Dalwhinnie distillery

Dalwhinnie
Location Dalwhinnie
Owner Diageo
Founded 1898
Founder John Grant, George Sellar and Alexander Mackenzie
Architect Charles Chree Doig
Status active
Water source Allt an t'Sluie Burn
Number of stills
  • 1 Wash still: 17,000 l
  • 1 Spirit still: 14,000 l[1]

Dalwhinnie Distillery, in the Highland village of Dalwhinnie in Scotland, produces Single malt Scotch whisky classified among the Highland Single Malts. It is owned by the Diageo spirits conglomerate.

History

In 1897, John Grant, George Sellar and Alexander Mackenzie founded the Strathspey distillery. Production started in 1898 but unfortunately the partnership was bankrupt the same year.. The site was chosen for its access to clear spring water from Lochan-Doire-Uaine and abundant peat from the surrounding bogs. Set in splendid mountain scenery, Dalwhinnie is the one of the highest distilleries in Scotland at 1164' above sea level. The name Dalwhinnie is derived from Gaelic word Dail-coinneeamh, which means meeting place, referring to the meeting of ancient cattle drovers' routes through the mountains.

The distillery was sold to AP Blyth in 1898 for his son who renamed it Dalwhinnie. Later in 1905 the Cook & Bernheimer took control over the distillery.[2] The distillers were looking for malts to produce blended whiskies for the US market. This was the very first US investment in the Scotch whisky industry. The US adventure continued until the prohibition in the US in 1920 and the distillery returned to Scotland when it was purchased by Lord James Calder, shareholder of whisky blender MacDonald Greenlees. MacDonald Greenlees was later acquired by Distillers Company; Dalwhinnie later became part of the blender group James Buchanan. [3]

A fire in 1934 stopped production for 3 years, and the reopening in 1938 was short-lived because the second world war brought restrictions on the supply of barley. Since reopening in 1947, the distillery has continued to operate through to the present day, although on-site malting ceased in 1968.

In 1986, the distillery and bonded warehouse was listed as a Category B listed building.[4]

Dalwhinnie has become famous worldwide because it is marketed by its owners, United Distillers unit of Diageo, under their Classic Malts brand, launched in 1988. Despite this, only 10% of the production is marketed as single malt, the remaining being used in the Black & White blends.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Dalwhinnie distillery
  2. ↑ Brander 1996, p. 70.
  3. ↑ "Dalwhinnie Distillery". ScotchWhisky.com. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Dalwhinnie Distillery and Bonded Warehouse". Listed building report. Historic Scotland. Retrieved 21 March 2014.

References

Coordinates: 56°56′24.46″N 4°14′17.02″W / 56.9401278°N 4.2380611°W / 56.9401278; -4.2380611

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.