Between the Grampian and Monadhliath mountain ranges of Inverness-Shire lies Scotland’s highest working distillery, Dalwhinnie. This remote location was chosen for the profusion of local peat, a wonderfully clean water source and, being in the central Highlands, lies not far from the Highland Railway Line, proffering an easy means of transportation. The distillery was founded at the very end of the 19th century and named Strathspey. 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 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; 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 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. 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.
