Whisky Focus - Glen Keith Distillery Work Awarded To Local Contractors

A number of Speyside firms have been awarded contracts to work on Chivas Brothers’ Glen Keith distillery – set to reopen later this year after a 14-year closure.

The producer of Scotch whiskies including The Glenlivet, Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s and Royal Salute announced in late 2011 that the Keith distillery would reopen to help the company meet increasing worldwide demand for its luxury brands.

Work began in February 2012, and the investment is already bringing economic benefits to the Speyside business community with a number of local contractors involved in the project.

Building work has been awarded to A.D. Walker of Banff, structural steel work to W.R. Simmers of Keith, and the distillery’s new wooden washbacks will be built and installed by Joseph Brown Vats of Dufftown. Stills are being constructed by Forsyth Group of Rothes, while malt and milling equipment will be supplied by Clark & Sutherland in Keith.

Stainless steel piping and tanks are being installed by L.H. Stainless of just outside Keith, while their neighbours Advanced Electrics are looking after electrical works, and C&A Innes of Keith are upgrading the distillery’s water supply. Other local contractors at Glen Keith include G&A Construction of Dufftown, McKerron & Milne roofwork and McCormack’s scaffolding of Rothes, D Paterson steelwork of Elgin, and I Fraser & Sons electrical of Rothes.

Chivas Brothers also awarded contracts to A.D.Walker and L.H. Stainless for upgrade work at its Tormore and Longmorn distilleries, while Advanced Electrics and Forsyth Group were contracted at Longmorn, Glenallachie and Tormore distilleries between 2011 and 2012.

Additional contracts at Longmorn were also given to W.R. Simmers, G&A Construction, C&A Innes, D Paterson and I Fraser & Sons, while McCormack’s worked at both Longmorn and Tormore, and Joseph Brown Vats worked at Tormore.

Douglas Cruickshank, Production Director for Chivas Brothers, said: "We understand the importance of the whisky industry to communities in Speyside, and are therefore delighted to be working with these local businesses on the Glen Keith project, as well as some of our other distillery upgrades. Chivas Brothers has already committed to investing £40 million a year in our Scottish operations, and with a new distillery also due to be built at Carron by 2015, we look forward to developing further relationships with local contractors in future."
 

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