Dalwhinnie’s story
Dalwhinnie is one of the remotest distilleries in mainland Scotland, located high in the Cairngorms National Park. The distillery is Scotland’s highest at 326 metres (1070 feet) above sea level, beating Tomintoul in Speyside by a couple of metres. It takes water from the highest source of any distillery – the Allt-an-t’sluic spring at 610 metres (2000 feet).
The distillery is owned by Diageo and forms part of their Classic Malts series. It represents the central Highlands region and was one of the six original distilleries selected when the Classic Malts were launched in 1988. This has helped Dalwhinnie to climb up the charts for worldwide single malt sales, despite have a compact core range. Dalwhinnie is Diageo’s fifth best selling single malt. The village of Dalwhinnie holds the enviable honour of having the coldest average annual temperature of anywhere in the mainland UK with a chilly 10.2°C (50.4°F).
Dalwhinnie’s history
The distillery at Dalwhinnie was opened in 1897 by a trio of local businessmen called George Sellar, John Grant and Alexander Mackenzie. The original name was Strathspey, reflecting its location close to the source of the River Spey high in the Cairngorm mountains. But why did they chose to spend money and set up a distillery in such a remote location?
There are two possible answers. Firstly, Dalwhinnie village lies at a crossroads of two of the oldest trading routes in Scotland – one comes from the western Highlands and islands, with the other coming down from the north and connecting Inverness to Edinburgh. Secondly, the abundance of local water and peat that could be used exclusively by the distillery. It had no other competition for miles around, as it would have done in other locations in Speyside.
However, the ownership was soon in financial trouble and were bailed out by a co-operative of two companies, A.P. Blyth & Sons and John Somerville & Co. By November 1898, they had the ownership of the distillery, renaming it Dalwhinnie and extending its facilities. The distillery was again in financial trouble by 1905 and this time it was placed in administration and purchased by American company Cook & Bernheimer for just £1250 at auction (£127, 500 in modern money). They were the largest distilling group in the USA and the first foreign owners of any Scottish distillery.
This led to concerns within Scotland that the takeover would open the floodgates to more foreign ownership. In 1926, Dalwhinnie became part of the Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) group, which over time has metamorphosised into Diageo. A fire and subsequent damage closed the distillery for four years in the 1930s and it was also closed for three years in the early 1990s for major refurbishment. Part of this was for the construction of a visitor centre, which now attracts over 25,000 people per year, aided by its location next to the main A9 roaad that links then cities of Perth and Inverness.
- How to pronounce Dalwhinnie? dal-win-nee
- Country: Scotland
- Region: Highlands
- Founded: 1897
- Current owners: Diageo
- Production capacity per year: 2.2 million litres
- Mash tun: 7.3 ton stainless steel
- Washbacks: 6
- Stills: 2
- Visitor centre: Yes
Dalwhinnie Distillery
General Wade’s Military Road
Dalwhinnie
Inverness-shire
PH19 1AA
tel – +44(0)1540 672219
www.malts.com/dalwhinnie
Did you know?
Dalwhinnie shares the distillery site with a meteorological weather station that has its readings taken daily by the Distillery Manager. The information collected can be seen on the Met Office website.
Dalwhinnie
