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BenRiach, GlenDronach

& Glenglassaugh

There has always been great rivalry between the All Blacks and the Springboks.
However there are a couple of South Africans that New Zealand mini bottle
collectors should congratulate. They are Geoff Bell and Wayne Keiswetter who
purchased three Speyside distilleries. Over the past year or so there has been over a
dozen miniatures available in New Zealand from the three, and that does not include
label variations.

The BenRiach distillery was built in 1898 by
John Duff but it closed in 1900. It was
reopened in 1965 by Glenlivet Distillers who
on sold it to Seagram’s in 1977. It was added
to their Chivas Bros. subsidiary in 2001, prior
to the Seagram empire being broken up
(basically between Diageo & Pernod Ricard).
Pernod Ricard acquired Chivas Bros. and it’s
distilleries in 2001 then promptly mothballed
the distillery in 2002.

The South Africans, together with Scotsman
Billy Walker, bought the distillery from Pernod
Ricard in 2004. They have produced numerous
whiskies including 10, 12, 16 and 20 years plus
various bottlings which sometimes have no
specific ages, such as Heart of Speyside.

The GlenDronach Distillery was built in 1826 by a
group of local farmers including James Allardes.
He was also known as James Allerdice hence
one of the recent bottlings. They were
encouraged by the Fifth Duke of Gordon who
helped
legalise
whisky
distilling in
the Highlands in 1823. In 1960 it was bought
by William Teacher and Sons to provide a
base for their well known brand. The distillery
closed in 1996 but was reopened in 2001 by
Allied Distillers (which went the way of
Seagram’s and is now split between Pernod
Ricard & Beam Suntory). In 2008 the three
partners, via The Benriach Distillery Company
Ltd, purchased GlenDronach. As with

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