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Chivas - Bottling Plant

Scottish whisky is sold in hundreds of millions of bottles throughout the whole world. Between the many small and large distilleries and the customer there is a long logistics chain. Heart of this chain is the bottling.

Large brands, e.g. Chivas Regal, are asked that often, that many distilleries have to produce for them (e.g. Strathisla, Braeval, Allt-á-Bhainne). A steady flow of street tankers pours its liquid freight into the plant. An even bigger number of trucks leave the factory with bottles on board.

Chivas - The Chivas & Glenlivet Group Headquarters Glasgow

Bottles in all usual sizes (0.7l, 0.75l, 1.0l) are filled up next to each other at the same time on several bottling lines. In a 1 second clock frequency the bottles are filled and loaded on pallets into the waiting trucks.

Chivas - Overview Bottling Lines

The task to be solved is of logistic nature. How do I get the whisky homogeneously, fast and without trouble into the bottles? The solution is three-dimensional.

On the ground floor empty bottles, unfolded cardboard boxes, bottle caps, label, etc. are received. In the main building above the receiving floor, several bottling lines are located, which extend over many tens of meters length.

Chivas - Connections between floors

At one end of the plant, the street tanker trucks with Grain Whisky and the container trucks with Malt Whisky casks are unloaded. The different whiskies are stored temporarily in smaller vats.

Chivas - Small Whisky Vats

Then the Blending takes place. The recipe and the seasoning takes place in the laboratory. Afterwards the Malt and Grain Whiskies are mixed with water and filled into large tanks to rest. This mixing needs its time.

Chivas - Large Whisky Vats

Blended Whisky is often savored on ice. A whisky which is not filtered gets cloudy when cooled. This is seem as, although actually a natural procedure, a quality defect. All whisky is therefore cooled down to a few degrees above zero and goes through a large filter. In it 20 to 30 paper layers take out the cloudy materials which would otherwise show up during cooling.

Chivas - Whisky Filter

To save energy, it is wherever possible, recovered using heat exchangers. For many hundred thousand liters per year it is worthwhile.

Chivas - Heat Exchanger

Then the whisky is ready to be filled into bottles. Beforehand the packing must be prepared.

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