Distillery
Royal Lochnagar
John Begg built his distillery on the River Dee in Aberdeenshire in 1845, deep in Scotland's Highland whisky country. He named it New Lochnagar, keen to distinguish it from a rival site across the water that had already burned down twice. Three years later, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert leased neighbouring Balmoral Castle as their Highland retreat. Begg, sensing an opportunity, invited the engineering-minded Prince to tour his works. The Prince turned up the very next day with the Queen and three of their children. Within days the family granted a Royal Warrant, turning New Lochnagar into Royal Lochnagar. The name is a bit of a trick: Lochnagar is a mountain, not a loch, standing guard over the distillery's Deeside home. Diageo still leases the ground from the Abergeldie Estate rather than owning it outright, just as Begg once did. Today Royal Lochnagar remains one of Diageo's smallest distilleries, turning out a rounded, sherried single malt whisky.
