Newer Distilleries : Clydeside

This is the latest in an occasional series about newer distilleries, this entry is about the Clydeside Distillery.

Including a look at their first release Stobcross.
Location

The Clydeside Distillery is located here.

History

The Clydeside Distillery is in the Pumphouse building in Glasgow, which once controlled all the comings and goings for the famous Queen’s Dock pumping hydraulic power for the swing bridge.  John Morrison, began building the Queen's Dock in 1863 while he was busy building half the city – one whole generation before the family discovered whisky. 

In 1925 Stanley P. Morrison, one of Glasgow’s most successful whisky brokers, helped establish T. William Walker & Co and purchased whisky merchant, A. D. Rattray. By 1936, he’d also acquired the prestigious Chivas Brothers with partner Robert Lundie.  In 1963, whilst in the Grand Central Hotel he overheard rumours that Bowmore Distillery was up for sale – so bought it, laying the foundation for Morrison Bowmore Distillers. Seven years later, he bought Glen Garioch Distillery. Later the family also purchased Auchentoshan Distillery.

His son Tim bought A.D. Rattray for himself and launched a new range of exclusive bottlings. In 2017, Tim Morrison (Morrison Glasgow Distillers) opened The Clydeside Distillery, fulfilling his ambition to revive distilling Single Malt Whisky once more in Glasgow. Through the distillery, he also helped restore the dock his great-grandfather built.

Production

Barley is sourced from 7 lowland farms, malted by Simpsons and milled on site.

Mashing takes place in a 1.5 tonne stainless steel, copper dome topped, Semi Lauter Mash Tun

Eight stainless steel washbacks, each holding around 7,500 litres, ferment the wort.

The wash (8,000 litre) and spirit (5,000 litre) straight swan neck stills with inclined lyne arms and shell and tube condensers produce a new make of around 70% ABV which is reduced to 63.5% ready to fill the casks.

Their first casks were filled in December 2017.

Maturation

Spirit is matured in first fill bourbon, sherry, STR (Shaved, Toasted, Re-Charred) and refill bourbon casks before being shipped to warehouses in the city for maturation.

Whisky

Clydeside released their first whisky in October 2021, named Stobcross:

"The ancient state of Stobcross was named after a historic cross which once marked the route to Dumbarton Rock. On this road, in the 1600s, the Anderson family built a fine mansion, Stobcross House, later going on to lay out the prosperous weaving village of Anderston. With time comes change, and in 1875, with the industrial rise of the River Clyde, Stobcross House was demolished to make way for the Queen’s Dock – one the beating heart of Glasgow’s global maritime trade and fame."

Website
Link to the distillery website


Visit
Open Wednesday to Sunday 11pm to 5pm.

 

Review:

Clydeside have recently released their first single malt under the name Stobcross, it's a mixture of  unpeated 80% ex-bourbon and 20% sherry seasoned casks at 46% ABV, natural colour and non-chill filtered.

Distillery notes:

This Clydeside Single Malt is produced using clear water from Loch Katrine, 100% Scottish barley and then matured in the finest Oak casks.  

 

Nose: Floral notes, fresh sweetness with tropical tones

Palate: Orchard fruits and hints of white pepper

Finish: Fresh, fruit tones. 

 

My thoughts:

Appearance: Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take a while to bead up and fall as slow thick oily legs.

Nose: orchard fruit notes jump out of the glass to start with - stewed apples, pears, apricots, and  drizzled honey. There's some citrus peel here too. A little time and air and these change more tropical with mango, pineapple and maybe a little hint of ginger? It's 100% unpeated spirit but there is a faint smoke or cask char note here.

Palate: thin spicy arrival, the ginger from the nose is here along with the honey sweetness, some herbal notes, dry grass, tropical fruit and more spice. The fruit from the nose - mango, pineapple, apples and pears are here along with some orange zest notes. The spice changes a little more peppery. Light but tasty.

Finish: lingering fruit, honey and spice notes.

Overall: this is obviously a young dram 3 to 3½ years old, there isn't a lot of cask influence - no vanilla notes from the bourbon and definitely no sherry notes that I can detect anyway. But that's not to say it's a bad whisky - as a young first release it's very drinkable - very reminiscent of a fruit Speysider - very like my Dad's favourite Glenmorangie 10yo - with maybe a touch more spice. 

Clydeside are obviously on to something good here - the whisky just needs some more time in the wood to develop some complexity - I can't wait to see what's it's like in a few more years.