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BenRiach
welcomes Scottish government Enterprise
Minister Fergus Ewing to Newbridge Bond
and HQ.
 The
BenRiach Distillery Company was
delighted to welcome Fergus Ewing, the
Scottish Government’s Minister for
Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, to its
headquarters and bottling plant at
Newbridge, Edinburgh, on Monday November
21st.
The company, which owns the BenRiach and
GlenDronach single malt distilleries,
gave Mr Ewing a tour of its premises and
a presentation on its activities
worldwide.
Acquired last year, the Newbridge Bond,
Scotland’s specialist contract bottling
company, has five bottling lines
including a purpose-built line for
low-volume/high-value product and
Scotland’s fastest miniature bottling
line. Working with some of the world’s
leading spirits brands, it has the
capacity to produce 2 million cases per
year, it can store 3 million litres in
its vats and can accommodate up to
150,000 cases in its bonded warehouse.
In April 2004 the company acquired
BenRiach, south of Elgin, in a deal
worth over £6m.
Four years later, it also acquired
GlenDronach near Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
It employs a total of 80 people at its
two distilleries, Head Office and
bottling plant.
Annual turnover is £15.1m, with net
profit of some £2.6m.
The BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd. has
three shareholders – industry veteran
Billy Walker and two South Africans,
Wayne Keiswetter and Geoff Bell.
Its whiskies are available in over
thirty countries. Mature markets include
Europe, Scandinavia and the USA, while
emerging markets are opening up in
Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, the
Phillipines and Vietnam.
Over the years it has won a number of
prestigious industry accolades. In 2007
BenRiach won “Distillery of the Year” at
the Malt Advocate magazine whisky awards
and in 2009 it was "Distillery of the
Year" at the Whisky magazine Icons of
Whisky Awards. And earlier this year the
company won nine awards for GlenDronach
and BenRiach – two trophies, and a total
of seven gold, silver and bronze medals
– at the International Wine and Spirits
Competition in London.
Last month it augmenting its
award-winning range of whiskies by
unveiling the new 21 year-old
GlenDronach "Parliament". Matured in a
combination of the finest Oloroso and
Pedro Ximinez sherry casks, it continues
the GlenDronach tradition of offering
fruit-laden intensity in its single
malts. The new expression is named
"Parliament" after the colony, or
"parliament" of rooks that have been
nesting in the trees overlooking the
GlenDronach distillery for almost 200
years.
Born in Dumbarton in 1945, Billy Walker
graduated from Glasgow University in
1967 with a BSc Honours Degree in
Chemistry. After spells with
Ballantine’s, Inver House Distillers and
Burn Stewart, in 2004 he set up his own
venture - the BenRiach Distillery
Company – which led to the acquisition
of BenRiach and GlenDronach
distilleries.
Over the last seven years the company
has resurrected "sleeping giants"
BenRiach and GlenDronach, bringing a
range of innovative and ground-breaking
malt whiskies to the market. Billy is
one of the most recognisable characters
in the Scotch Whisky industry where he
has now been involved for over forty
years. He is a Master Blender and a
Master of the Quaich - the highest
honour the Scotch Whisky Industry can
bestow.
Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing said:
"Our whisky industry is a national
success story and makes a huge
contribution to Scotland. Exports are a
large part of this and it’s encouraging
to see the latest figures showing that
they are up 22% in the first half of the
year to stand at £1.8 billion.
"BenRiach is to be congratulated for
playing its part in this and developing
its brands so well over the last few
years - and contributing to Scotland's
sustainable economic growth in the
process."
Billy Walker said: "My colleagues and I
were delighted to welcome Fergus Ewing
to Newbridge in his capacity as Scottish
Minister for Enterprise.
"Mr Ewing took a great interest in our
activities during his visit. I took the
opportunity to emphasise that whisky is
Scotland’s greatest export and vital to
the Scottish Government's number one
priority - increasing sustainable
economic growth. It plays a critical
role in the Scottish economy, with
producers employing over 10,000 workers,
generating gross income of over £460m
and contributing gross value added of
£2.7 billion towards Scotland’s
economy."
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