian). N.N. Alex Mount Charles.
Stroll around Glenglassaugh Distillery
and enjoy lots of photos at
About the author
Ernie - Ernst J. Scheiner is the editor of The Gateway to Distilleries www.whisky-distilleries.net He documents over 150 distilleries from the inside using photographs and describes the production of whiskies in detail. Since studying at the University of Edinburgh, he has been interested in the subject of whisky and has published in specialist magazines
such as Ireland Journal, Kleinbrennerei, Whisky Passion and The Highland Herold. Features and stories have appeared in the blogs whiskyexperts, whiskyfanblog und whiskyintelligence. As head of the VHS Ingelheim, and now as whisky ambassador, he holds distillation colleges, organizes study tours and whisky culture tours to the sources of whisky.
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