Longrow Distillery — Campbeltown Single Malt Whisky

Longrow Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery that once stood on Longrow street in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland. It was founded in 1824 by John Ross, with financial backing from John Colville and John Beith, and closed in 1896 after operating for over seven decades. Longrow is notable today mainly as the namesake of Springbank's heavily peated Longrow single malt, and one of its original warehouses still stands, now used by neighbouring Springbank Distillery as a bottling hall.

History

Longrow Distillery was built in 1824 by John Ross and initially traded as "John Beith and Co." In its earliest years it was one of only two distilleries operating in Campbeltown, before the town's whisky industry expanded rapidly through the mid-19th century to become the self-styled "whisky capital of the world." The firm went through several changes of name and ownership as its founding partners' involvement shifted: it operated as "Colvill, Beith and Co" by 1837, and as "Beith, Ross and Company" from 1840 after John Beith's son joined John Ross and John Colville. The partnership was dissolved in 1876, after which John Ross and Co took sole control. Following John Ross's death in 1886 at the age of 85, the distillery passed to William and James Greenlees, who by then were producing around 40,000 gallons of whisky a year. Whisky writer Alfred Barnard, who toured Scotland's distilleries in the 1880s for his book "The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom," visited Longrow shortly before its closure and remarked on the old-fashioned character of its premises.

Quick Facts

• Region: Campbeltown
• Founded: 1824
• Owner: Closed; site now partly occupied by Springbank Distillery
• Status: Closed

Closure & Legacy

Longrow Distillery ceased production in 1896 and its buildings were subsequently demolished, a casualty of the broader contraction of the Campbeltown whisky industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of its former warehouses survived and was absorbed by the adjacent Springbank Distillery, which still uses it today as a bottling hall. No original Longrow bottlings are known to survive on the market, and the distillery's chief legacy is its name: in 1973, Springbank revived "Longrow" as the brand for its own heavily peated, double-distilled single malt, a tribute to the lost distillery that once stood next door.