Two Roberts, two whiskies: Annandale’s decade in a dram
A decade after its launch, Annandale hit its landmark 10 year release
After a century of silence, Annandale Distillery is back – and its first 10-year-old single malts are ready to tell their story. Named after Robert the Bruce and Robert Burns, these whiskies carry the soul of Scotland’s forgotten Lowland peat, writes Tom Pattinson
The Annandale bottles have always stood out on the shelf – those distinctive names, Man O’Words and Man O’Sword, hinting at some deeper story behind the liquid. But it wasn’t until a recent tasting for the launch of the revived brand’s 10-year-old release that I became aware of the origins behind the names. As it turns out, this Lowland distillery has one of the more fascinating backstories in Scotch whisky, and its first 10-year-old releases tell that tale beautifully.
Founded in 1836, Annandale was among Scotland’s first legal distilleries (likely converted from an illicit operation) after the 1823 Excise Act was introduced. For nearly a century it produced a notably peated whisky – unusual for the Lowlands – thanks to its location beside a peat bog. Johnnie Walker & Sons acquired it in 1893, valuing its mainland peat supply over Islay’s more expensive alternative, but by 1924 the distillery closed, its buildings left empty for decades.
“Local boys, Robert Burns and Robert the Bruce were the inspiration for the unpeated Man O’Words for the poet, and peated Man O’Sword for the warrior king”
The resurrection came in 2007 when Professor David Thomson and Teresa Church, took on the derelict site. “I wanted to create a single malt from the south of Scotland as there were back then, so very few,” Church explains. “And I wanted to keep that peaty character the distillery was known for historically.” Their painstaking restoration, completed in 2014, brought whisky production back to Annandale for the first time in 90 years.
The distillery’s location just south of Dumfries places it in territory rich with history. This was shipbuilding country, famous for constructing Clipper ships, and home to two iconic figures: Robert Burns, who spent his final years here as an exciseman, and Robert the Bruce, the 7th Lord of Annandale. It was these two Roberts that were the inspiration for the titles of the distillery’s core expressions – the floral, unpeated Man O’Words for the poet, and the robust, peated Man O’Sword for the warrior king.
Annandale founders Teresa Church and Professor David Thomson
It was actually Thomson and Church’s background in market research as owners of research company MMR, that helped them decide what kind of whisky to produce. “What would a Scotch whisky from this corner of Scotland taste like?” Thomson remembers asking when planning the distillery’s revival. His research background led to extensive sensory profiling to answer that question and the answers was both a peated and not peated flavour with orchard fruits being the thread that runs through them.
Thomson’s friendship with longstanding whisky legend Jim Swan, led to a twin-spirit still being commissioned that would maximise copper contact and reduce sulphur content, to produce a smoother, more fruity new make spirit. Annandale have previously released blends – such as the Storyman (that featured Games of Thrones actor James Cosmo on the bottle) but the Man O’Words and Man O’Sword releases are all single casks. “We chase quality over consistency,” Thomson says, explaining why their core brands are only bottled from single casks. Each year, their local tasting panel assesses every barrel individually, bottling only what meets their standards when it’s ready.
Annandale’s twin-spirit still produces a smoother, more fruity new make spirit
On March 27, Annandale will publicly release its first 10-year-old single cask bottlings of both expressions. The Man O’Words (Cask 125), matured in ex-Buffalo Trace bourbon casks, offers crisp apple and pear notes with a creamy vanilla finish. Its peated counterpart, Man O’Sword (Cask 69), balances woodsmoke with surprising floral and spice complexity.
These 10-year-olds mark an important milestone for the revived distillery, proving the potential of Lowland single malts with proper age and careful cask selection. As Annandale’s remaining stock continues to mature, it’s clear this is a distillery still finding its voice – one that’s already speaking volumes about Scotland’s overlooked southern whisky tradition.
Annandale Man O’Words 10-Year-Old Fresh ex-Bourbon Cask 125
Cask Type: Fresh ex-Bourbon
Spirit Type: Unpeated
Age: 10 years old
Bottling Type: Single Cask
Number of Bottles: 234
ABV: 58.8%
RRP: £110
Annandale Man O’Sword 10-Year-Old Fresh Ex-Bourbon Cask 69
Type: Fresh ex-Bourbon
Spirit Type: Peated
Age: 10 years old
Bottling Type: Single Cask
Number of Bottles: 224
ABV: 57.9%
RRP: £110
