Dalwhinnie distillery, in the Highland village of
Dalwhinnie in
Scotland, produces
Single malt Scotch whisky classified amongst the
Highland Single Malts. The distillery was founded with the name of the nearby town
Strathspey in the late 1890s. 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 highest distillery in Scotland. The name Dalwhinnie means
meeting place, which refers to the meeting of ancient cattle drovers' routes through the mountains.
In 1897, John Grant, George Sellar and Alexander Mackenzie founded the Strathspey distillery. Production started in 1898 but unfortunately the society was bankrupt the same year.
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. 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 Limited; Dalwhinnie later became part of the blender group
James Buchanan.
A fire in 1934 stopped production for 3 years, and the reopening in 1938 was short-lived...
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