The Dalmore Distillery

The distillery was established in 1839 by entrepreneur Alexander Matheson and sold to Andrew and Charles Mackenzie in 1867, who introduced the 12-pointed Royal Stag emblem. Operations ran fairly smoothly at the distillery until 1917 when the British Royal Navy began to use the firth next to the distillery as a site for the production of deep-sea mines. In 1920 much of the distillery was destroyed by an explosion and the fire resulting from a mine detonation incident. The subsequent legal battle between Andrew Mackenzie and the Royal Navy lasted over half a decade, even reaching the House of Lords. The distillery remained family-owned until 1960, when one of Dalmore's main customers, Whyte &…