The original Glengyle Distillery operated from 1873 to 1925. It was built by William Mitchell & Company and was only sold to West Highland Malt Distilleries Ltd in 1919. The distillery closed in 1925, and its stocks and warehouses were sold—the latter being converted into the Campbeltown Miniature Rifle Club. In 1941 it was acquired by Bloch Brothers (see Glen Scotia). They claimed they would rebuild and expand the distillery, even installing grain distillation equipment at Glengyle, but none of these plans came to fruition. The distillery was sold to Argyll Farmers and used as a warehouse and sales office by the Kintyre Farmers Co-operative. The distillery was acquired in November 2000 by J. & A. Mitchell Ltd, owners of Springbank Distillery. The company built a new distillery, which commenced production in March 2004.

William Mitchell, son of Springbank founder Archibald Mitchell, established Glengyle Distillery in 1872 after a family disagreement. Though the distillery fell silent for decades, J&A Mitchell & Co.—Springbank's owners—heroically revived it in 2004. To avoid brand confusion, they christened the whisky 'Kilkerran,' derived from the Gaelic 'Ceann Loch Cille Chiarain' (Campbeltown's ancient name). Staying true to tradition, both distilleries maintain floor maltings on-site, producing 100% of their malted barley in-house. Kilkerran Single Malt debuted in 2007, marking Campbeltown's first new distillery in 125 years.