Dailuaine Distillery

Founded by William Mackenzie in 1852, Dailuaine was built in green pastures nestled between the Ben Rinnes and the River Spey. Its name is old Gaelic for ‘the Green Vale’. The distillery sits next to the Bailliemullich Burn, from which it draws its water for production. In 1863 the distillery got a boost from the opening of the Strathspey Railway which helped it spread beyond the surrounding area of Speyside.

William Mackenzie died in 1865 and his wife Jane made the decision to lease the distillery to banker James Fleming. In 1879 William and Jane’s son Thomas Mackenzie formed a partnership with Fleming, and Mackenzie and Company was born. They oversaw an expansion of the distillery throughout the 1880s. This included fitting the first ever pagoda roof used on a distillery. This was created by architect Charles Doig to improve ventilation in the kiln. As the result of a merger with Talisker, Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries was created in 1898. Then, in 1916, they were taken over by a consortium of three blenders.

In 1917 the distillery was forced to close, as many were at the time. But it wasn’t barley shortages from WWI that shuttered Dailuaine, but a fire. The pagoda roof was completely destroyed in the blaze, and Dailuaine would stay closed until 1920. Shortly after it reopened it was acquired by Distillers Company Limited in 1925, precursors to the current owners, Diageo.

The distillery was rebuilt again in 1960 after another fire. At this time the number of stills was increased from four to six and the floor maltings were decommissioned and replaced by a Saladin box. All malting on site at Dailuaine came to halt in 1983.

The current equipment at Dailuaine consists of a 10.5 mash tun and 10 washbacks. Eight of these are made from Douglas Fir and the final two are stainless steel. The six stills are all classic Speyside design copper pot stills.

Despite its high production capacity of 5.2 million litres, 2019’s output was far below that level. Many distilleries will deliberately run below their upper capacity, but in 2019 Dailuaine set a target of 2.6 million litres, half of its upper limit.

Most of the spirits produced at Dailuaine are bound for blended whiskies. The only official bottling of single malt regularly available is the 16 year old in Diageo’s Flora & Fauna range. Matured in ex-Sherry casks, this whisky has a lot of bite. Medium bodied, there’s plenty of sweetness and malt in the mouth. Notes of sherry spice, nuts, and light smoke persist through to a long finish. A 34 year old distilled in 1980 was released in 2015 as part of the Special Releases range.