Andrew Symington had always wanted to own a distillery and he couldn’t believe his luck when Pernod Ricard agreed to sell him Edradour.
Standing on the bridge that crosses the burn looking up toward the distillery Andrew told me of the time when he and his partner were stood on the same spot. ‘I told her that one day I would buy this place’. She was apparently somewhat sceptical but a year later they both stood on the bridge and received the key to the distillery from the chairman of Pernod Ricard.
The deal was done in 2002 and after 69 years Edradour was back in the hands of a Scotsman.
Andrew first got into the whisky business in the 1980s when he bought a cask of Glenlivet, bottled it and then sold the bottles to hotels, shops and bars. A similar start to the career of William Whiteley. The profits from that first cask went into buying the second cask and by 1988 Andrew had established the Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Company. Today Signatory is a respected independent bottler, which means they purchase casks from distilleries all over Scotland and bottle the contents under the Signatory brand. The whiskies that Andrew has bottled over the years are some of the finest ever experienced and because of the quality of each bottling many are pre-sold to worldwide distributors whilst still maturing in the cask.
Buying Edradour wasn’t straight forward for Andrew. He knew he wanted to buy it but it wasn’t on the market and his initial approach to Pernod’s Chairman was met with refusal although he did say that if they were to sell it they would let him know. Andrew stayed in touch and his persistence paid off when he was invited to a meeting to discuss the purchase. Negotiations were started and Andrew walked out of the boardroom having agreed to pay £5.6 million for his favourite distillery. It wasn’t just a good day for Andrew Symington it was a good day for Edradour.
I’ve met Andrew Symington many times over the years and I have never met a person who is more hands-on and willing to do any task to keep his business going. Whether it’s driving the forklift to move casks to the warehouse, setting up the bottling equipment or greeting visitors at the distillery shop Andrew’s understanding of his distillery is based on practical experience and not just on spreadsheets. Visitors coming to meet the distillery owner might expect to be met by a sharp suited gent that descends from his office overlooking his empire. Instead they are warmly greeted by a man dressed like everybody else working at the distillery, sporting an Edradour jacket and probably carrying a piece of equipment under his arm.
It is his willingness to muck-in and get involved in every aspect of distillery life that has led to the improvements in the production process and visitor experience, that mean Edradour is more successful now that it has ever been.
Edradour had become lost within the Pernod group of companies and it needed some new ideas to take the business forward. Andrew Symington, his family and the rest of team have certainly done that.
Since Andrew took over in 2002 a bottling plant has been built on-site, a new large warehouse has been installed with conference and entertainment facilities and every building has received some form of refurbishment. More money has been spent on Edradour since 2002 than what it cost to buy.
Andrew Symington (right) receiving the key to Edradour from Georges Nectoux, Chairman of Chivas Brothers and Campbell Distillers. Shortly after taking over Andrew Symington started producing a peaty-style single malt called Ballechin.
Production has increased from 90,000 litres per annum to 130,000 litres through improvements to the production process and an extended production week. When he took over, Andrew was adamant that Edradour was in too short a supply to go into blends and now Edradour whisky is enjoyed for its own pleasure through a vast array of single malt expressions.
One of the many investments Andrew made when acquiring Edradour was in wood. As an experienced bottler of different whiskies, matured in different casks for varying lengths of time, Andrew knows the importance of good quality wooden casks for achieving the best possible whisky. Many, like Andrew, agree that the wooden cask used to mature the spirit has a significant influence on flavour, they may disagree on the exact extent but everyone is entitled to an opinion. Obtaining good quality casks has been instrumental to the success of Edradour since 2002 and the variety of casks that are being used is both astonishing and exciting.
The majority of Edradour spirit is now matured in ‘first fill’ casks, this means casks that have never had Scotch whisky in them before. Many distilleries mature sprit in American Bourbon barrels and Edradour is no exception but a glance at the shelves in the shop or a walk around the top warehouse will tell you that there is a lot more going on.
In the warehouse you can see the large ‘butts’ that once contained sherry, among the shadows you catch a glimpse of ‘Port’ or ‘Madeira’ stamped onto the lid, off into the distance is a cluster of smaller casks from vineyards around the world that once held the finest Chardonnay, Sauterne, Barolo or Burgundy to name just a few and then tucked into the corner, against walls blackened by the ‘angels share’ you can see the short dumpy Tokaji cask slowly imparting some of that distinctive sweetness into Edradour.
At any one time there is likely to be 10 or more different ‘expressions’ of Edradour to choose from, you simply need to try them and pick your favourite.
Many of these expressions are 10 year old Edradour that have been matured in an American Bourbon barrel and then the contents is decanted into a different cask such as wine, sherry or port for an additional period of time to give the whisky an added layer of complexity that leaves a different impression on the nose and palette. Today there are also Edradour whiskies that have been fully matured in wine, port and sherry casks for 10 years or more and this creates a completely difference tasting experience for us to enjoy.
As if that wasn’t enough, the distillery has been producing a very different type of whisky in recognition of another local distillery. The Ballechin distillery was another small distillery situated on the hillside overlooking the fields of Logierait and the river Tay. As the crow flies the tiny village of Ballechin is no more than a few miles from Edradour.
Ballechin started in much the same way as Edradour with a group of local farmers getting together to form a co-operative. In fact, it is possible that James Robertson, who was part of the original Edradour co-operative, was the same James Robertson that ran Ballechin from 1821-1830. Unfortunately Ballechin didn’t make it through the difficult periods of World War I and US Prohibition and ceased production in 1927.
Alfred Barnard, the Victorian writer and journalist, wrote of Ballechin in 1886 ‘The Distillery, which is a quaint, old-fashioned place, covers one and a quarter acres. It is built on the slope of a hill, in the form of the letter L, and is situated on the high road, three miles from the railway station’.
Barnard also makes reference to the peat used at the Ballechin distillery as coming from ‘Inverness-shire and the Orkneys’ suggesting that Ballechin probably possessed the smoky, sea-salt, and medicinal characteristics that we recognise today in peaty whisky.
Andrew Symington wanted to make a peated whisky at Edradour so he consulted a man who knew a thing or two about peated whiskies, Iain Henderson. If anyone could make a good quality, peaty whisky then it was Henderson, the man who had worked at 13 distilleries prior to Edradour including Ardbeg and Laphroaig. Henderson walked around the distillery, inspected the short dumpy stills, tasted the new-make spirit and wandered through the warehouse stopping occasionally to open up a cask and sample the whisky in various stages of maturation. He knew then that Edradour had all the characteristics to produce an excellent quality, heavily peated malt whisky.
That was in 2004 and in 2014 the first batch of Ballechin 10 year old was launched to the world. The spirit had been maturing in nine different types of cask meaning that there are nine expressions of Ballechin to choose from. Limited edition releases had been available in previous years so that the 10 year old expressions were eagerly awaited by whisky enthusiasts around the world. For fans of peat, Ballechin offers the greatest choice of experiences and it is certain to be as successful as Edradour.
