Dallas Dhu
Region: Highlands


What's the relationship between Dallas, Texas and a tiny hamlet in the Scottish Highlands?  You say there is no relationship?  You be wrong !  Just like my grammar!  In thruth, the village was acquired from the Crown in 1279 by William de Ripley and Dallas, Texas was named after one of his descendants, then US vice-president George Dallas in 1845.

The distillery was to have originally been called Dallasmore and was built on the Sanquhar estate of Alexander Edwards, about 6 miles from Dallas.  It sits in a hollow which is considered advantageous because the water would come in under pressure.  However, almost as soon as it was built, the walls started sinking into the bogs of the surrounding grounds.  Construction was finally completed in 1899, just in time for the recession, followed by the Pattison crash.

Dallas Dhu changed owners two times before its owners were acquired by  DCL in 1929.  On the evening of April 9th, 1939 a fire ravaged through the stillhouse and was contained in time to prevent the spread into adjacent buildings.  The damage was estimated at 7000 pounds.  The distillery remained closed for the duration of World War II and not until 1950 did any modernization take place, in fact, the wash still rummager was powered by waterwheel until 1971.

Although it closed in the early 1980's, it's whisky became relatively high reputation and it is still bottled by Gordon and MacPhail.  It was re-opened in 1988 by Scotland's Historic Buildings and Monuments Directorate as a time capsule of the distilling industry, and is now part of the Speyside Whisky Trail.  It is a 'hands-on' museum where the visitors can actually try their skill at operating the spirit safe and climb inside the mash tun.  There are wax dummies that explain what their jobs are in the distillery, it's like a "Pirates of the Scottish Highlands", right out of Disney!

In any event, the distillery certainly is a place to stop when in the area, even though you cannot taste the whisky there anymore, it is indeed an interesting place to visit.