Founded in 1817 Bladnoch Distillery is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. The story began when John and Thomas McClelland were granted a licence to distil whisky on their farm in Scotland's Lowlands. Successive generations of the McClelland family grew and modernised the distillery for almost a century. For just over a century the distillery has changed hands many times including falling under the ownership of Arthur Bell & Sons for 10 years until 1993. In 1993 Bladnoch came back under private ownership and was acquired by David Prior, an Australian entrepreneur, in 2015. The distillery underwent an extensive refurbishment for 2 years and resumed production in 2017 to celebrate its 200 year anniversary. 2019 saw the launch of a state of the art visitor centre, gift shop and cafe.