Speyside #2 - lost and reborn

On the road between Ballindalloch, I like it how signs point you to airts and pairts with 'distillery' names such as Benrinnes, Dailuaine, Knockando and Glenallachie. All seem to be closed to visitors though unless you manage to get lucky during the Speyside Whisky fest.

They once were neighbours.

It doesn't stop you from distillery spotting though. And maybe this is the difference between whisky and train aficionados - getting into a distillery, sniffing the mash tuns, viewing the stills and sampling from the cask in a cold dank warehouse must be the equivalent of driving your own steam engine instead of just watching it from the concrete.

We take the road to Dailuaine/ Carron and are soon rewarded by the sight of Dailuaine's warehouses. The product of this distillery that I've tasted has so far been pretty good. Not least the recent offering from Whiskybroker. It's certainly a busy place though even though the industrial appearance of the plant leads one to figure that the 'green meadow' or dail uaine (da-il oo-ine-ye) lies outwith the distillery boundaries.

We follow the steam from Dailuaine further down the glen to find it hanging over the Site Formerly Known as Imperial. Memories of a Gordon&MacPhail 13yo sherry cask Imperial come flooding back. Beautiful stuff, Unfortunately, the status of Imperial went from 'mothballed' to 'demolished' in January of this year.

What remains of Imperial

The dunnage warehouses still stand and perhaps that's a fitting testament to a famous auld whisky. However, a new distillery is rising from the soil. What will it be called? No-one seems to know but one or two locals claim that 'Glen Carron' could be a good bet.

Rising from the ashes - Glen Carron?

One long gone whisky with the parent distillery - buildings at least - still intact is Parkmore. Taking the road from Dufftown past Glenfiddich and Balvenie Castle you soon spot the revived Speyside Railway track parallel to the road. The pagodas of Parkmore stick up from the glen below. Visually, it is a living tourist brochure. Though departed distilleries understandably pull at the heartstrings of many it seems as if Parkmore's product was so poorly regarded that the remaining casks of it were smashed when the distillery ceased distilling. As Whisky Dufftown puts it:

Built in 1894, Parkmore has been silent since 1931 because of problems with its water source. Although the maltings were in use until the late 1960's and the warehouses are still in use today. Parkmore's whisky is no longer available - it is reputed that all the casks remaining in the distillery were smashed when it closed.

Parkmore's postcard view

Fleeting visits are paid to Cragganmore and Strathisla as well though time doesn't allow for tours to be undertaken. Craggamore has a few people in already but the welcoming ladies on duty still offer us a dram anyway. Strathisla is a graveyard with one bored guy staffing the visitor centre. Despite the lack of interest from the public and our interest in products and tours, we don't get offered a sniff. It's a PR win for Cragganmore.

Fortunately, memories of a stingy Strathisla are erased by the following days tour of Balvenie...

#1 Speyside Virginity Lost

Daftmill - strange topography and a new Fife malt

Fife is a strange place. It houses Scotland's oldest university which is also the one of choice for those who don't make it to Oxbridge. It's East Neuk is hoachin' with beautiful old fishing hooses that have been turned into potteries and galleries. The fishwives are thin on the ground these days. Fife was also the only constituency ever to return a Communist MP to the Westminster parliament. It still had a few Communist councillors until recently. It also sent hundreds of volunteers to fight Franco and the rise of fascism in '36 Spain. No reds in today's East Neuk though... Fife like most of Scotland has embraced Salmond's vision for our nation.

Fife now has its own malt whisky distillery - Daftmill - named after a quirk in the local topography whereby the Daft Burn appears to run uphill. Daftmill is actually a working farm though its relationship to the whisky industry is not a new one. For years it has sold award-winning barley to various key players in the industry including Macallan. It maintains that operation but is now operating on a 'traditional' basis. Tradition has it that in the auld days, farmers would, once the season of toil was over turn their hand to whisky distilling during the winter months. This is the plan for Daftmill anyway. 

Daftmill started distilling in 2005. The oldest whisky currently maturing is 4 years old. Fine stuff it is too. Most of it is in first fill bourbon casks though there are some sherry around. Some new distillers, including a certain small Islay enterprise, have due to the pressures of investment, rushed out new spirit as well as 3 year old bairns. Daftmill hope to wait until ten years before releasing the fruits of their labour onto the market.

The setting for this farm distillery is superb. A large millpond is visible on the approach to the farm steading. Various old buildings have been redeveloped and now house washbacks and stills. An auld byre now acts as the treasury.

Daftmill don't do 'distillery tours' as of yet but a polite email or phone call to the Cuthbert family who have farmed here for six generations could result in an invitation to view the new enterprise. In the company of an interested German whisky connoisseur and tour operator, I get an indepth viewing from grist to cask sample. Funnily enough, we are told that visitors are few and far between. Surprisingly, certain well known writers in the whisky world have yet to knock on the door. 


This is certain to change as the date for the first bottling gets closer. I for one feel privileged to have tasted Daftmill in its infancy.


Daftmill will be aiming to produce a classic Lowland malt, matured in bourbon casks. We're told that a Rosebank type malt is something that is aimed for. Whatever, we get the current full menu of new make spirit, bourbon and sherry. All are superb.


The sherry cask was my personal favourite though it was probably just a scrotal hair ahead of the bourbon in quality. The other two disagreed. The Daftmill sherry at 4 years old reminded me a lot of Aberlour's lip-smacking A' Bunadh. It has a full, sweet and viscous palate. There was something musty about it too - like an old library with antique leather chairs. Absolutely delicious. If I were to hazard a comparison with other drams then the aforementioned A' Bunadh would be there along with the Gordon & MacPhail 12yo Imperial and possibly even the Edradour Natural Cask Strength.

The bourbon cask was altogether different - lighter and with the expected vanilla and toffee flavours. I was reminded of a Glenkinchie cask strength that I had tried though this didn't find favour with Mr.Cuthbert. He preferred Rosebank as a comparison.

I won't bother regurgitating the history of Daftmill here - their website provides all of that. Should the opportunity present itself though, go and visit it. I for one would welcome the chance to taste a 6 or 7 year old from the cask. Its refreshing to meet ordinary Scots who have the vision and balls to go out and create something of quality. Independent distilleries are very much to be supported. I'm sure that all this fits well into the 'new' Scotland and Salmond's own vision.


Daftmill website