Dalmunach Distillery — Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Dalmunach Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located in Carron, Speyside, Scotland. It was founded in 2015 and is currently owned by Chivas Brothers, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. Built on the banks of the River Spey on the former site of the historic Imperial distillery, Dalmunach is one of the largest and most modern malt whisky distilleries in Scotland, its striking barley-sheaf-inspired building winning a Royal Institute of British Architects Award for Scotland.

History

Dalmunach stands on the site of the Imperial distillery, which was originally built in 1897 by Thomas Mackenzie, co-owner of Dailuaine and Talisker, and named to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Imperial operated only sporadically over the following century, passing through The Distillers Company and then Allied Distillers before Pernod Ricard acquired Allied (and with it Chivas Brothers) in 2005. With Imperial silent and requiring costly refurbishment, Chivas Brothers demolished the old distillery in 2013 and constructed a state-of-the-art replacement in its place. Work began in 2012, and the new distillery, named Dalmunach after a nearby salmon pool on the Spey, was officially opened in 2015 by Nicola Sturgeon, then First Minister of Scotland. The £25 million project was designed with sustainability and energy efficiency in mind, drawing water from the Ballintomb Burn in the Mannoch Hills. Built with a capacity of around 10 million litres of spirit a year, Dalmunach's output is destined overwhelmingly for Chivas Brothers' blends, including Chivas Regal and Ballantine's. The distillery's own single malt has remained rare: an early 4-year-old cask-strength bottling appeared in 2019 as part of Chivas Brothers' Distillery Reserve Collection, and in 2023 Chivas Brothers launched Dalmunach as a standalone single malt brand with small-batch expressions inspired by figures from Scottish mythology, sold in limited quantities through specialist retailers.

Quick Facts

• Region: Speyside
• Founded: 2015
• Owner: Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard)
• Status: Active
• Stills: 4 wash stills and 4 spirit stills (8 in total)

Core Range

The vast majority of Dalmunach's spirit is used in Chivas Brothers' blended whiskies, particularly Chivas Regal and Ballantine's, and the distillery has no permanent, widely distributed core single malt range. Official single malt releases have been limited and occasional, including a 2019 4-Year-Old cask-strength bottling (64.5% ABV) from the Distillery Reserve Collection and, from 2023, small-batch expressions such as The Wulver Dalmunach 6 Year Old, part of a Scottish Mythical Creatures series released through select specialist retailers.