Visit to Tullibardine Distillery

Tuesday evening saw a group of Rotarians travel to Blackford to explore the Tullibardine Distillery, when they arrived at the retail park it was deserted however the distillery was still in full swing and the group were met by Gavin Cunningham the tour manager.

Gavin entertained and educated the group for over half an hour in the foyer to the visitor centre advising that the site had been a brewery since the 12^th century and much to the delight of JVP Rod that In 1947, a Welshman by the name of William Delme Evans purchased the brewery with a view to converting it to a distillery. Delme Evans was an engineer to trade and designed the distillery to maximise efficiency initially using nature, and latterly science, where necessary.

In 1949, Tullibardine distillery produced spirit for the first time and ran under Delme Evans ownership until 1953. The distillery lay dormant until the June of 2003 when it was bought along with the existing stock of Tullibardine whisky. In November 2004, Tullibardine opened the doors of the distillery and new visitor centre to the public.

The group were then taken round the distillery seeing and tasting the 'beer' fermenting and the stills busy flowing with spirit.

Gavin then took the group into the bonded warehouse to see how the barrels were made and the finer skills of creating a malt whisky. There was a barrel from 1952 to be seen which was likely to be £1000 per bottle when it is bottled!

Next and finally Gavin provided a tasting of the new spirit and a couple of cask matured single malts, all the group were impressed and thanked Gavin for his welcome, enthusiasm and knowledge.