Is Dallas Dhu The Next Silent Scotch Distillery to Reopen?

The brown spirits boom, while not quite as lucrative for Scotch as other categories, has nonetheless allowed some classic, closed Scotland distilleries to reopen.

Last year, Diageo announced that it will begin operations again at Port Ellen and Brora. Bottles from these distilleries, which had gone silent during the Scotch nadir of the 1980s, have become highly coveted by collectors. And Ian Macleod Distillers has announced plans to revive the Lowlands producer Rosebank

Now the next distillery to reopen might be Dallas Dhu of Speyside. First opened in 1899, the Forres, Moray-based distillery went silent in 1983. The facility is best known for producing whisky for the Roderick Dhu blend.

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Today Dallas Dhu is managed by the Historic Environment Scotland. The government-run historic organization has submitted a public notice that asks for “proposals from any interested parties, either individually or in collaboration with others, to develop the site.”

“A unique opportunity is now available at the historic Dallas Dhu Distillery,” the proposal adds.

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Scottish politician Richard Lochhead has lobbied for years for the Diageo-owned distillery to restart operations. “I’ve had several meetings about this in recent years to press for the site’s potential to be developed to make a bigger contribution to the local economy to make the most of having such a wonderful distillery on our doorstep,” he wrote in a Facebook post today. 

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