A HIGHLAND whisky distillery has made a number of staff redundant with plans for "shared production" with another distillery going forward.
Brown-Forman has confirmed a “small number of redundancies” at Glenglassaugh Distillery following its merger with BenRiach Distillery.
Glenglassaugh production operator Tijay Salhotra posted news of a shutdown on his Instagram feed and said he had been laid off, but added the distillery would restart production later this year.
He posted: “And just like that my time at Glenglassaugh and Brown-Forman has come to an end.
“Due to the decline in the whisky industry and a change in the corporations activities, Glenglassaugh is halting production for a while making my role redundant. It's not closing for good and it should restart towards the end of the year.
“It's been an amazing three years with the company, beginning from my time at Glendronach in the visitor centre and the last two years at the helm of Glenglassaugh. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who watched and engaged with my stuff here on IG, it means the world that I could showcase what I do and possibly put a smile on someone's face at the same time... It really means a lot.”
“Glenglassaugh Distillery is not shutting down,” she said.
“We are implementing a shared production model with BenRiach, which will involve periods of production alongside occasional silent seasons, as has been the case traditionally. This allows us to optimize resources and expertise across both distilleries.
“This shared production model, and our ongoing demand planning process, resulted in a small number of redundancies. We deeply value the contributions of those impacted and are committed to providing support to them throughout this process.
“Our commitment to crafting exceptional whiskies remains as strong as ever, and we are grateful for the continued support and enthusiasm of our customers and markets worldwide.”
Brown-Forman acquired Glenglassaugh in 2016 and recently launched a series of three single malts: Sandend, Portsoy and the flagship 12-year-old.
Glenglassaugh is located on the Moray Firth coast just minutes from Sandend Bay.
It was established in 1874 by businessman James Moir before becoming part of Highland Distillers. The distillery closed in 1907 before reopening in 1960 but closed again in 1986. The BenRiach company reopened it in 2013.
In 2017 Brown-Forman announced that it had reached definitive agreement to purchase The BenRiach Distillery Company Limited for approximately £285 million. This deal included buying The GlenDronach, BenRiach, and Glenglassaugh.
Earlier this month, Brown-Forman announced plans to cut 12% of its global workforce and shut down its cooperage in Louisville, Kentucky this April.
