Glenmavis Distillery — Lowland Single Malt Whisky

Glenmavis Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery that stood near Bathgate, in the Lowlands of Scotland. It was founded around 1800 and was closed in 1910, after which the site was demolished. Under owner John McNab it became known for a single malt marketed as "MacNab's Celebrated Glenmavis Dew," exported well beyond Scotland during the late nineteenth century.

History

Glenmavis Distillery was established in the Bathgate area of West Lothian around 1800, making it one of the older Lowland malt distilleries of its era. In 1831 it was purchased by John McNab, who ran the operation and put his name to its flagship product, "MacNab's Celebrated Glenmavis Dew." Under McNab's stewardship the distillery grew substantially: by 1885 it was producing around 80,000 gallons of single malt whisky a year, a volume of production that was shipped not only within Scotland and to England but also to Britain's colonial markets, reflecting the reach of Lowland malt whisky exports in the Victorian period.

Quick Facts

• Region: Lowland
• Founded: c. 1800
• Owner: John McNab (from 1831; founding owner unrecorded)
• Status: Closed

Closure & Legacy

Glenmavis Distillery closed in 1910 amid the broader contraction of the Scotch whisky industry in the early twentieth century, and its buildings in Bathgate were subsequently demolished, leaving little physical trace of the site today. No original bottlings of "MacNab's Celebrated Glenmavis Dew" are known to circulate on the collectors' market, and detailed production records from the distillery's near-110-year history are scarce. As with many small Lowland distilleries lost before the modern era of whisky documentation, Glenmavis survives today mainly as a historical footnote in the story of Bathgate and Scotland's Lowland whisky trade.