My first whisky distillery tour for the year turned out to be one I had never visited before. Near Annan and the Anglo-Scottish border to the west, you will find Annandale Distillery.

If you are not familiar with this distillery, then the first thing to know is that they focus on single-cask whiskies. They also produce both an unpeated and a peated spirit where the first is bottled under the name Man O'Words and the second under Man O'Sword after Robert Burns and Robert the Bruce respectively. Both had historical connections to the nearby area.

The distillery was originally built around 1830-1836 and used peat in the production to produce a smoky whisky. At the end of the 1800s, John Walker & Sons purchased the distillery to use the whisky for their blended whiskies, however, 25 years later the production came to a stop due to the First World War.

The equipment was shipped off to other distilleries and the building became a shell until the new and current owners decided to set up their venture and purchased the site in 2007.

The renovations were extensive as the building was unstable and needed replacement slate and sandstone. The pagoda rooftop was in good condition, considering its age, and is now one of only a handful of original Charles Doig ventilators left in Scotland.

© Herald Scotland