Production at the site is done on traditional equipment, including direct-fired stills and wooden washbacks. All of the barley used on site is floor-malted at the distillery.
History
Planning permission was sought in 2021 to convert the existing Wester Green Steading into a distillery with cask storage and a floor maltings.[2] The site was previously used as barns for livestock, and the current distillery retains some of the original stonework.[3] The distillery aimed to be the second distillery in Scotland to floor malt 100% of the barley it used onsite, the other being Springbank.[4]
Production began at the site in October 2023.[5] Upon opening, the distillery employed five people.[6] As of 2025, the distillery was only producing 100,000 litres of spirit per year, half of its stated capacity.[1]
Key people
The distillery was co-founded by partners Dariusz Plazewski and Ewelina Chruszczyk.[5] They had emigrated from Poland to the UK in 2003, and previously founded the English whisky distillery Bimber in North Acton, London in 2015.[7]
Plazewski described himself as a "third-generation moonshiner", having been taught to distill by his Polish father and grandfather, and previously worked as an architect.[4][8] Chruszczyk was an interior designer and bespoke furniture-maker prior to co-founding the distillery.[9] In 2022, Matt McKay joined Dunphail as Director of Whisky Creation and Outreach, with Plazewski as master distillery.[10]
In February 2024, Plazewski was arrested at his London home.[11] He was found to have been living in the UK under an assumed identity and faced extradition to Poland.[12][13][14] Following his arrest, he relinquished control of Dunphail distillery to McKay and Chruszczyz.[15] McKay left the company in December 2024.[16]
Production
The production site at Dunphail was designed to go beyond what was possible at Bimber distillery due to space limitations at the London site; for example, unlike at Bimber, Dunphail floor-malt at the distillery itself.[17] The floor maltings at Dunphail was the first to be built at a Speyside distillery since 1898.[18] The barley is hand-turned twice a day, and the distillery has a working pagoda for ventilation.[19]
Dunphail make both peated and unpeated spirit. There are 12 Douglas fir washbacks and the fermentation is 144 hours. There are three stills; two wash stills and one spirit still. All three stills are 2250 litres and direct-fired.[17][1]
The new make spirit is textural, rich and fruity. Maturation is predominately in 250 litre refill hogsheads, sherry casks, and both ruby and tawny port casks.[19][3]
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