The Dalmore Distillery was established in 1839 by Alexander Matheson on the shores of Cromarty firth in Alnessa, north of Inverness. However, their legacy dates back around six centuries, when Colin of Kintail, who was also chief of the Clan Mackenzie, demonstrated his loyalty by saving King Alexander III of Scotland from a charging stag during a hunt in 1263. Colin of Kintail gets rid of the stag with a spear in its forehead, shouting “Cuidich ‘n’ Righ” – Gaelic “Save the King” as he struck the killing blow.

The appreciative king gave daring Colin the land of Eileen Donan and the motto "Luceo Non-Uro", interpreted as "to shine, not to burn". In addition, the right to bear a 12-pointed royal stag as an emblem was allotted to both the Colin of Kintail and the clan of Mackenzie.

The distillery was purchased by the Mackenzie family in 1886, and each bottle of Dalmore is decorated with this noble symbol: a stag's head with twelve pointed horns, which signifies "a royal."

In 1891, Sir Kenneth Matheson traded the distillery to the three Mackenzie kinsmen for $ 14,500. Also, the Royal Navy utilized the distillery for onshore mining during WWI in 1917.

In 1920 there was an explosion in the mine that destroyed a huge portion of the distillery. Production commenced in 1922. Nevertheless, the subsequent fight in court between the Mackenzie's and the Royal Navy went on for over five years.

Around this time Dalmore started forging a special relationship with sherry house González Byassin Spain and started exclusively using their rare sherry casks that matured previously the unique 30 year old Matusalem Oloroso sherry and these are shared with Dalmore exclusively and give the Dalmore whisky its signature chocolate and orange character.

In 1990, the distillery released a 30-year-old Single Cask expression from 1966. The packaging, (although very different from the current style), was elegant, relatively simple, blue in colour, and with the stag symbol on a label near the neck of the bottle.

In 2002, a 62-year-old bottle of Dalmore whisky was traded at McTear in Glasgow for $ 25,877.50. At the time, it was the costliest bottle of whisky ever traded. Also in the same year, the distillery began to enlarge its main line of single malt range, offering a 21-year-old and their Cigar Malt in addition to the 12-year-old that was already available.

A visitor’s Centre was opened at the distillery in 2004, and it incorporates an exhibition, screening room, sample bar, and shop. In 2006, the distillery 32-year-old expression had a small silver stag head on the bottle. This marked Dalmore's transition to luxury and they began to release a more limited edition, high-age statement malts. In 2019, Jordan Design took on the challenge of remodelling the distillery, with the idea of transforming Dalmore into a luxury whisky brand.

In 2020, Dalmore launched a 28-year-old single malt, with a total of 1,300 bottles produced. In the same year, Dalmore launched a special edition pack for The Dalmore King Alexander III edition. The luxury sleeve will be sold only in major airports such as London Heathrow, Taiwan Taipei, Dubai International, and Singapore Changi.