The history of Brora and Clynelish goes back to 1819, and involves many closures, mergers, and licences. As such, we have put together this timeline to make it a little easier to follow the complicated and intertwined histories of these two distilleries.
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1819
Clynelish is founded by the Marquis of Stafford, 1st Duke of Sutherland
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1827
The first licensed distiller, James Harper, goes bankrupt. John Matheson takes control.
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1828
James Harper returns as licensee.
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1834
Andrew Ross takes over as licensee.
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1846
George Lawson & Sons become the licensees.
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1896
Glasgow blenders James Ainslie & Heilbron, in partnership with John Risk purchase Clynelish from the Sutherland estate. Clynelish is rebuilt and enlarged.
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1912
Distillers Company Limited (DCL) takes over in partnership with John Risk.
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1916
Blender John Walker & Sons buy a stake in Clynelish.
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1925
DCL buys out Risk, and merges with John Walker & Sons to become sole owner of Clynelish
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1930
DCL transfers Clynelish to Scottish Malt Distillers
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1931
Clynelish is mothballed during the 1930s Depression
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1938
Production resumes at Clynelish
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1941-1945
Wartime restrictions on the supply of barley force the closure of Clynelish
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1960
The distillery is transferred to electricity, ending the use of locally mined coal
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1967
A new distillery is built adjacent to the first one, it is also named Clynelish and both operate in parallel from August with the new distillery named ‘Clynelish A’ and the old ‘Clynelish B’.
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1968
Old Clynelish / ‘Clynelish B’ is mothballed in August.
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1969
Old Clynelish / ‘Clynelish B’ is reopened and renamed Brora
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1983
Brora is closed on 17th March 1983
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1995
Brora 1972 20 Year Old & 22 Year Old are released as Rare Malts
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1997
Clynelish 1972 24 Year Old and 1974 23 Year Old are released as Rare Malts
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2002
Clynelish joins the Hidden Malts Collection, and a 14 Year Old is released. A 30 Year Old is the first Brora bottling for the special releases
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2014
Clynelish Select Reserve is released as part of the Special Releases
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2015
Second version of Clynelish Select Reserve is released as part of the Special Releases
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2016
Clynelish distillery closes for refurbishment and upgrade
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2017
Clynelish distillery reopens and resumes production. Diageo announces plans for Brora to be refurbished and reopened
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2018
Plans announced for the Clynelish visitors centre to receive a ‘comprehensive upgrade’. Rebuilding work commences on the Brora still house, as the stills are removed and sent to Abercrombie coppersmiths in Alloa for refurbishment.
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2019
A 40-year-old is released to celebrate the Brora distillery’s 200th anniversary.
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2020
Work begins at Clynelish to upgrade the visitor’s centre
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2021
Brora reopened in May 2021 and released the Brora Triptych
