Glenglassaugh Distillery, Banffshire, September 2008

[zimbob]

Visited this with Bryag today, a big thanks to Lost for the info

A little history, this Distillery was first opened in 1875 by the Glenglassaugh Distillery Company, to take advantage of the local spring-water and barley fields. It was taken over in the 1890s by Highland Distilleries Co Ltd, who owned up until this year, when it was sold to a Dutch Consortium. It was first closed in 1907, reopened in 1931, closed again in 1936. Between 1956-60 it was completely renovated and also re-equipped, then closed again in 1986 for the last time. It has lain dormant since then, although the Dutch consortium plan to re-open, apparently in 'late 2008'. They'll need to pull their finger out from what we saw today

Anyway, enough waffle, on with the pics...

The main building :

First view, bottom of the stills :

Looking through :

Switches

Spotted a fellow explorer :

Low wines, and 'paraflow'

Thingy.... :

Between the stills :

The stills themselves :

Mash room :

Valve :

Bottom of the tuns :

Top of the tuns :

Water pump

Looking over the stills :

Wooden stuff :

Looking downstairs :

Lastly, some of the older part of the Distillery, seen through a window with a cool respirator thingy, we didn't get into these

Some of my pics aren't the best, this was my first trip out with a 'proper' camera, a 350d...

Twas a good days exploring, thanks to Bryag for the driving !

​

 

[Seahorse]

Spotted a fellow explorer :

Pissed as a newt? Err, sorry. Frog?

 

[lost]

Good stuff, I'm glad you got in.
It really doesn't look like it's going to be ready by the end of this year!

 

[smileysal]

Good to see pics with most of the equipment still there, as if they could just come in and start work again. Love the pic of the frog too. Good to see the respirator is still there, and not been damaged or stolen.

Excellent pics mate, it looks great.

Cheers,

Sal

 

[freebird]

Its good to see pics of distillery's. I would find them interesting places to explore ( I hate whiskey!!), yet to do one though! I think the stills look cool.

 

[krela]

That's a toad not a frog!

I only know that cos I've got loads of frogs in my garden and I had to look it up the other day to see if they were frogs or toads

 

[Seahorse]

That's a toad not a frog!

I only know that cos I've got loads of frogs in my garden and I had to look it up the other day to see if they were frogs or toads

Ah yes, I should have spotted that. It's easy to see that it's toad-ally different now that you mention it.

 

[Bryag]

Nice intro Zimbob

Sadly, as this is not a big distillery (only two stills) there is not a huge amount of variety in my shots. "Still", they are very colourful and photogenic places, so here are my offerings.

Looking up the stairs

The bottom of what appeared to be a huge hopper. We called it Dennis

This was the bottom of a vertical conveyor system, with a large belt with cute little buckets on. I did not get a shot of them though

Big rusty boilery thing

Mash Tun

Wouldn't like to fall in when it was running!

More stairs

Bottom of Wash Backs?

And from the top

One still from above

Top and motor of vertical conveyor

The sign says it all, although it appears to be missing!

The Aussi-rescuscitator

And a view of the bonded warehouses

Cheers to me for all the driving, and to Zimbob for his company​

 

[MD]

nice shots fellas.
where the stills made of copper?

 

[jock1966]

great post, some nice photos thanks for showing them. :wcool:

 

[The Pirate]

Very good pics guys and interesting looking explore

 

[freebird]

Some fine shots too Bryag. Really nice colours in there. Definately an interesting explore!

 

[urbtography]

Oooooo some really nice pictures there, loving the variety of colours, its amazing to see it so untouched, or am i just used to the general destruction of everything in essex.

 

[Foxylady]

The bottom of what appeared to be a huge hopper. We called it Dennis

ROFL Presumably that's why the respirator was there? (Blue Velvet).

Great report and photos, chaps. Thoroughly enjoyed seeing this site again. Good stuff!

 

[Bryag]

ROFL Presumably that's why the respirator was there? (Blue Velvet).

BEST FILM EVER, Foxy! I can almost hear Roy Orbison singing "In Dreams" as I type this.

Thanks to all for your encouraging comments. This is the second distillery we have explored, and the other (Imperial) was in a similar condition. These are in quite rural locations, and "visitors" would be very obvious to the locals. Perhaps that is why they have survived so well.
We actually got a bit of a fright, when we felt a gust of wind and thought we heard voices. Thankfully, it was just our collective imagination These places are alive, all the steel expands and contracts in the varying temperatures making noises that scare the bejesus out of you. It is really quite unnerving

 

[BigLoada]

Brilliant site guys. I love distilleries even though I dont drink! Didn't realise that stills were so big.

 

[lost]

Supreme parking skills!

 

[zimbob]

Supreme parking skills!

I actually caught sight of the car out of the corner of my eye when we were inside, and was like "Sh*t, a car, duck down!"

 

[Bryag]

Supreme parking skills!

I reckoned no-one would suspect we were in if we parked so close. It is quite a popular beach below, so no biggy! If it had been an F-reg transit I may have tried to hide it

As it was we did not see a soul on site. Plenty folk and their dogs on the beach though!

 

[Bryag]

Brilliant site guys. I love distilleries even though I dont drink! Didn't realise that stills were so big.

The hole in the "belly" is large enough for a man to get in to clean. I believe Wolfism took a pic from inside one. I hope his feet were clean