Cameron Bridge

Cameron Bridge is a village in the conurbation of Levenmouth in Fife, Scotland. It is near to the village of Windygates and 2 miles (3 kilometres) west of the town of Leven. A distillery was established in the 19th century by the Haig family, which is now part of Diageo.[1] The distillery produces Scotch whisky.

History and locality

It is a settlement at a bridge over the River Leven, which replaced a ford there. When Leven was flooded it was the first upstream crossing. In 1870, an earlier bridge was replaced with a new one.[1] Another river is located nearby, the River Ore.

Future transport

A railway station could be located in Cameron Bridge in the future, which would also serve as at Park and Ride site. Rail freight provisions could also be provided to serve the distillery. This is as part of the Levenmouth rail link.[2]

Remains of Cameron Bridge station, 1988

The Cameronbridge Grain Distillery

In 1824 the Haig distillery was opened. In 1830 it became the first distillery to produce Grain whisky using the Column still method invented by Robert Stein. In 1877 John Haig & Co merged with five other whisky companies to form the Distillers Company, with John Haig & Co coming under DCL's full ownership in 1919. Cameron Bridge produced both grain and malt whisky using a combination of pot stills and column stills until 1929, when it shifted exclusively to grain whisky production.

For a period between 1941 and 1947, the distillery closed due to World War II. The current Column still house was constructed during the 1960s, and two of its three stills are more than 30 years old. The third was transferred from Carsebridge distillery in Alloa when it was closed by United Distillers in 1983. Major renovations at Cameron Bridge occurred in 1989–92 as well as up to 2000 when the distillery produced up to 30 million imperial gallons (140,000,000 L) of spirit annually.[3][4]

In 1989 Cameronbridge also changed from being solely a large-scale grain whisky distillery into a ‘dual-purpose’ site, when United Distillers' Grain Neutral Spirit operation was transferred to Fife from Wandsworth in London. Now GNS for white spirits and ‘sweetened products’ such as Archers, Pimm's, Smirnoff, Tanqueray and Gordon's Gin are also produced alongside grain spirit used in the Johnnie Walker, J&B, Bell's, Black & White, Vat 69, Haig and White Horse blended whisky brands owned by Diageo.[5]

It is currently the largest of the remaining grain distilleries in Scotland[6] and is owned by Diageo.[7]

References
  1. "Cameron Bridge, Fife". Gazetteer for Scotland. 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
  2. "Levenmouth Sustainable Transport Study STAG Part 1 Appraisal Report" (PDF). South East Scotland Transport Partnership (SEStran) & Fife Council. May 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
  3. "Cameron Bridge Scotch Whisky Distillery". Scotchwhisky.net. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
  4. "Green move for Scotch whisky firm". BBC News. 2004-11-14. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
  6. Russell, Inge and Stewart, Graham G. (2014). Whisky: Technology, Production and Marketing. Elsevier. p.xx. ISBN 9780124046030
  7. Dorsey, Kristy (16 December 2017). Diageo marks its 20th anniversary. Insider.co.uk

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