The Dalmore is a distillery on the Cromarty Firth at Alness, founded in 1839 by Alexander Matheson.1,2,3 The Mackenzie family took the lease in 1867 and ran it until it merged with Whyte & Mackay in 1960.1,2,4 In January 2026 a new stillhouse with 8 copies of its stills began making spirit.5,6,7
Very good review score, 85 out of 100Very good85/100
Classic Dalmore flavors shine through, with raisins, candied orange, chocolate, walnut liqueur and Jaffa cakes, though it is slightly less rounded than the…
black pepper
chocolate
copper
liqueur
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By Serge Valentin
, 1917–1921
Producing, 1921–1939
Silent, 1939–today
183919001950Today
A merchant's distillery and the Mackenzie lease
Matheson, a partner in the trading firm Jardine Matheson, turned a mill and farmyard into the distillery and leased it to tenants.1,2,3 In 1867 Andrew and Charles Mackenzie took over the lease and began repairing the run-down distillery.1,2,4 They started production on 27 January 1868.8,9 In 1874 they added a second stillhouse and doubled the distillery's capacity.6,8,9 Features they added to the stills that year remain in use today.6,8,9 Alfred Barnard's 1887 book found 2 still houses with 2 stills each, and 8 washbacks.9,10 A kiln heated by peats dried the malt, and output was 80,000 gallons a year.9,10
Sources disagree: the date. This page uses 1867.
1867: The Dalmore, ScotchWhisky.com (Whiskypedia), Whisky Magazine1,4,8
In 1891 the three Mackenzie brothers bought the distillery, its farms and Belleport pier from Sir Kenneth Matheson for £14,500.1,2,4 By 1895 it employed 32 people and made 271,694 gallons in a season.8,9 No spirit was made from 1909 to 1911.8 Andrew Mackenzie held that only malt was whisky, but the 1909 Royal Commission ruled otherwise.4 By 1914 most of the spirit was sold to blenders such as Andrew Usher, Bulloch Lade & Co. and John Dewar & Sons.4
Sources disagree: when Mackenzie Brothers took over. This page uses 1891.
1891: The Dalmore, ScotchWhisky.com (Whiskypedia), Whisky Magazine, VinePair1,2
Mines, fire and a long fight
Production stopped in 1917 when the navy took over the distillery to make mines.1,2,8 Its casks were moved to nearby distilleries for safe keeping.1,2,8 From February 1918 the US Navy ran the headquarters of its Naval Base 17 there and built sheds to assemble mines.3,6 In 1920 an explosion and the fire that followed badly damaged the distillery.1,2,11 The distillery came back to the Mackenzies in 1921, and they started distilling again.1,2,11 Andrew Mackenzie's fight with the navy for compensation went as far as the House of Lords.
Between the wars
Andrew Mackenzie died on 23 September 1923, and his son, Major W.F. Mackenzie, took over.8 Short of money, he shut the distillery in 1926 and restarted it a year later.12 In 1927 the family firm became a limited company, Mackenzie Brothers (Dalmore) Ltd., as Andrew's will asked.4 Production stopped again in 1939 as the Second World War began, and the Royal Air Force used the grounds as a headquarters.12
Hac Mackenzie and the merger
Hector 'Hac' Mackenzie took over from his father, William, in 1946.1,8 In 1956 mechanised Saladin boxes replaced the floor maltings, and when they stopped in 1982 the distillery began buying its malted barley.
Next: Between the wars, Hac Mackenzie and the merger, The Whyte & Mackay years, Changing hands, A second stillhouse, How it makes its spirit
In May 1960 the family firm merged with Whyte & Mackay, a major customer, giving Whyte & Mackay its first distillery.1,2,4
Between 1964 and 1966 Whyte & Mackay added 2 pairs of stills, doubling the total from 4 to 8.1,2,5
The new stills had the same shape as the old ones but were twice the size.1,2,5
The 1964 redesign did not greatly change how the distillery worked, and it was still steam-powered in 1970.8
The Whyte & Mackay years
In 1972 Sir Hugh Fraser's Scottish Universal Investment Trust bought Dalmore, Whyte & Mackay.4,14,15 Richard Paterson became Master Distiller in 1975, at 26.1 In 1977 J R Hume's book on the industrial archaeology of Scotland recorded 2 old steam engines there, preserved but out of use.3 They had driven the malt kiln, driers and conveyors.3
Sources disagree: when Scottish Universal Investment Trust (SUITS) took over. This page uses 1972.
In 1981 Lonrho took over SUITS, which owned Whyte & Mackay.14,15 Brent Walker bought Whyte & Mackay in 1988, and American Brands bought it in 1990.2,14,15 In 1996 Whyte & Mackay was renamed JBB (Greater Europe).2 In 2001 Fortune Brands, as American Brands had been renamed, sold it to its managers as Kyndal Spirits, which later took back the Whyte & Mackay name.2,14,15United Spirits Limited of India bought it in 2007, and Emperador Inc. of the Philippines bought it in 2014.2,14,15
Sources disagree: when Emperador Inc. took over. This page uses 2014.
Gregg Glass took over as Master Whisky Maker in 2021, with Richard Paterson staying on as a mentor.1 Work began in spring 2023, and Forsyths delivered the new stillhouse's 4 wash stills and 4 spirit stills, copies of the old ones, in spring 2024.5,6,7 On paper, the site can make up to 9 million litres of alcohol a year.6,7
How it makes its spirit
Its water comes from Loch Morie, by way of the river Averon, which flows from the loch.2,7,11 About 90% of its barley is grown on the Black Isle.6,16 Its washbacks are wooden, and fermentation in them lasts 50 hours.2,7,16 Steam coils heat the stills.2 The wash stills have flat tops, and every still has a copper boil ball sticking out from the pot, which adds copper contact and helps remove sulphur.2,5,6 Water jackets on the spirit stills make some vapour fall back, and the unevenly sized stills give each pair a slightly different spirit.2,5,6 The spirit stills' shell and tube condensers lie flat, mirroring the old worm pipe, which ran the vapour under the water of the burn outside.2,7,8 The spirits from all the stills are mixed before casking, and the distillery calls its new spirit robust.2,5,6
