Closed Distilleries

Scotland's (almost forgotten) liquid history.

Around 100 distilleries are currently active in Scotland, but few are aware of the much greater number lost to history amid the boom and bust cycles notorious in the whisky industry. A closed distillery is one which has been permanently shut down, probably because it was uneconomical to run at the time of closure. Normally the equipment is dismantled and sold off, so it's very unlikely that the distillery could re-open in its original form.

Names like Banff, Coleburn, Glenlochy, Glenugie and Kinclaith are almost unheard of nowadays, though bottlings do still surface. Other better known distillieries have almost acquired a mythical status, both for their relative 'scarcity', soaring prices and consistently high quality output. St. Magdalene, Port Ellen, Rosebank and Brora, which were closed more recently still have casks in bond, waiting to be bottled, usually by independent bottlers for savvy, cashed-up collectors. Finding these at opening prices is key.

Nicks Wine Merchants continue to source old and rare whiskies from private collections and official sources that you can buy online and have safely shipped to most areas of Australia.