Loch Lomond Distillery

On the southern shore of Loch Lomond, in Alexandria, Scotland, sits one of the most technically unusual distilleries in the country. Loch Lomond Distillery makes single malt, single grain, and blended Scotch whisky on the same site, using three distinct kinds of still, and it has spent the last several years collecting more medals than almost any other Scotch producer.

History & Heritage

The modern Loch Lomond Distillery traces to 1965, founded by the Littlemill Distillery Company, a partnership between the American firm Barton Brands and Scottish entrepreneur Duncan Thomas. The distillery closed in 1984, but in 1987 Alexander Bulloch and the Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse Company acquired the site and resumed malt production. Ownership changed hands twice more in the modern era: in 2014, CEO Colin Matthews led a management buy-in alongside London private equity firm Exponent, and in June 2019, Hillhouse Capital Management, an Asian investment firm, acquired the Loch Lomond Group from Exponent in a secondary buyout, again with Matthews at the helm. Loch Lomond Distillery is owned, as of July 2026, by the Loch Lomond Group, which is in turn owned by Hillhouse Capital Management. The group has continued to expand under Hillhouse ownership, including opening a second distillery and visitor centre at Luss, on the western shore of Loch Lomond, in June 2025.

The Whiskey

What sets Loch Lomond apart is not any single expression but the plant itself. It is one of the few distilleries in Scotland equipped to produce single malt, single grain, and blended Scotch whisky all on one site, a versatility almost no other Scottish producer matches. The distillery runs three different still types: traditional swan-neck pot stills, proprietary straight-neck pot stills (also called Lomond stills) developed by Duncan Thomas, and a continuous column still. The straight-neck stills are fitted with fixed rectifying plates that give distillers unusual control over the character of the spirit, capable of producing anything up to grain-strength spirit at 90% ABV from the same equipment. Loch Lomond also produces single grain whisky made from 100% malted barley run through its continuous still, a method regulated by the Scotch Whisky Association as grain whisky despite the all-malt mash bill.

Water for production is drawn directly from Loch Lomond. Malted barley comes exclusively from Scottish maltsters and is ground on site, spanning light, medium, and heavily peated barley depending on the expression. Fermentation runs exceptionally long for malt whisky, between 92 and 160 hours, producing a fruitier, more complex wash than shorter ferments typically allow. The distillery also operates its own cooperage, established in 1994, repairing and charring roughly 10,000 casks a year to keep tight control over cask quality through maturation. Annual capacity runs to 5 million litres of malt whisky and 18 to 20 million litres of grain whisky.

Core expressions include Loch Lomond 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky, matured across three types of American oak, and the smoke-and-fruit driven Loch Lomond Scotch Single Malt Carmelised Apple And Wood Smoke 18yr and Loch Lomond Scotch Single Malt Spiced Apple And Soft Smoke 14 Year, the latter finished in French Limousin oak. Beyond the core range, the distillery bottles single-still expressions under separate names: Inchmurrin, a fruitier single malt from straight-neck stills alone, and Inchmoan, a smokier, peatier malt using both still types.

Why It Matters

Loch Lomond has turned its production flexibility into a competitive advantage rather than a curiosity. The distillery was named Most Awarded Distillery at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2023 and took the Scotch Whisky Producer trophy at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in 2024, the same year it was recognized as Most Awarded Scotch Whisky Brand at San Francisco. Loch Lomond 18 Year Old was named The Whisky Exchange's Whisky of the Year for 2024, and its Inchmurrin 12 Year Old won Best Single Malt (No Age Statement or 12 Years and Under) at the World Whiskies Awards in both 2023 and 2025. For those who appreciate good whiskey, Loch Lomond offers a rare chance to taste how still design alone can produce dramatically different spirit character from a single distillery.

Visiting the Distillery

Guided tours are available at the Alexandria distillery, covering its unusual still setup and range of whiskies. The Loch Lomond Group opened a second visitor destination in June 2025, a new distillery and visitor centre at Luss on the western shore of Loch Lomond.