Dalwhinnie

Dalwhinnie Distillery

Dalwhinnie sits at the head of Loch Ericht where it meets Glen Truim, at a height of 358m or 1160ft. This makes it a few metres higher than the Highlands' officially highest village at Tomintoul, 40 mountainous miles to the north east. It remains, however, some distance short of Scotland's highest village, Wanlockhead, at 467m or 1531ft.

Cottages and Railway Line Village Hall The Inn at Loch Ericht Dalwhinnie Station

While Dalwhinnie's altitude may not always gain the recognition it deserves, Dalwhinnie Distillery is without challenge Scotland highest. This beautifully kept white-painted complex of buildings stand out for miles as you approach Dalwhinnie on the A9, which bypassed the village in the late 1970s.

Distillery Visitor Centre

The A9 Near Dalwhinnie

Although Dalwhinnie's malting has been done elsewhere since 1968, the distillery has thankfully kept its two distinctive pagodas. Its origins date back to 1897, though in its early years it traded under the very misleading name of the Strathspey Distillery. The distillery was largely rebuilt following a fire in 1934 and today Dalwhinnie is one of UDV's "Classic Malts". In common with other distilleries in the group it has invested in a high quality visitor centre and offers distillery tours.

Dalwhinnie Distillery is open all year as follows: Easter to September, Monday to Saturday 9.00am to 5.00pm and Sunday 12.00pm to 5.00pm; October, Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm; November to Easter, Monday to Friday 10.00am to 4.00pm. Tours take place every 20 minutes and cost £3.50, redeemable in the shop. Phone 01540 672219.

Dalwhinnie came into being around an inn that from the early 1700s served the needs of Highland cattle drovers en route to the market at Crieff. On a single day in August 1723 over 1200 head of cattle passed through Dalwhinnie, in eight different droves.

In 1729 Dalwhinnie was the point at which military road construction teams working south from Inverness via Ruthven Barracks and north from Dunkeld met, completing the predecessor to today's A9. Another road was built to the north west crossing the high level Corrieyairack pass from Laggan to Fort Augustus, a route abandoned as a road in the 1820s.

The Inverness and Perth Junction Railway arrived in Dalwhinnie in 1863, and the village still has its railway station today. This provides one of several points of focus for this rather sparse and dispersed settlement. The others are the distillery at the north end of the village, the Inn at Loch Ericht at the south end of the village, and the houses around the junction between the old A9 and the side road to the railway station. Here you will find the once grand Dalwhinnie Hotel, looking slightly forlorn.

In recent years Dalwhinnie has become the focus of a widespread network of tunnels and dams providing hydro-electric power for the Scottish grid, and forestry has also become in important activity in the area.