Bladnoch, Scotland’s oldest privately-owned distillery, has released Loch Maberry: Stories of Bladnoch, Chapter Three, the third instalment in a limited-edition series of single malt whiskies celebrating and selected by individuals who have a deep affinity with the distillery.
Where Chapter One celebrated a lifelong admirer of the distillery and Chapter Two traced a family’s return to its roots, Chapter Three tells a love story — one that began with a chance meeting, and in which Bladnoch has been a thread throughout.
Roddie Burgess had spent the day at Bladnoch for Waterfall Day, a festival day at the distillery, with his friend Iain. The two went back to a hotel in Newton Stewart that evening, where the only other person in the restaurant was Elaine. She had come to Galloway to take some time for herself a few months after her husband died. As they talked, she learned that Roddie had lost his wife eighteen months earlier.
That might have been the end of it. Some months later, though, Iain ran into Elaine again — this time in Northumberland — and passed on Roddie’s number. That chance encounter led to a long-distance relationship and, eventually, marriage.
The minister who married them had come from Tennessee and was keen to bring Scottish traditions into the ceremony. When a quaich was suggested, his response settled the matter: “Well, it has to be filled with Bladnoch!” He went on to tell the congregation that their marriage could be likened to the finest Bladnoch whisky — only getting better with age.
For a couple who came together later in life, and after loss on both sides, Bladnoch has become something that belongs to the two of them: a place to return to, and a whisky that is theirs alone.
Invited to the distillery to choose the whisky that would tell their story, Roddie and Elaine tasted through a range of cask samples with master distiller Dr Nick Savage before settling on an eight-year-old spirit matured in an ex-Cognac hogshead — chosen for a warmth the couple felt reflected their story. Distilled in November 2017 and bottled in July 2026, it carries apricot, marmalade and syrup, and finishes long and thickly sweet.
As with every chapter, Roddie and Elaine took a sample away to spend time with the whisky and write their own tasting notes, while Nick wrote his independently. Both sets appear on the finished bottle. The couple also exchanged letters with Nick, describing their story, their connection to Bladnoch and their experience of the selection; those letters are included with the release.
Roddie and Elaine Burgess said: “We met by chance at the end of a day that had started at Bladnoch — and the distillery has been part of us ever since. Neither of us expected to be starting again, and Bladnoch became the thing that was just ours: somewhere to go back to, and something to share that belonged to the two of us.
“Choosing the cask brought all of that together. Sitting with Nick, tasting through the samples, finding the one that felt like us and then writing our own notes to sit alongside his — it is a strange and rather lovely thing to see your story on a bottle.”
Dr Nick Savage added: “Roddie and Elaine’s is the most personal story we have told through Loch Maberry. It is about chance, about starting again, and about a place quietly becoming a constant for two people — which is not so far from what we are doing when we fill a cask and wait.
“The Cognac hogshead they chose has real warmth to it: apricot, marmalade, a sweetness that stays with you. Their minister had it about right — some things only get better with age.”
Loch Maberry is the source of the River Bladnoch, which provides the water that has sustained the distillery since it was founded in 1817. The name of the series acknowledges the significance of those who most appreciate Bladnoch’s Bold Galloway spirit, and the role they play in keeping the distillery in flow.
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Chapter Three follows Chapter Two, released in October 2025, which told the story of Elizabeth Cobbett, the great-great-granddaughter of distillery co-founder Thomas McClelland, and her 20-year journey reconnecting with the distillery her family once ran. The inaugural 2024 release paid tribute to Mr Arnold, a lifelong admirer who first discovered Bladnoch while living nearby in Garlieston, Dumfries and Galloway.
Dating back to 1817, Bladnoch Distillery is one of the oldest single malt Scotch whisky producers in the world and is enjoying a bold and powerful revival. The legacy brand has been revived in recent years by David Prior, who purchased the distillery in 2015 and is the first Australian businessman to own a Scotch whisky distillery.
Bottled at a cask strength ABV of 58.9%, Chapter Three of Loch Maberry: Stories of Bladnoch has a natural colour and is non-chill filtered. Just 458 bottles are available worldwide, each encased in a presentation box containing letters from Roddie, Elaine and Dr Nick Savage describing their experiences of collaborating to craft the whisky. With an RRP of £108, it is exclusively available to purchase from the Bladnoch website and distillery shop.
