Benromach Scotch Whisky Distillery Receives Royal Visit

Thursday 15th October 1998

HRH The Prince of Wales arrives to officially open Benromach Distillery. Upon his arrival he was ceremonially met by Lord Lieutenant of Moray, Air Vice Marshall Chesworth who then presented Mr Ian Urquhart, Managing Director of Gordon & MacPhail. He was also presented to local dignitaries and the other Directors from the company.

Many local people made the short journey from Forres to the edge of the town to see Prince Charles arrive in what was a very cold and wet day.

Bob Murray, the Distillery Manager, accompanied Prince Charles and the rest of the small group around the distillery explaining the different aspect of the production cycle. Prince Charles was very keen to learn all about the changes that had been made to the distillery especially the reinstallation of production equipment. He was certainly pleasantly surprise to hear that most of the equipment had been recycled or made within the local area.

In the cask warehouse Prince Charles was invited to sign the first cask of Benromach Malt Whisky produced by Gordon & MacPhail. He also took a dram of Benromach Centenary - 17 years old along with Ian, Bob and Ewen Mackintosh, Quality Control Manager. If ever you have the opportunity to visit Benromach Distillery and the Malt Whisky Centre you will see the signed cask quietly sleeping.

As the first hailstorm lashed down officials decided to switch the ceremony into the marquee where Prince Charles was still chatting to guests. Prince Charles smiled his appreciation as a makeshift platform was erected and a microphone positioned. His opening words were… ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, I have enormous pleasure in today. It reminds me, I can assure you, of my days at a school not far down the road and, in fact, having seen so many Urquharts here rather thick on the ground this morning, it’s becoming really rather like an old boys reunion at Gordonstoun.’ In his speech he continued to praise Gordon & MacPhail in their mammoth task of re-opening Benromach distillery and the pride that communities have with their heritage in whisky production. He was very informal and relaxed as he met with so many people brought together by a common bond - their appreciation of malt whisky

Before Prince Charles departed the honour of presenting him with the special Centenary bottling of Benromach to celebrate his 50th birthday was bestowed on Mr George Urquhart, Chairman. With this limited edition bottling of only 2000 the obvious choice was individually numbered bottle 50.

He stated that he would look forward to it even though he had earlier remarked of his fondness for a certain Islay malt.