A new distillery near Forres is on course to launch in the first quarter of 2023 with the aim of producing 100,000 litres of whisky per year after raising £2m in funding.
Dunphail Distillery is owned by Dariusz Plazewski and Ewelina Chruszczyk, with Mr Plazewski also founder of Bimber Distillery in London, although that is a separate entity.
Mr Plazweski’s background is in architecture and construction, but he is also a “third generation moonshiner” from Poland, having learnt the art of distillation from his father and grandfather.
Last August, Moray Council approved plans to convert the old livestock barns at Wester Green, Dunphail, into a whisky distillery.
A Dunphail spokesman said: “Dunphail will be a resolutely traditional single malt distillery producing whisky the way it used to be made. This will involve the use of on-site floor maltings, long fermentations and directly-fired stills.
Floor malting provides significant differentiation”
Dunphail Distillery spokesman
“These processes and the resultant spirit will have appeal for existing whisky enthusiasts looking for authentically-made craft whisky that has been created for flavour not yield.
“It is Dunphail’s floor malting facility which really provides significant differentiation – once completed we will be only the second distillery in Scotland (the other being Springbank) who will malt 100% of our barley on site.”
The distillery will use malted barley gown locally on the Altyre Estate, which has 2,000 acres of arable-producing barley.
By-product of whisky process will be returned as animal feed
The Estate will cultivate and supply Dunphail with a 100% Scottish spring barley known as sassy. This variety will be processed traditionally at the distillery with milling and hand-malting taking place on-site.
The draff, a high fibre by-product of the whisky making process will be returned to Altyre where it will be used as animal feed.
In addition to the single malts, Dunphail will produce some blended variants in a bid to attract those new to Scotch whisky, while the distillery will also feature a visitor centre where customers will be able to taste the spirits.
Specific marketing plans have not been revealed ahead of launch next year, but the spokesman noted the distillery was looking to “engage globally, nationally and in particular locally in terms of our target markets.”
He added: “We will be presenting Dunphail as authentically as possible to all potential customers. We’re all completely passionate about Scotch whisky and we want to share that passion as genuinely as possible.”
No price range is currently available as the distillery has not yet started production. Following start-up, a minimum of three years is required to age the spirit.
Staff requirements to be assessed in coming months
However, Dunphail has recently released a new range of independently-bottled Scotch whiskies with the first bottles ranging from £59.95 to £89.95 and more to come.
The visitor centre will also feature a shop, café and tasting area with staff requirements being assessed during the coming months.
There are currently two members of staff; founder and master distiller, Mr Plazweski, as well as a director of whisky creation.
The distillery is also offering customers the chance to become a Dunphail Founder, which for £695 will allow them to receive particular bottlings and a lifetime discount of 10% on orders.
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