Publication Account
Date 15 February 2021
Event ID 1114645
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1114645
‘Proprietors, J.S. Gardner and Son…Annandale, from whence the distillery takes its name, is really the valley of the River Annan commonly called the How of Annandale.and one of the most garden-like distilleries in Scotland…private carriageway crossing a bridge over the Annan Burn and found ourselves at the gates of the works.
The distillery is a short distance from the Annan and is picturesquely situated, being embosomed with trees. It is built in a solid square, with a small central court and entered by a pair of sliding gates. The firm derives its water for distilling purposes from the Middleby Burn, high amongst the hills, which is the property of the town on Annan, but the water used for driving the turbine wheel etc. comes from a swiftly flowing stream situated above the works.
The distillery was formerly in the occupation of Mr George Donald, an excise officer who built it in the year 1830, and resided there for 40 years [1870].In 1883, Mr J S Gardner of Liverpool , leased the property and cleared the buildings of the old fashioned machinery and then re-arranged the whole place , putting in plant and all modern appliances used in distilling.
Mr Gardner is the son of a former Mayor of Liverpool. At his father’s death he retired from business with ample means….quite a model farmstead (higher up the slopes from the distillery) with cowsheds, piggeries, stables and ranged around a shed…pigs…fed…draff from distillery…. The malt is raised by elevator to the kiln at the end of the malting which is floored with wire cloth and heated with peat we next ascended a stair to the top storey of the adjoining building which forms the Mill Room, and contains a pair of malt rollers under which is the Grist Loft a floor some 5 feet above the level of the Mash Tun in the adjoining house ensuite to the mashing department we passed two copper heating tanks with open furnaces facing the yard. A…or enclosed wooden trough conveys the pulverised malt into the Mash Tun, a circular iron vessel holding 3,200 gallons. The house in which it is place d is spacious, well-lighted and of superior construction. The Worts are drained from he Tun and the liquid is pumped into the Worts Reservoir.
The Underback is usual placed on the ground floor of this building. The Distillery proper is a large house arranged on three terraces or slopes on the side of the hill, all under one roof. The top terrace is devoted to the Washbacks, new vessels four in number each containing 3600 gallons... On the next terrace is the wash changer a fine vessel holding 2 800 gallons, also the various receivers etc. and on the lowest floor are the Stills…all of the old pot kind.
In the Still House is placed the Safe, where the...safe is exposed in a glass case, kept locked by the Excise and under certain conditions it can be tested. The spirit flows through the safe into the Receiver in the Still House and from thence it is pumped to the spirit vat in the Spirit Store.
We noticed three old-fashioned spirit worm tubs outside the Still House. And adjoining the latter building is a engine house, wherein there is a capital 12 hp engine to supplement the water power if necessary. Opposite the Distillery over the stream are two bonded warehouses. The whisky is pure Malt and the annual output is 28,000 gallons.’
Barnard (1887)
