Dailuaine Distillery

A favorite of whisky enthusiast Alfred Barnard

History

Pronounced "dal-u-ayn", many visitors to Speyside would be blissfully ignorant of the existence of this gem. A mile off the main Aberlour to Grantown road, the only evidence of its whereabouts are the plume of steam and unmistakeable smell of the Dark Grains plant.

The location inspired Alfred Barnard to write,

"Here the whole glory of the scenery below suddenly burst upon us, and new points of beauty presented themselves,

Never was there such a soft, bright landscape of luxuriant green, of clustering foliage, and verdant banks of wild flowers, ferns and grasses."

The undoubted beauty was not the reason the site was chosen - good quality water from the Bailliemullich Burn, the local supply of barley and the proximity to the Speyside Railway Line are more likely reasons.

Dailuaine has seen several significant changes. It was one of the few distilleries to replace its floor maltings with Saladin Boxes. A Dark Grains plant was commissioned to process pot ale and draff into a high protein cattle feed. The splendid granite double-storey dunnage cask warehouses lie empty, as all Dailuaine whisky is tankered away to be filled into casks at a central warehousing complex