3rd Whisky Era -- Johnnie Walker (1893 -- 1924)
During a visit to Annandale Distillery in early 2008, retired distillery engineer Bill Rankin from Forres (Scotland) observed the pagoda roofed kiln and thought it may be in the style of Charles Doig, the legendary distillery architect working out of Elgin in the 1890s. Bill knew of the existence of the 'Doig archive' in Elgin library and (to our consternation and great pleasure) he found seven very detailed drawings of Annandale. These revealed the layout around 1898 along with Johnnie Walker's plans to expand the distillery and maltings very considerably.
Whisky consultant Dr Jim Swan holds the view that Johnnie Walker may have acquired Annandale as a source of smoky/phenolic whisky for blending. At that time, this style of whisky came mainly from the island of Islay; with all the associated difficulties and costs of sea transportation by 'puffers' from Islay to the mainland. Annandale, on the other hand was located very close to the Carlisle to Glasgow railway (Glasgow & South Western Railway which became London, Midland & Scottish Railway) which passed through Kilmarnock where Johnnie Walker still has a huge facility right next to the railway. How convenient this would have been!
When Johnnie Walker acquired Annandale Distillery in 1893, it became their second distillery, having previously purchased Cardow (now Cardhu). Whilst Cardhu has remained with the Johnnie Walker business ever since and contributes significantly to their famous blends, Walker's tenure at Annandale was fairly short-lived and their plans to expand Annandale never really came to fruition. However, they did build the magnificent sandstone bonded warehouses along with some rather elegant houses for the distillery staff (all now in private ownership). We can only guess at the reasons why Johnnie Walker relinquished Annandale but the economic and social consequences of WW1 undoubtedly played a significant role in their eventual decision to mothball Annandale in 1919 and finally close it in 1921.
During WW1, a massive munitions manufacturing complex was created along the Solway Coast from Longtown (in England) to Dornock and Eastriggs near Annan. In order to curtail lost production due to drunkenness amongst employees, most hotels, bars and breweries in the area were brought into state ownership (something that prevailed until the early 1970s). Somewhat paradoxically, it seems that Annandale Distillery may have escaped this particular fate (although we seek more information on this point). Perhaps this was because the distillery was 'silent' during the war years due to lack of manpower and malting barley?
It seems that Johnnie Walker retained some sort of presence at the Distillery until about 1924. Perhaps this was when the lease finally expired or perhaps it corresponds with the absorption of John Walker & Sons into the Distillers Company Limited (DCL -- predecessors to Diageo). By this time, all of the whisky making machinery had either been transferred elsewhere (possibly Cardhu) or scrapped.