Lochside Distillery

About the distillery

Lochside Distillery was located in Montrose in Angus and belonged to the Highland region. It was an unusual place because it produced both malt whisky and grain whisky. The distillery began as a brewery, was converted in 1957, and ended up as one of Scotland’s closed sites that today lives on only through the few remaining bottles and the story of a production site with both malt and grain sides.

History

The story of Lochside dates back to 1781, when the buildings were erected as a brewery. In the 19th century, the site was owned by James Deuchar & Sons Ltd., and the brewery continued until Scottish & Newcastle shut it down. The buildings were then quickly bought by Macnab Distilleries Ltd. in 1957. The conversion marked a shift from brewery to distillery, and Lochside followed Ben Nevis by producing both malt and grain whisky. Joseph W. Hobbs—who was also associated with Ben Nevis Distillery—was a shareholder in the company. In 1973, ownership changed again when Macnab Distilleries Ltd. was bought by the Spanish DYC. Later, ownership passed through Allied Distillers and Allied Domecq, before Pernod Ricard took over the group in 2005. Lochside was closed in 1992, the area was set aside for development, and in 2004–2005 the distillery was demolished. Today, the site has been converted into housing, while the name is primarily connected to the historical releases and the Sandy Macnab brand.

Raw materials and production

Lochside was set up for a production that covered both malt and grain whisky. The distillery had a cast iron mash tun and open washbacks in stainless steel, which gives a clear picture of a practical and industry-oriented production. The actual distillation took place in two wash stills and two spirit stills, and there were also grain stills on the site. Under DYC’s ownership, however, the grain stills were unused. The water came from a borehole aquifer, meaning an underground water supply. An important feature of Lochside is that it was not a pure malt distillery, but a house that could work across whisky types, thereby supporting both blended whisky and single expressions from the same production site.

Maturation and cask types

The spirit was matured in ex-bourbon casks, and this is the only clearly documented cask information from the distillery. It points to a classic American-style maturation, where former bourbon barrels were reused for Scottish whisky. The material does not mention specific finishes or experiments with other cask types, so the picture is of a simple and fairly traditional maturation setup, where the casks helped form the basis for both blended whisky and the 10-year-old single malt.

Whiskies

The range documented here consists of the blended whisky Sandy Macnab and Lochside Single Malt 10 Years. Sandy Macnab was created around the time the distillery was established, and the brand was especially aimed at export, particularly in Southern Europe. The other clearly identifiable release is the 10-year-old single malt, which shows the more classic side of the production. Overall, it paints a picture of a distillery that supplied whisky to the blend market and also bottled its own single malt, but without a large, clearly documented core range in the available material.

General tasting profile

The material does not describe a specific tasting profile for the distillery’s whisky releases.

Visit the distillery

There is no public visitor access today. The distillery was closed, demolished, and replaced by residential development, so there is no visitor site you can go into or an active tour that can be booked. For whisky enthusiasts, it is therefore primarily the history and the remaining bottles that make Lochside interesting—not a physical visit to the destination.

Philosophy and craftsmanship

Lochside worked across both malt and grain whisky, and this is the most prominent craftsmanship choice that comes through. The distillery supplied spirit for an export-oriented blend brand, but it also bottled its own 10-year-old single malt. The combination of a cast iron mash tun, open stainless steel washbacks, and production with both malt and grain stills shows a site designed for flexible production rather than a single, narrow in-house character.