The Dalmore

Alexander Matheson, who had made his fortune as a partner in the trading firm Jardine Matheson, founded Dalmore in 1839. The Mackenzie family took the lease in 1878 and later bought it, and it stayed in family hands until 1960, when Whyte & Mackay, one of its main customers, took control. During the First World War the Royal Navy used the site to make mines, leaving it badly damaged. For many years Dalmore was sold as a single malt mainly as a 12-year-old; the range has since grown. ScotchWhisky.com names Emperador of the Philippines as the current owner of Whyte & Mackay.

The distillery stands beside the A9 at Dalmore, near Alness in Ross-shire, in the Highland region. ScotchWhisky.com describes an unusual set of stills: flat-topped wash stills, spirit stills with water jackets around their necks, and one still of each kind twice the size of the others.