Rosebank

9 NOVEMBER 2022

ROSEBANK TRADITIONAL WOODEN WASHBACKS

At ground level inside Rosebank Distillery upper tun room with a view of the bottom of the washbacks

Rosebank’s three gleaming pot stills stand in pride of place behind plate glass at the front of the distillery. Yet there would be no spirit nor whisky, but for the eight washbacks that will soon feed the stills. On an imagined future tour of Rosebank, let’s swap the sweet scent of distillation for the more earthy aromas of a brewery.

The washbacks are tall circular vessels where the sugary worts are fermented into a cloudy brew with a strength of around 8% abv. They are where a few billion yeast cells feast on the sugars in every batch, converting them into alcohol and CO2 until the alcohol kills them. Hopefully they die happy.

Many distilleries opt for stainless steel washbacks which are clearly easier to maintain, but that was never an option here. “We’ve got wooden ones at Rosebank because that was what Rosebank had traditionally,” says Robbie Hugues, group distillation director at Ian Macleod Distillers.

With everyone committed to recreating the unique flavour of Rosebank single malt, it wouldn’t make sense to mess with tradition. Besides Robbie is a big fan of wooden washbacks which are used in Rosebank’s sister distilleries of Tamdhu and Glengoyne. “We like using wood because in our opinion it gives a good quality fermentation warmth which keeps the heat in in the winter months,” he says.

Malcolm Rennie, Rosebank’s distillery manager, agrees, saying: “I definitely prefer wooden washbacks, and I firmly believe there’s some bacteria that you’ll never completely clean away which is beneficial, especially if you’ve got a longer fermentation.” Whatever goodness that brings to the brew and the newmake spirit would be lost to anyone using stainless steel.

The wood is Douglas fir, or Oregon pine as it used to be called, and those at Rosebank were made by Joseph Brown Vats on Speyside who have been building washbacks for almost a century. Douglas fir grows straight and tall in the American North-West and Canada, and being tight-grained and largely free of knots it is the perfect material.

At Joseph Brown’s, Ron Low explains how they construct the base and the staves in the workshop before assembling them at the distillery, as happened at Rosebank over a few weeks this Spring. They may resemble a giant barrel, but Ron insists “a cooper wouldn’t be able to build a vat any more than a vat-builder could cooper a cask.” Though the two crafts have plenty in common including the use of reeds instead of glue to seal the joints.

Come next Spring, Rosebank’s washbacks will each be filled with 15,000 litres of what will eventually become whisky. In full ferment you might hear a gentle creak from the wood as the brew rises up like a foaming pint, and be warned when the tour guide invites you to take a sniff. At one Highland distillery, the CO2 caused a hapless visitor to jolt his head back so fiercely, his toupée fell into the wash. Whatever it did to the whisky, it wouldn’t do in Rosebank!

Rosebank Distillery's history on its present site began in 1840 when James Rankine, a local wine merchant, acquired the maltings of the Camelon Distillery, which were on the opposite bank of the canal to the main distillery. Rankine expanded the distillery in 1845 before handing management onto his son R.W. Rankine. Rosebank became a sought-after whisky among blenders, who regarded it as 'top dressing'. The demand was so great that Rankine Jr. was able to charge blenders rent on barrel space while they waited for their order.

Original bottle of Rosebank

BEGINNINGS

Rosebank Distillery's history on its present site began in 1840 when James Rankine, a local wine merchant, acquired the maltings of the Camelon Distillery, which were on the opposite bank of the canal to the main distillery. Rankine expanded the distillery in 1845 before handing management onto his son R.W. Rankine. Rosebank became a sought-after whisky among blenders, who regarded it as 'top dressing'. The demand was so great that Rankine Jr. was able to charge blenders rent on barrel space while they waited for their order.

Rosebank black and white photo of the original distillery

CONTRASTS AND JUXTAPOSITIONS

Success followed and, by the 20th Century, Rosebank was revered by whisky connoisseurs the world over as 'The King of the Lowlands'. There was a beautiful juxtaposition in one of the lightest, most floral Scotch whiskies ever made being distilled in Scotland's heavy industry Central Belt. This contrast was reflected in the unique production technique of marrying worm tub condensers and triple distillation. The resulting light/full contrast in flavour made it a category defining Lowland single malt Scotch whisky.

Rosebank distillery washbacks

TURBULENT TIMES

However, global whisky sales fell during the Nineties when the doors finally closed on Rosebank. Then owner UDV (now Diageo) mothballed the site in 1993 because of the cost of upgrading its effluent treatment plant, as well as problems over road access. The site was sold to British Waterways in 2002 and the original stills and mash tun were stolen during the Christmas and New Year holiday of 2008/09.

The knocking down of the Rosebank distillery

THE REVIVAL

Then, in 2017, with the fabric of the building crumbling, Ian Macleod Distillers prevented Rosebank becoming a historical footnote when we acquired the derelict distillery site in 2017, breathing new life into the buildings and their surrounding community.

Our mission is to revive the distillery but our interest extends beyond its walls. The distillery was highly prized locally – along with the town’s old brewery it was once Falkirk’s beating heart, generating jobs for local residents who enjoyed the ubiquitous aroma of whisky distillation. We are really pleased to be able to regenerate in this way, bringing tourism and jobs back to the town, not to mention great whisky!