Publication Account

Date 2013

Event ID 979392

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/979392

Hillside Distillery opened in 1897 using water rights of the now-closed Kinnaber Mill and the site of a bleachworks. It operated fitfully under a variety of names producing malt and grain whisky, but the last distillation plant was removed in 1996. However the maltings went from strength to strength. Glen Esk Maltings were enlarged in 1968 and 1973 for United Distillers, producing all of that conglomerate’s needs. The maltings were sold in 1996 to Paul’s Malts and is a landmark receiving grain and barley by road and rail. Each of 24 germination drums holds 31 tonnes of barley at a time. The 25 acre site retains the mill lade and stone bonded warehouses with gabled and curved roofs. Kinnaber Mill (operational c.1814/1867) was flax spinning downstream and to east of the lade, beside the corn mill that straddles the same lade emerging near AN46.

Ref B Townsend Scotch Missed (1997)

At Kinnaber junction two railway systems came together - the Caledonian (LMS) and North British (LNER). In races from London in 1895 whoever got to that point could then coast into Aberdeen with the frustrated rival stuck behind.

M Watson, 2013