Dalwhinnie

Between the Grampian and Monadhliath mountain ranges of Inverness-Shire lies Scotland’s highest working distillery, Dalwhinnie. This remote location was chosen for the profusion of local peat, a wonderfully clean water source and, being in the central Highlands, lies not far from the Highland Railway Line, proffering an easy means of transportation. The distillery was founded at the very end of the 19th century and named Strathspey.

Following monetary hardship, the three founding members: Alexander Mackenzie, John Grant and George Stellar were forced to sell to John Sommerville & Co and A P Blyth & Sons, who changed the name to Dalwhinnie and employed the famed Charles Doig of Speyside to redesign parts of the distillery. Today, the distillery serves a dual purpose; malt whisky aside, Dalwhinnie is a station for the Meteorological Office and the manager must take daily readings for the temperature and the weather.

The distillery changed hands several times over the early 20th century, closing in 1934 following a fire in February of that same year and reopening once more in 1938. Dalwhinnie previously had its own floor maltings though they were shut down in 1968. Dalwhinnie's pair of stills proffer a capacity of 2.2 million litres per annum. Dalwhinnie is in Diageo hands and the drinks giant has included the distillery in the Classic Malts range, releasing a Distillers Edition matured in Oloroso casks and the classic fifteen year-old.

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About Dalwhinnie Whisky Distillery

Distillery Number

01540 672219

Distillery Founded

1897

Distillery Capacity

2 200 000 litres

Distillery Status

Active

Distillery Address

Dalwhinnie, Inverness-Shire

Distillery Owner

Diageo

Distillery Website

www.malts.com

1897

John Grant, George Sellar and Alexander Mackenzie from Kingussie commence building the facilities. The first name is Strathspey and the construction work amounts to £10,000.

1898

Production starts in February. The owners encounter financial troubles after a few months and John Somerville & Co and A P Blyth & Sons take over in November and change the name to Dalwhinnie. The architect Charles Doig is called in to make some improvements.

1905

America’s largest distillers, Cook & Bernheimer in New York, buys Dalwhinnie for £1,250 at an auction. This marks the first time a foreign company takes ownership of a Scottish distillery. The administration of Dalwhinnie is placed in the newly formed company James Munro & Sons.

1919

Macdonald Greenlees & Willliams Ltd headed by Sir James Calder buys Dalwhinnie.

1926

Macdonald Greenlees & Williams Ltd is bought by Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) which licences Dalwhinnie to James Buchanan & Co.

1930

Operations are transferred to Scottish Malt Distilleries (SMD).

1934

The distillery is closed after a fire in February.

1938

The distillery opens again.

1968

The maltings is decommissioned.

1986

A complete refurbishing takes place.

1987

Dalwhinnie 15 years becomes one of selected six in United Distillers´ Classic Malts.

1991

A visitor centre is constructed.

1992

The distillery closes and goes through a major refurbishment costing £3.2 million.

1995

The distillery opens in March.

1998

Dalwhinnie Distillers Edition 1980 (oloroso) is introduced for the first time. The other five in The Classic Malts, each with a different finish, are also introduced as Distillers Editions for the first time.

2002

A 36 year old is released.

2003

A 29 year old is released.

2006

A 20 year old is released.

Reproduced from the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2009 with the kind permission of Mr Ingvar Ronde