Tullibardine Scotch whisky will once again be produced at its own distillery as the result of a major investment announced today.
The distillery stopped producing its own whisky in 1994, but the stills will start production again by the end of the year as part of a major scheme designed to revitalise the area around Blackford, between Perth and Stirling.
Four businessmen have set up a consortium called Tullibardine Ltd to create a retail centre and tourist attraction adjacent to the distillery at a cost of more than £10 million. The project should create around 100 jobs and revitalise the surrounding area, the consortium claims.
The complex multi-million pound deal includes the purchase of the Tullibardine Distillery and surplus land surrounding the distillery. Additional land has been secured on a long lease from the neighbouring estate to house the proposed development.
"Blackford has been in decline since it was bypassed with the new A9," said Michael Beamish, director of Tullibardine Ltd and former United Distillers and Drambuie executive. "This project will revitalise the village providing a renewed sense of identity while creating employment, wealth and prosperity. The growth of the Tullibardine single malt whisky brand within the UK and internationally will further add to the identity and pride which exists within the village of Blackford."
The new 50,000 square foot retail development, due to open next year, already has its first tenant, with 55 per cent of the new development already set aside for local food company Baxters. The company's chief executive, Audrey Baxter, said: "With its unique offering and prime location at the gateway to the north, we believe Tullibardine is set to become a major tourism attraction, and a flagship site for Baxters."
While Baxters will clearly play a major part in the development of the site, the core will be the Tullibardine Distillery. The whisky is currently sold as a 10-year-old single malt whisky to a limited market in the UK and Europe, and as part of the purchase the company is acquiring a stock of maturing malt whisky, enabling the Tullibardine brand to be relaunched onto the market in the coming months.
The brand was one of a number of Scotch whiskies owned by the Kyndal group, which was formed through an MBO of the Jim Beam Brands Greater Europe business in 2001. But Kyndal has never considered the brand to be of particular importance, and has sold only small quantities in recent years.
"The way we have secured the future of the distillery is by differentiating and being innovative," said director Douglas Ross. "This is not a traditional distillery purchase but the development and creation of a unique visitor attraction.
"We believe this venture to be the first of its kind in Scotland, whereby the future of a whisky distillery and brand will be secured and supported by revenues generated from the sale of surrounding land and subsequent development of a retail complex. Tourists and visitors will have the opportunity to learn, be entertained, browse and purchase high quality merchandise and food next to a working malt distillery,", he said.
"The whisky industry is dominated by a small number of vast multinationals. The purchase of Tullibardine Distillery by a group of private investors restores an element of the entrepreneurialism for which the pioneers of the industry were originally renowned."
Beamish told FoodandDrinkEurope.com that there was significant potential for the Tullibardine brand. "The whisky has been sold in such small quantities that it is all but unknown, so we have a clean slate with which to start," he said.
Initial production of the whisky will be overseen by Kyndal's distillery manager, Beamish said, although he declined to give any production forecasts. "The distillery can produce up to 2 million litres a year, but clearly our production will be nowhere near that much. The whisky is currently sold as a 10-year-old, but we will be looking to introduce other expressions in the years to come, which means that forecasts are for 12-15 years hence."
The whisky will be distributed through independent third party distributors, and will target specialist shops and selected on-trade outlets. Core markets will be the UK, France, Spain and Italy, Beamish said.