Just over 23 years after the disastrous fire at Cambus Distillery, the site was formally re-opened.

Although most of the main building and some warehouses had been destroyed by the fire in July 1914, it was hoped it would recover but with the outbreak of World War I and the Depression of the later 1920s, it was not until 1937 that the time seemed right for the rebuilding of the derelict site and for production to begin once more.

On Thursday, January 6, 1938, John Dewar, Lord Forteviot, presided over a formal lunch with around 100 guests from Distillers Company Limited. The invited guests were shown round the new buildings and toured the site where the whisky was being made. Although not up to capacity at that point, it was expected between 150 to 200 people would be working on the site when fully operational.

Most of the visitors arrived by special train from Edinburgh and among those invited to Cambus were Lord Forteviot, the chairman of the company, James Younger, 2nd Viscount Younger of Leckie, the Lord Provost of Alloa Captain James Paton Younger and Mr W Dargie, the secretary of the company.

Lunch was held in one of the distillery buildings which was adapted for the occasion. Viscount Younger of Leckie proposed the toast ‘Success to the new distillery!’

He spoke of how after four months of demolition and clearance works, then rebuilding works, whisky was now being distilled in less than a year from start to finish.

During the clearance works, 500-year-old wooden water pipes made of Scots Fir were discovered and had been perfectly preserved under the ground. They were lifted and handed over to the Distillers Company Limited and were put on display at the Ideal Home Exhibition that year.

Sir Alexander Walker acknowledged the toast and also referred to how quickly the site had come together. He went on to congratulate everyone concerned, including the railway company, Customs and Excise, and the County Council, represented by Mr R W Knox for the facilities granted to the distillery. He said the distillery had risen like a phoenix from the ashes, continuing on with the good reputation it had up until the fire.

Mr A Sewell of the LNER railway also spoke to the guests as did Mr J Nicolson, the general works manager and director.

In all the capital outlay was between £300,000 and £400,000. It was expected output would be somewhere in the region of 50,000 gallons a week.