Lochindaal Distillery was a purpose-built distillery on the Rhinns of Islay which survived in the 20th century. Located in the heart of Port Charlotte village it was constructed for its first licensee, Colin Campbell, in 1829. He only held onto it for two years and subsequently it had many owners: McLennan & Grant from 1831-2; George McLennan 1833-5; Walter Graham 1837; Henderson Lamont & Co until 1852; Rhinns Distillery Co 1852; William Guild & Co to 1855 before a period of stability under the ownership of John B Sherrif until 1895 and then J B Sherrif & Co Ltd up to 1921. It was eventually taken over by Benmore Distilleries Ltd in 1921 prior to that company’s acquisition by the DCL. That signalled the end of Lochindaal Distillery and it subsequently closed in 1929.
Parts of the distillery were used by the Islay Creamery until the early 1990’s. The shore-side warehouses were in use by a local garage, now closed, the Islay Youth Hostel and Islay Nature Centre. A roadside building is now used for vehicle repairs and the distillery cottage is a B&B. The bonded warehouses on the hill behind the distillery site have been in continuous use and are currently in use by Bruichladdich Distillery. This is one lost distillery on Islay that has a good photographic history, which clearly records the distillery site during its century of operation.
The future of Lochindaal Distillery
In spring 2007 Bruichladdich Distillery announced the reopening of the Lochindaal Distillery. The new name of the distillery would be Port Charlotte Distillery. They even had planning permission to start building. However, the financial crisis of 2008 was the reason of the delay which eventually meant the plans were indefinitely put on hold. To compensate Bruichladdich introduced the Peaty Port Charlotte bottling. An exceptional fine dram which makes up for not opening this distillery!