Dumbarton
SCOTCH SINGLE MALT WHISKIES > D
DUMBARTON
26 years old
49,6 %
from (Inverleven Stills)
CHAIRMAN'S GOLD SEAL STOCK
CADENHEAD'S AUTHENTIC COLLECTION
Distilled March 1969
Bottled February 1996
Cask Strenght Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Wm. Cadenhead, 32 Unionstreet, Campbeltown
from (Inverleven Stills)
CHAIRMAN'S GOLD SEAL STOCK
CADENHEAD'S AUTHENTIC COLLECTION
Distilled March 1969
Bottled February 1996
Cask Strenght Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Wm. Cadenhead, 32 Unionstreet, Campbeltown
Allied Distillers sluit de Dumbarton graandistilleerderij in 2002.
Allied Distillers Februari 2003
Dumbarton Distillery sluit. Het komplex waar ook het hoofdkantoor van Allied was gevestigd, hergde ook de Dumbarton Grain distilleerderij, en ook werden de malt whiskies Lomond, waarvan slechts één botteling bekend is, uitgebracht door de Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, Leith, Edinburgh onder code nummer 98.1, en Inverleven.
De capaciteit van de Grain distilleerderij Strathclyde wordt vergroot tot 39 miljoen liter spirit per jaar, dat was 32 miljoen liter.
Het hoofdkantoor wordt gevestigd te Kilmalid.
Het enorme gebouwencomplex is verkocht aan twee projectontwikkelaars.
Lowlands
DUMBARTON also see INVERLEVEN and LOMOND
Dumbarton, Strathclyde. Licentiehouder: Hiram Walker & Sons (Scotland) Ltd. Onderdeel van Allied Distillers Ltd. Eigendom van Allied Domecq.
Allied Distillers sluit de Dumbarton graandistilleerderij in 2002.
Allied Distillers Februari 2003
Dumbarton Distillery sluit. Het komplex waar ook het hoofdkantoor van Allied was gevestigd, hergde ook de Dumbarton Grain distilleerderij, en ook werden de malt whiskies Lomond, waarvan slechts één botteling bekend is, uitgebracht door de Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, Leith, Edinburgh onder code nummer 98.1, en Inverleven.
De capaciteit van de Grain distilleerderij Strathclyde wordt vergroot tot 39 miljoen liter spirit per jaar, dat was 32 miljoen liter.
Het hoofdkantoor wordt gevestigd te Kilmalid.
Het enorme gebouwencomplex is verkocht aan twee projectontwikkelaars.
DUMBARTON also see INVERLEVEN and LOMOND
Dumbarton, Strathclyde. Licentiehouder: Hiram Walker & Sons (Scotland) Ltd. Onderdeel van Allied Distillers Ltd. Eigendom van Allied Domecq.
Allied Distillers sluit de Dumbarton graandistilleerderij in 2002.
Allied Distillers Februari 2003
Dumbarton Distillery sluit. Het komplex waar ook het hoofdkantoor van Allied was gevestigd, hergde ook de Dumbarton Grain distilleerderij, en ook werden de malt whiskies Lomond, waarvan slechts één botteling bekend is, uitgebracht door de Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, Leith, Edinburgh onder code nummer 98.1, en Inverleven.
De capaciteit van de Grain distilleerderij Strathclyde wordt vergroot tot 39 miljoen liter spirit per jaar, dat was 32 miljoen liter.
Het hoofdkantoor wordt gevestigd te Kilmalid.
Het enorme gebouwencomplex is verkocht aan twee projectontwikkelaars.
Dumbarton featured American-style stainless steel columns rather than the traditional Coffey stills used by most Scottish grain distilleries. Though it soon realised the inclusion of sacrificial copper is important in the production of quality grain whisky, its process and strict adherence to the use of maize, meant its spirit was rather heavy in character.
Its whisky was mostly reserved for the Ballantine’s blend, and was never bottled as a single grain. However, some independent bottlings have emerged from Douglas Laing and Hunter Laing.
In 1936 Canadian distiller Hiram Walker-Gooderham and Worts purchased notable blender George Ballantine & Sons, giving it sizeable stocks of mature whisky and an established brand (Ballantine’s), but no distilleries. It had already acquired Glenburgie in 1930 and bought Miltonduff also in 1936, but it lacked a reliable source of grain whisky. The following year it established Hiram Walker (Scotland) to oversee its new Scottish operations, as well as build a new grain and malt distillery complex at the old MacMillan shipyard on the banks of the River Leven, which was to act as the group’s headquarters.
At the time Dumbarton began distilling in 1938, it was the largest continuous distillery in Scotland producing grain whisky. It was also the first to challenge the supremacy of the Coffey still by installing American-style stainless steel columns built by Vulcan Copper & Supply Co. of Cincinnati. The ‘continuous distilling unit’ had the ability to produce both potable grain spirit as well as neutral grain spirit, but could only process maize.
While Dumbarton was producing grain whisky for the Ballantine’s blend, Inverleven, which opened in the same year, began producing malt whisky. In 1956 a third Lomond still was added with an attached rectification column designed to produce different styles of spirit. While the still used Inverleven’s wash still, spirit receiver and low wines and feints charger, it was technically classed as a separate distillery called Lomond. It was decommissioned in 1985, though its still was salvaged by Islay’s Bruichladdich to produce its Botanist gin.
In 1988 Hiram Walker was sold to Allied Lyons, and so Dumbarton fell for the first time under British ownership. Three years later Allied mothballed the Inverleven distillery, and in 2002 Dumbarton itself followed suit. The buildings have since been demolished to make way for a new housing development, including the site’s long-standing, iconic red tower.
No record of Dumbarton’s history would be complete without mention of the ‘Scotch Watch’, a 100-strong gaggle of Chinese white geese introduced by Hiram Walker in 1959 to protect Dumbarton’s whisky stocks from intruders. The birds became something of a tourist attraction and were even used to advertise the Ballantine’s blend. When Dumbarton finally closed in 2002, the geese stayed put, though 10 years later the remaining seven birds were finally retired and sent to live with an existing flock at Glasgow Green.
1936
Hiram Walker-Gooderham
and Worts purchases
George Ballantine & Sons
1938
Hiram Walker builds the Dumbarton
grain distillery complex to secure a steady
supply of grain and malt whisky
1956
A Lomond still is added to Inverleven’s
setup, creating a whole new distillery
within Dumbarton’s grounds
1959
A flock of Chinese white geese are
introduced to the grounds as whisky
guardians
1985
Lomond is mothballed
1988
Hiram Walker is acquired by
Allied Lyons
1991
Inverleven distillery is closed
2002
Dumbarton distillery is shut down,
and the majority of its buildings
demolished
Pernod Ricard
2005 - present
Chivas Brothers Holding
Allied Domecq
1994 - 2005
Allied Lyons
1987 - 1994
Dumbarton featured American-style stainless steel columns rather than the traditional Coffey stills used by most Scottish grain distilleries. Though it soon realised the inclusion of sacrificial copper is important in the production of quality grain whisky, its process and strict adherence to the use of maize, meant its spirit was rather heavy in character.
Its whisky was mostly reserved for the Ballantine’s blend, and was never bottled as a single grain. However, some independent bottlings have emerged from Douglas Laing and Hunter Laing.
In 1936 Canadian distiller Hiram Walker-Gooderham and Worts purchased notable blender George Ballantine & Sons, giving it sizeable stocks of mature whisky and an established brand (Ballantine’s), but no distilleries. It had already acquired Glenburgie in 1930 and bought Miltonduff also in 1936, but it lacked a reliable source of grain whisky. The following year it established Hiram Walker (Scotland) to oversee its new Scottish operations, as well as build a new grain and malt distillery complex at the old MacMillan shipyard on the banks of the River Leven, which was to act as the group’s headquarters.
At the time Dumbarton began distilling in 1938, it was the largest continuous distillery in Scotland producing grain whisky. It was also the first to challenge the supremacy of the Coffey still by installing American-style stainless steel columns built by Vulcan Copper & Supply Co. of Cincinnati. The ‘continuous distilling unit’ had the ability to produce both potable grain spirit as well as neutral grain spirit, but could only process maize.
While Dumbarton was producing grain whisky for the Ballantine’s blend, Inverleven, which opened in the same year, began producing malt whisky. In 1956 a third Lomond still was added with an attached rectification column designed to produce different styles of spirit. While the still used Inverleven’s wash still, spirit receiver and low wines and feints charger, it was technically classed as a separate distillery called Lomond. It was decommissioned in 1985, though its still was salvaged by Islay’s Bruichladdich to produce its Botanist gin.
In 1988 Hiram Walker was sold to Allied Lyons, and so Dumbarton fell for the first time under British ownership. Three years later Allied mothballed the Inverleven distillery, and in 2002 Dumbarton itself followed suit. The buildings have since been demolished to make way for a new housing development, including the site’s long-standing, iconic red tower.
No record of Dumbarton’s history would be complete without mention of the ‘Scotch Watch’, a 100-strong gaggle of Chinese white geese introduced by Hiram Walker in 1959 to protect Dumbarton’s whisky stocks from intruders. The birds became something of a tourist attraction and were even used to advertise the Ballantine’s blend. When Dumbarton finally closed in 2002, the geese stayed put, though 10 years later the remaining seven birds were finally retired and sent to live with an existing flock at Glasgow Green.
SCOTCH WATCH: THE BALLANTINE’S GEESE
August 2019
In 1959, an unusual security detail was enlisted to guard the stocks of Ballantine’s whisky maturing at Dumbuck: six white geese. Over the following decades, the ‘Scotch Watch’ expanded to more than 100 birds and rose to global fame, starring in TV documentaries, magazine articles – and their own advertising campaign.
Long service: Geese protected Ballantine’s warehouses from 1959 to 2012 (Chivas Brothers Archive)
Maturing whisky is a valuable commodity that can prove all too attractive to thieves, leaving distillers with little alternative but to put in place a range of protective measures: security guards, fencing, hi-tech alarm systems, CCTV cameras… and geese.
When, in the late 1950s, the then owner of Ballantine’s blended Scotch, Hiram Walker, built a new complex of maturation warehouses at Dumbuck, just east of Dumbarton, security arrangements were a vital part of the plans.
The sprawling 14-acre site featured a number of warehouses, all gradually filled with maturing Ballantine’s whisky, and difficult to guard effectively. A combination of human security guards and Alsatian dogs was the most obvious method, but hugely expensive.
The civil engineer in charge of the site, Brigadier Ronald Cowan, also happened to be a keen birdwatcher. Geese, he told Ballantine’s managing director Tom Scott, had excellent hearing and eyesight (unlike humans, they can see ultra-violet light), are light sleepers and are noisily territorial, particularly when they have eggs or young to protect.
What’s more, they would happily live on a diet of the grass surrounding the warehouses, supplemented by grain from the nearby Dumbarton distillery.
It might have seemed an unlikely protective strategy, but for long historical precedent. Back in 390BC, as the Gauls prepared to attack Rome, the city’s exhausted soldiers were asleep in the Capitol, their hilltop fortress.
On patrol: Their acute hearing and eyesight make geese ideal security guards
Luckily, a flock of geese – kept near the temple of Juno as they were sacred to the goddess – raised the alarm. The Gauls were routed, Rome survived – and history took a very different turn.
Back in Dumbuck, the Scotch Watch, as it became known – or The Scotch Guards, to give the birds their alternative title – began with a six-strong squad: one gander and five female geese.
At their peak, and aided by a breeding programme from the West of Scotland Agricultural College, their numbers swelled to well over 100, mostly large Chinese White Geese, plus a few Roman Geese, all led by the dominant gander known as Mr Ballantine.
But this explosion in the avian population was hard-won, as Arthur Carroll, who took over as goosekeeper (a full-time job, incidentally) from 30-year veteran Alex Malcolm, recalled, speaking in 1996: ‘The females turned out to be excellent sentries, but were not as attentive to their nesting duties as they might have been.
‘For a time, we had to recruit some ordinary chicken hens as egg-sitters and they seemed to take to their role as surrogate mothers very well.’
The early 1990s brought another threat to the Scotch Watch, in the shape of a marauding fox. While Dumbuck’s warehouse complex remained unbreached by human thieves, this four-legged intruder evaded every attempt at capture, reducing the goose population from more than 100 to about 70 by 1996.
The geese featured in a number of Ballantine’s ads (Chivas Brothers Archive)
‘I have laid traps, stayed up all night and he still manages to get in,’ Carroll said. ‘It’s remarkable because this must be the most secure place in Britain, yet he always slips through the smallest gap. I have actually seen him in daylight, running across the fields.’
The local authority put down humane cage traps in an effort to catch the goose serial killer, but to no avail. ‘So far, the biggest thing they have captured has been a hedgehog,’ said Carroll.
For the rest of the flock’s 50-plus-year tenure at Dumbuck, they more than paid their way, keeping the lawns impeccably trimmed and the staff well-supplied with eggs (the proceeds from which were donated to a local hospital for ex-servicemen).
Given the ready supply of food and the need to protect nests and young, there was never any urge from the geese to fly away – or almost never. In 1962, one stir-crazy bird caught a glimpse of the flowing waters of the River Clyde – and plotted her route to freedom.
Geese in front of a Ballantine's billboard
Collective strength: At one point, the Scotch Watch numbered over 100 (Chivas Brothers Archive)
Her name was Clementine, and so keenly felt was her loss that Ballantine’s took out a newspaper advertisement in an effort to get her back:
Lost from Ballantine’s Whisky Maturing Warehouses at Dumbuck on 17th November, 1962, one Mature Chinese white Goose, with slight droop to left wing, believed to be without leg ring. This goose has been trained as a guard. Last seen swimming on the River Clyde between Bowling and Dumbuck. The goose has secret identification mark and any others will be unacceptable.
Luckily, Clementine wasn’t ‘lost and gone forever’, and her spree ended soon enough. She was found by a doctor ‘wandering forlornly’ along the shores of Loch Lomond before being returned to her duties. The doctor kindly donated his £50 reward to the RSPCA.
Two other members of the Scotch Watch enjoyed a more legitimate dose of freedom in 1963, when they were flown (in an aeroplane) to Los Angeles, where they were feted as guests of honour at the Park Turf Club’s annual ceremony convened to choose the ‘Miss Goose’ beauty queen.
As time passed, the fame of the birds spread, and they were sought after by tourists, as well as being in demand for newspaper and magazine articles, and television programmes – they were featured by the BBC and British Movietone News.
There were commercial spin-offs as well. The geese were used on several occasions by Ballantine’s for adverts, and featured on a rock band’s album cover. There was even a merchandise line of ties, scarves and lapel badges.
All good things must come to an end. The last of the goosemen left at the end of the 1990s, to be replaced by a rather soulless automatic feeder, and the advent of CCTV cameras was a precursor to the demise of the Scotch Watch.
By the end of 2011, their numbers depleted to seven – only one more than the original guard enlisted in 1959 – it was the last post for the Scotch Guard. Happily, however, they did not end their days as anybody’s Christmas dinner.
Instead, the remainder of the flock was ‘retired’ to Glasgow Green and the care of Glasgow Humane Society. There they were able to swim in the Clyde and take in the views of Strathclyde grain distillery as a reminder of their past life, joining the descendants of other whisky warehouse geese.
Meanwhile, Ballantine’s whisky slumbers on in the Dumbuck warehouses, protected now by the wonders of 21st-century technology. Just as safely guarded as ever it was, but an altogether quieter and duller place for the departure of the fondly remembered Scotch Watch.
So, if you’re ever passing Glasgow Green and see some large white geese there, spare them a thought, a kind word and a bite to eat for their many years of loyal service.
DUMBARTON’S DISTILLERY TOWER TO BE DESTROYED
January 2017
The iconic red tower of Dumbarton distillery, once home to the Ballantine’s blend, is being demolished to make way for over 150 new homes.
Almost 80 years after it was constructed, the Dumbarton distillery tower is to be demolished
The 100ft tower, the last standing monument to the Dumbarton distillery complex in West Dunbartonshire, which housed the Dumbarton grain distillery and Inverleven and Lomond malt distilleries, is being razed by demolition crews over the next two weeks.
Property developer Cullross is working with Dunbritton Housing Association to create affordable homes on the site over the next 24 months.
The plans are part of a wider regeneration of Dumbarton town centre over the next 10 years, including new council offices and the development of a waterfront path linking Dumbarton Rock and Castle with the town centre.
Sephton MacQuire, chair of the board at Dunbritton Housing Association, said: ‘This development on what is a prime site will go a long way toward meeting the need for high-quality houses for rent in Dumbarton. We have waited a long time for an opportunity to develop this site and bring much-needed affordable housing to Dumbarton.
‘Opportunities like this are few and far between, and we look forward to delivering what will be a major improvement to the whole infrastructure of Dumbarton town centre.’
The tower was constructed by Hiram Walker in 1938 on the site of the old McMillan Shipyard to house Dumbarton’s continuous stills and, while most of the distillery’s buildings were demolished following its closure in 2002, the red tower remained.
While the tower has stood as an iconic reminder of the distillery complex, Dumbarton’s most recognisable asset was the ‘Scotch Watch’, a 100-strong gaggle of Chinese white geese that patrolled the site to ward off would-be intruders.
The birds were used in promotional material to advertise Ballantine’s, and even became a tourist attraction.
Following the closure of the distillery, the Watch was retired to live with an existing flock at Glasgow Green.
Planning permission for the new Dumbarton housing development is currently being considered by West Dunbartonshire Council.
Dumbarton featured American-style stainless steel columns rather than the traditional Coffey stills used by most Scottish grain distilleries. Though it soon realised the inclusion of sacrificial copper is important in the production of quality grain whisky, its process and strict adherence to the use of maize, meant its spirit was rather heavy in character.
Its whisky was mostly reserved for the Ballantine’s blend, and was never bottled as a single grain. However, some independent bottlings have emerged from Douglas Laing and Hunter Laing.
In 1936 Canadian distiller Hiram Walker-Gooderham and Worts purchased notable blender George Ballantine & Sons, giving it sizeable stocks of mature whisky and an established brand (Ballantine’s), but no distilleries. It had already acquired Glenburgie in 1930 and bought Miltonduff also in 1936, but it lacked a reliable source of grain whisky. The following year it established Hiram Walker (Scotland) to oversee its new Scottish operations, as well as build a new grain and malt distillery complex at the old MacMillan shipyard on the banks of the River Leven, which was to act as the group’s headquarters.
At the time Dumbarton began distilling in 1938, it was the largest continuous distillery in Scotland producing grain whisky. It was also the first to challenge the supremacy of the Coffey still by installing American-style stainless steel columns built by Vulcan Copper & Supply Co. of Cincinnati. The ‘continuous distilling unit’ had the ability to produce both potable grain spirit as well as neutral grain spirit, but could only process maize.
While Dumbarton was producing grain whisky for the Ballantine’s blend, Inverleven, which opened in the same year, began producing malt whisky. In 1956 a third Lomond still was added with an attached rectification column designed to produce different styles of spirit. While the still used Inverleven’s wash still, spirit receiver and low wines and feints charger, it was technically classed as a separate distillery called Lomond. It was decommissioned in 1985, though its still was salvaged by Islay’s Bruichladdich to produce its Botanist gin.
In 1988 Hiram Walker was sold to Allied Lyons, and so Dumbarton fell for the first time under British ownership. Three years later Allied mothballed the Inverleven distillery, and in 2002 Dumbarton itself followed suit. The buildings have since been demolished to make way for a new housing development, including the site’s long-standing, iconic red tower.
No record of Dumbarton’s history would be complete without mention of the ‘Scotch Watch’, a 100-strong gaggle of Chinese white geese introduced by Hiram Walker in 1959 to protect Dumbarton’s whisky stocks from intruders. The birds became something of a tourist attraction and were even used to advertise the Ballantine’s blend. When Dumbarton finally closed in 2002, the geese stayed put, though 10 years later the remaining seven birds were finally retired and sent to live with an existing flock at Glasgow Green.
Pernod Ricard
2005 - present
Chivas Brothers
Allied Domecq
1994 - 2005
Allied Lyons
1987 - 1994