Glen Scotia was founded in 1832 by James Stewart and John Galbraith as the Scotia Distillery, one of more than thirty that once operated in Campbeltown when the town was regarded as whisky's capital. It has had a chequered history: in 1930 its then owner, Duncan MacCallum, took his own life after losing his savings in a scam, and the business was bought by Bloch Brothers, who added Glen to the name. Bloch owned it until 1954, when it passed to the Canadian firm Hiram Walker.
Despite rebuilding work in the late 1970s, the distillery closed between 1984 and 1989, one of many Campbeltown casualties as the region's distilling industry contracted to just a handful of survivors. It has changed hands several times since, and is now owned by the Loch Lomond Group. Much of its original 1830s fabric survives, including its fermenters, stillroom and dunnage warehouse.