The Whiskyphiles

Girvan

thegirvan-patent-still-multi-pressure

Girvan distillery was built in 1963 with the installation of its first Coffey still in 1963, which was celebrated with their first official bottling. The reason for William Grant & Sons building the distillery was because of a quarrel between the Grant family and DCL. Under the close eye of Charles Grant Gordon, the Girvan distillery was built and producing alcohol within nine months of ground break.The company introduced its export single grain whisky, Black Barrel in 1985 to the Spain, Portugal, and Italy markets. Ladyburn operated as a single malt distillery on site from 1965 until 1975. As of 2007, the site has also been home of Ailsa Bay Distillery.

The Whiskyphiles tasting notes

Official Bottling
  • Girvan 25 Years Old – The Girvan Patent Still 25 Years Old 2014 ~42.6% (William Grant & Sons Ltd.) 42.6% abv, £269.14 Score: 88/100 What they say: The Girvan Distillery first ran with our fledgling spirit back in 1963. Our unique Continuous Distillation creates a delicious spirit full of a rich intensity. Filled to American White Oak our whisky’s soul […]
  • Girvan 30 Years Old – The Girvan Patent Still 30 Years Old 2014 ~42.6% (William Grant & Sons Ltd.) 42.6% ABV, £374.95 Score: 84/100 What they say: The Girvan Patent Still continuous distillation method takes the finest cereal grains to produce a very pure, fruity and clean-tasting grain spirit, which is lighter in aroma and character than most malt whiskies. […]
  • Girvan New Make Spirit – The Girvan Patent Still New Make Unaged single grain scotch 42.6% ABV, Sample Score: 64/100 What they say: New make single grain spirit is taken from the still at 94% abv then reduced to the same bottling strength as the other expressions – 42.6% We cannot call this Scotch whisky yet because it has not […]
  • Girvan No.4 Apps – The Girvan Patent Still No.4 Apps ~ 42.6% (William Grant & Sons Ltd.) 42.6% ABV, £43.90 Score: 74/100 What they say: In 1963 our first Girvan Patent Still ran with spirit. Almost three decades later in 1992 we installed a pioneering new still which we named ‘No.4 Apps’ – a distillery term for ‘apparatus’. This […]
Independent Bottling
Douglas Hamilton
  • Girvan 20 Years Old 1993 The Clan Denny – Girvan 20 Years Old 1993 The Clan Denny (56.7%, Douglas Hamilton, Refill Barrel #10439, 2014) Single grain scotch whisky 56.7% ABV, £88.25 for 70cl Score: 86/100 What they say: The Clan Denny range of single grain whiskies are always bottled at natural cask strength by Douglas Laing & Co Ltd. Bottled from one refill barrel -Ref. […]
Great Drams
  • Girvan-11yo-GD Girvan 11 Years Old 2007 Single Cask Series (Great Drams) – Girvan 11 Years Old 2007 The GreatDrams Single Cask Series whisky review: Very drinkable, lovely and vanillic on the nose suggesting fresh ex-bourbon cask. A little ethereal in places but with a lovely spirit character and somewhat of a sherbet or citric fizz about this one. 80/100
The Creative Whisky Company
  • girvan-10-year-old-rum-finish-the-creative-whisky-company Girvan 10 Years Old 2006 Single Cask Exclusives – Girvan 10 Years Old 2006 Single Cask Exclusives (50%, The Creative Whisky Company, Rum Cask Finish #GV004, 2016) Category: Single grain scotch whisky Origin: Girvan grain distillery Bottling: The Creative Whisky Company ABV: 50% Cost: £33.88 What they say: The Creative Whisky Company Single Cask Exclusives Grain 10 years old GV003 is a Lowlands single […]