Last July, The Benriach Distillery Company submitted plans to Aberdeenshire Council to expand the warehousing facilities for Glendronach Distillery. It now appears that these plans have hit a major stumbling block.
The company hoped to construct two new buildings designed for long-term whisky storage on a 19,600-square-metre piece of land, south of Reidswell Farm in Fortrie, Turriff, approximately 2.2 miles from Glendronach. It had been hoped that the buildings would have also featured sprinkler tanks, a pump house, a forklift truck charging shed, and associated infrastructure.
This move was meant to be part of wider plans to expand and improve Glendronach Distillery. Parent company Brown Forman revealed a multi-million pound investment in the distillery back in 2024, with works scheduled to be completed by this year in time for the distillery’s 200th anniversary.
In addition to the warehouse project, this investment included plans to restore Boynsmill House into a luxury guest experience and expand the distillery’s onsite car-parking.
However, the warehousing plans will have to be put on hold. Aberdeenshire Council have rejected their application following an objection from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN). The application was formally refused on 5th January.
SSEN had submitted their objection in August 2025, with their letter claiming that The Benriach Company’s plans conflicted with the energy company’s proposal for a new 400kV electrical transmission line on the site. Apparently these works had been planned since February 2023 and factor into current government energy targets and Scotland’s ambitions to achieve net-zero by 2045.
After outlining these issue, their letter stated that “the proposed location and configuration of the proposed distillery warehousing lies in direct conflict with our critical national infrastructure project, which would bring many benefits to Aberdeenshire and the wider north-east region.”
So it’s not exactly a great start to Glendronach’s 200th birthday year. At the time of writing The Benriach Distillery Company haven’t publicly responded to the news regarding their rejected planning proposal, so it remains unclear what the next step is for any expansion plans at Gloendronach.
