Dailuaine distillery information
The Dailuaine (dale-YOU-an) distillery was built in the center of the Speyside region, between Ben Rinnes and the river Spey in 1852 by William Mackenzie, a farmer. It takes its name from Gaelic: ‘An dail uaine’ (or “green valley”). When Mackenzie passed in 1865, he left the distillery to his wife Jane. She leased it to James Flemming, a banker from Aberlour (who would later on establish the Aberlour distillery in 1879). In 1879, Jane’s son Thomas took over the business, and established “Mackenzie & Company” which ran the distillery, and represented a cooperation between him and Flemming.
Between 1884 and 1887, the distillery was rebuilt and expanded into one of the largest distilleries of the Highlands at the time. In 1889, Dailuaine became the first Scottish distillery to equip its kiln with a pagoda-style roof, designed by Charles Doig. In 1890, Mackenzie & Co. converted into the Dailuaine-Glenlivet Distillery Ltd., which merged with Talisker in 1898 to form Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries Co. Ltd. In 1915, Thomas Mackenzie died, and the distillery was sold to John Dewar & Sons, John Walker & Sons and James Buchanan & Co. operating under the name of Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) in 1916. The running of the distillery was left do DCL subsidiary Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd (SMD).
In 1917, a fire destroyed large parts of the distillery, including the above-mentioned pagoda-roof. The distillery closed as a result, but rebuilt and reopened in 1920. Another fire raged through the distillery in 1959, leading to another rebuilding, during which the distillery expanded from four to six stills, and the malting floor was replaced with a Saladin Box. Dailuaine reopened in 1960. In 1964, the stills switched from direct to indirect steam heating. In 1983, the Saladin box was closed.
From 1987 on, Daukuaine was run by United Distillers. In 1998, United Distillers (part of the Guinness group) merges with International Distillers and Vintners to form Diageo. The distillery currently also houses a bio- plant, meant to convert whisky-making byproducts into cattle feed, as well as a plant intended to treat waste water.
Dailuaine whisky
Most whisky produced at Dailuaine finds its way into the Johnnie Walker blends. There have been very few official bottlings released, but the ones we could track are:
- 16 Year Old Flora and Fauna release (1991)
- 17 Year old “Managers Dram” (2000)
Distillery info:
| Name | Dailuaine |
| Region | Speyside |
| Logo |  |
| Status | Active |
| Founded | 1852 |
| Water source | Bailliemullich Burn |
| Owned by | Diageo |
| Address |
Dailuaine Distillery +44 (0) 1479 874600 |
| Visitor centre | No |
| Website | N/A |
| N/A | |
| N/A | |
| Community | N/A |
| Map |
Distillery Setup:
Component |
Capacity |
Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Mash tun | 11.5 tonnes | mashtun_q |
| Washback | 55,000 litres | 8 (Scottish larch) |
| Wash still | 32,000 litres | 3 |
| Spirit Still | 32,000 litres | 3 |
| Expected yearly output in LPA (Litres of pure alcohol) | 3,300,000 |