About St. Magdalene

Lost 18th century malt distillery that was also known as Linlithgow.

St Magdalene, or Linlithgow as it was also known, was a sizeable distillery occupying a prime position between the Union Canal and railway line. The distillery benefitted not only from its own rail sidings but its own wharf as well, where coal and coke were landed to fire St Magdalene’s stills. Water from the Union Canal was used for cooling, though process water was drawn from an artesian well on-site.

When it was eventually acquired by DCL St Magdalene was a relatively large distillery, with 14 washbacks, five stills (two wash; three low wines), three worm tubs, 19 warehouses and the capacity to produce over 1 million litres of alcohol per year. At the time of whisky writer Alfred Barnard’s visit in the later 19th century, he noted some ‘very old’ whisky stored in the warehouses, distilled in 1875 and 1877, and some older. He would have been surprised by the age of some stocks available today, albeit in limited quantities.

Although most of the distillery’s whisky was destined for blending, it has been bottled by independents under both the St Magdalene and Linlithgow brands. Diageo released two official bottlings as part of its Rare Malts series in the 1990s – a 23-year-old 1970 vintage, and a 19-year-old 1979 vintage. A 30-year-old bottling named Linlithgow was also released in 2004 as part of Diageo’s Special Releases for that year.