Raising a glass to a new era

Sir, – You may have heard that Edrington, which owns Glenturret Distillery, announced last week it had initiated the process of selling the distillery and visitor attraction in Crieff.

This is the start of an exciting new chapter in Glenturret’s 240-year history and one through which I am very privileged to lead.

We have an excellent team here who are absolutely passionate about the future potential of the Glenturret as Scotland’s only remaining handcrafted whisky, and in keeping the history of our beautiful distillery alive for many generations to come.

While we’ll be very sad to bid farewell to the Famous Grouse brand and our colleagues at Edrington once the distillery transfers to a new owner, the Glenturret Distillery will continue to be an integral part of the Crieff and Perthshire community, as it has been throughout its 240 year history.

We know that Glenturret welcomed more than one million visitors before it eventually opened as the Famous Grouse Experience in 2002, and its status as one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries makes it a significant draw for tourists from all over the world.

My team are now gearing up for what we expect will be our busiest summer yet. Footfall to the distillery increased by 4% last year and industry trends forecast a marked increase in demand for whisky-related visitor attractions with ASVA’s (Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions) latest figures showing a jump of 16.2%.

For almost 40 years Glenturret has been one of Scotland’s favourite whisky visitor attractions and this is expected to continue under new ownership.

Adding to this the exciting growth in the hand-crafted movement in the UK has fuelled a growing increase in demand for authentically produced drinks of which the Glenturret is by far the most established in the whisky market, with some 240 years of heritage to its name.

I’d like to extend this invitation to our neighbours and friends to join us this summer in raising a dram to both Scotland’s favourite blend and Scotland’s oldest malt before we start Glenturret’s next exciting chapter. John Laurie. General Manager, Glenturret Distillery.