Bulloch, Lade & Co.

Bulloch, Lade & Co., Distillers of Pure Malt Whisky, Camlachie, Islay and Canpbelltown.—

    In reviewing the various departments of industrial activity and enterprise which have united in making Scotland a great commercial nation, it is not difficult to see that the production of that whisky for which the “Land o’ Cakes” is pre-eminently famous, has played a part of first-rate importance as a factor in the sum total of the country’s commercial prosperity. Perhaps nowhere in the west of Scotland is the distillation of pure malt whisky more completely and creditably exemplified in all its branches than at the three extensive distilleries of Messrs. Bulloch, Lade & Co., of Bothwell Street and Graeme Street, Glasgow, and Camlachie, Islay, and Campbeltown.

    This eminent firm was founded over thirty years ago under its present style, and has, in addition to its head office at 4, Bothwell Street, and the other premises above referred to, an important metropolitan branch office at 36, Mark Lane, London, E.C. The three fine distilleries of the house are, respectively, Caol Ila Distillery, in the island of Islay, Benmore Distillery at Campbeltown, and Loch Katrine Distillery, at Camlachie, close to Glasgow. Each of these establishments is remarkable for the excellence of its productive facilities and the perfection of its equipment ; and the Camlachie Distillery, the largest of the three, has been pronounced by the Excise officers to be one of the most modem and compact distilleries in the country.

    At all these distilleries employment is given to a very large force of hands, and the annual output of pure malt whisky is one of enormous volume. The extensive stores of the firm are situate at 19, Graeme Street, Glasgow, on property belonging to the Glasgow and South-Western Railway. They are very large and commodious, covering about 10,000 square yards, or something like two acres. They have been built upon the very best and most approved modem principles, are entirely fireproof throughout, thus saving a large item in insurance payments, and have storage capacity for an immense quantity of whisky, together with extensive assortments of Port, Sherry, Hock, Burgundy, Champagne, and other foreign wines, of which the firm hold magnificent stocks in all the choicest growths and vintages. The stores in their entirety are the finest bonded warehouses in Scotland, and are a model for good order and cleanliness. The general arrangement is quite perfect, and each separate liquor finds its distinct and individual place in the storage system.

    Employment is here given to a numerous staff of hands, a force which is further supplemented in other departments of the business by many clerks, travellers, &c. The whisky stock in the Graeme Street stores commands attention by its manifest magnitude and well-known quality. All whisky stored here is held in bond, and includes distillations ranging from the most newly manufactured to those of ten or fifteen years’ maturity. The firm blend whiskies very extensively, having been extremely successful in the production of first-class blends, among which they have a speciality or two which have achieved a national fame. This blending is, however, done almost entirely for customers of the house, and although Messrs. Bulloch, Lade & Co. do not name any of the many blends they produce, the whiskies eventually reach the retail market under a host of different names. Needless to say that this has nothing to do with the success of the liquors themselves, which would make their way in public favour and esteem under any designation applied to them, just as the “rose under any other name, would smell as sweet”. We understand that Messrs. Bulloch, Lade & Co. never exhibit or advertise their brands at exhibitions, but we daresay their choice old whiskies often bring medals to merchants exhibiting. In the stores are the large vats for blending the whiskies, and the machinery employed is driven by hydraulic power.

    There is also a spacious bottling department, where bottling, labelling, and capsuling are done, the workpeople here being chiefly females. The bottling operations are conducted for exportation purposes exclusively, and in this department there are always stored thousands of cases awaiting shipment to almost every important colonial and foreign market. Messrs. Bulloch, Lade & Co. control a very great volume of trade which extends throughout the whole of Scotland and England, is particularly well-developed in the latter country, and takes a first position in the leading export markets. Absolute purity is the prime characteristic of all this firm’s favourite distillations, and this quality is supplemented by a fineness of flavour and excellence of blending properties which have made the productions of the house popular among connoisseurs wherever a thoroughly sound, palatable, and wholesome Scotch whisky is appreciated.

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