Loch Lomond springs £1m whisky leak

More than £1 million (about US$1.2m) worth of whisky leaked from a vat at Loch Lomond Group’s Glen Catrine warehousing facility over the summer, The Spirits Business has learned.

Around 60,000 litres of Scotch from the vat either drained into the ground or the nearby River Ayr, with The Health and Safety Executive and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) launching an inquiry into the leak.

A spokesperson for Loch Lomond Group told The Spirits Business that the accidental spill occurred in June 2016. “We immediately reported it to the authorities and have been working closely with them to ensure no recurrence,” they said.

Confirming the incident, a SEPA spokesperson told the Daily Record: “An investigation was carried out at the Loch Lomond Group bonded warehouse in Catrine, following a discharge of whisky from the facility.

“It’s understood that due to a leak inside the building, a significant quantity of whisky managed to escape through the floor of the warehouse.

“It’s likely the majority of the whisky was absorbed by the ground beneath the warehouse but a small amount did manage to enter the drainage system and discharge directly into the River Ayr.

“Following numerous assessments of the ­watercourse by SEPA officers, the discharge was not found to have had any significant impact on the surface water environment.”

The leak in June 2016 follows an incident in 2011 when a mistake by a delivery tanker saw 6,600 litres of Scotch spill into the River Ayr. Loch Lomond Group was fined £12,000 (about US$14,500) over the accident.