Dalwhinnie Distillery sits between the Grampian and Monadhliath mountain ranges in Inverness-shire, in the Cairngorm National Park in the Highlands. It is renowned as Scotland’s highest working distillery at over 1073 feet and it is known for smooth, peat-rich malts which are renowned the world over.
The remote location of the distillery was chosen with care, particularly due to the profusion of the local peat and the clarity of the nearby water source, as well as its proximity to the Highland Railway Line, ensuring the products could be distributed with ease. The distillery was founded at the end of the 19th century.
It began life as Strathspey but after monetary hardship befell the founding members, they sold the distillery onto John Sommerville & Co and A P Blyth & Sons who gave it its current name. The modern day distillery not only producing exceptional malts, it is also a meteorological office.
The distillery was repeatedly been hit with hard times and bad luck in the 20th century, with a fire in 1934 causing its closure and not opening again until 1938. It also used to have its own floor maltings but closed these in the 1960s. There are two stills at Dalwhinnie and each year they have a capacity to produce a huge 2.2 million litres per annum.
Modern day Dalwhinnie belongs to the Diageo group and it has become part of the company’s Classic Malts range, with the Distillers Edition of their whisky available, which stands out as it was matured in Oloroso casks and of course, the smooth-flavoured classic 15-year-old Dalwhinnie can still be enjoyed.
Dalwhinnie Distillery Tours
Dalwhinnie Distillery operates tours throughout the year but they’re a little different to the average whisky tour. Visitors enjoy 45 minutes touring the facilities and get to know the ins and outs of how the classic 15 year old single malt is made and at the end a taste can be enjoyed, alongside handmade Highland chocolates.
They offer whisky tastings as well as the focus on their own single malt, with a range of great single malts from Scottish distilleries paired with different selected handmade chocolates.
Dalwhinnie Distillery is one of Scotland’s most interesting and most-loved whisky making centres and their high quality drams are enjoyed across the globe.
