Dallas Dhu - Historic Distillery in Scotland

The last distillery to be built in the nineteenth century. Visitors can wander at will through this completely preserved time capsule of the distiller's craft using our new audio tour in French, German, Italian, Spanish and English. Explore this fine old Victorian distillery and then enjoy a dram in the audio-visual theatre as the story of Scotch Whisky unfolds before you. Audio-visual theatre, exhibition, gift shop, picnic area.

The Distillery

Dallas Dhu Distillery produced whisky from 1899 to 1983. The first barrel was filled on 3 June 1899, and the last on 16 March 1983. In the intervening years, it had a chequered existence. During the First World War it was closed. After the War, Wright & Greig sold it to J. P. O’Brien & Co Ltd of Glasgow, but they went into liquidation in 1921, and Dallas Dhu was sold to Benmore Distillery.

The new owners invested heavily in developments to the site, including a new railway siding. But the Great Depression forced closure in the early 1930s. Soon after reopening production, the distillery was badly damaged by fire, on 9 April 1939. Production began again in 1947, but was finally closed in 1983, largely because of a water shortage caused by prolonged drought.

Highlights

• The malt barn – the long, long two-storey warehouse where the chief raw material – barley – was turned into malt.
• The kiln – where the barley was dried over a lightly-peated fire.
• The mash house – dominated by the mash tun, a great cooking vat, where the malted barley and water mixed to create a sugary ‘wort’.
• The tun room – housing the six great wash backs, where the yeast fermented the sugary wort into weak alcohol, called ‘wash’.
• The still house – the spiritual heart of the distillery, where the weak ‘wash’ was transformed into fiery spirit.
• The bonded warehouses – where the finished product was left to mature for at least three years.

Bus or rail to Forres: station and bus stop 1 mile from distillery.