Dunphail

Type: Distillery

Dunphail is a Speyside distillery near Forres, built around on-site floor malting and direct-fired stills. Its first cut of new make spirit was taken at 10:15am on 6 October 2023, followed by the first cask fillings on 26 October, two distinct milestones in the distillery’s beginnings.[4][6]

What Dunphail is known for

Dunphail’s defining feature is its commitment to handling all its barley through its own floor maltings and kiln. The opening reports describe 100% on-site floor malting, rather than a small demonstration operation alongside bought-in malt.[6] That makes the maltings central to the production account, not simply an architectural feature.

The recorded working routine includes hand-turning the barley twice a day and using the working pagoda for ventilation. Alongside that are open-topped fermentation, a stated fermentation time of 144 hours and direct-fired stills.[2] These are the useful details to remember about Dunphail: they describe choices made before the spirit reaches a cask.

Both peated and unpeated spirit were announced at the start of production.[4][5] That establishes two production strands, but it does not provide a finished whisky tasting profile. The clearest early sensory description belongs to founder and master distiller Dariusz Plazewski, who described the first new make as “incredibly fat and fruity” in the production announcement.[4]

From London to a Moray steading

The founders, Dariusz Plazewski and Ewelina Chruszczyk, had previously established Bimber in North Acton, London, in 2015. The supplied history records that they emigrated from Poland to the UK in 2003.[2] Dunphail therefore followed an existing distilling project, but its Scottish site answered a different practical requirement.

In an interview about the development, the producer explained that Bimber’s London premises lacked the room for on-site floor malting. Plazewski spent months looking around Morayshire for a suitable location, eventually choosing the former livestock buildings at Wester Green Steading.[3][2] Planning permission for the conversion was sought in 2021, and some original stonework was retained.[2]

Story box: room for the maltings

Founding story: Plazewski and Chruszczyk developed Dunphail after establishing Bimber in London. The producer’s account identifies space for floor malting as a reason for creating the Scottish distillery. Sources: the distillery interview and the supplied historical summary.

Turning point: The first cut of spirit on 6 October 2023 marked the move from building the distillery to making spirit. Source: the production announcement.

Documented record: The opening production account records on-site floor malting and kilning, the practical distinction at the centre of the founding explanation. Source: the first-cask report.

Claim-source mapping: The interview supports the explanation about space at Bimber; the historical summary supplies the founders and earlier project; the production and first-cask reports support the dated milestones and malting arrangement.

Last checked: Not independently checked; the actual check date must be recorded before publication.

Dunphail’s production approach

The production record describes a distillery organised around malt preparation, extended fermentation and direct heating. Water comes from a borehole sunk on the site, according to the distillery interview.[3] The same interview attributes the electricity supply to solar power, a producer statement rather than an independently measured account of the site’s energy use.[3]

The distinction between wash and spirit stills matters when reading that equipment list: Dunphail’s three stills were reported as two wash stills and one spirit still, not three identical roles.[2] The record does not supply cut points or a detailed operating sequence, so those should not be inferred from the still count.

The first fillings used Laureate barley and a filling strength of 63.5% ABV.[6] These describe the opening production batches, rather than a promise that every later batch follows exactly the same specification. They are especially useful when comparing the first-cask story with a later release announcement.

First spirit, first casks

Construction took about 18 months, according to the opening report. The visitor centre and shop opened earlier in 2023, before spirit production began.[4] Those events belong separately in the chronology: opening a building to visitors was not the same event as starting the stills.

The first-cask account is unusually specific about what was filled and where it stayed. Ten sherry butts received the opening spirit, and those maiden casks were stored at Dunphail.[6] First spirit and first filling were therefore separated by less than three weeks, rather than being alternative dates for one event.

The broader maturation account lists mainly 250 litre refill hogsheads, sherry casks, and ruby and tawny port casks.[2] That gives a picture of the recorded cask programme, but it should not be turned into tasting notes for an unreleased or unidentified bottling.

Capacity is not output

Trade reporting gives Dunphail a stated capacity of 200,000 litres a year.[6] The supplied record does not establish whether that figure is expressed as litres of pure alcohol, so it should not be silently converted into that more specific production measure.

The historical summary reports output of 100,000 litres in 2025, described as half the stated capacity.[2] The distinction is the important point: a capacity figure describes a reported production capability, while an output figure concerns a particular period. Neither figure, on its own, establishes the distillery’s current operating schedule.

For a reader comparing distilleries, these figures need their labels and dates kept attached. “200,000 litres” without “reported annual capacity”, or “100,000 litres” without “reported for 2025”, loses the distinction that makes the comparison meaningful.

Dunphail and The Dava Way

The Dava Way is Dunphail’s independent bottling range, described by the producer as a selection of single cask whiskies.[7] It should be kept separate from whisky distilled at Dunphail itself: the range name is not evidence that its contents were made in the distillery’s stills.

This distinction also matters when reading about the distillery’s early years. A bottle associated with Dunphail can belong to its independent bottling activity rather than its own production. The supplied record does not establish a first release date for Dunphail-distilled single malt, so no release claim is made here.

The producer also distinguished the Scottish operation from Bimber’s early production mix: the interview states that Dunphail would not make vodka, gin or rum.[3] Its recorded focus was malt spirit, with the on-site maltings providing the clearest practical difference between the two projects.

Common mistakes

Treating Dunphail as Bimber relocated. The shared founders explain the connection, but the producer explicitly rejected the idea of a copy. The space and facilities for on-site floor malting were central to the Scottish project.[3]

Treating the opening announcements as one date. First spirit, the announcement of full production and first cask filling occurred on different October 2023 dates.[4][5][6] Keeping them separate makes the distillery’s production timeline clearer.

Treating reported capacity as actual production. The 200,000 litre annual capacity figure and the reported 100,000 litre output for 2025 describe different things.[6][2] Neither should replace the other in a comparison table.

Where to go next

• Benromach: another distillery page to read alongside Dunphail.
• The Balvenie: continue exploring individual Speyside distillery profiles.
• Glenfarclas: broaden your reading within the same distillery hub.

Sources

1. Dunphail Distillery. Dunphail Distillery home page. Undated producer’s account, supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.dunphaildistillery.com/
2. Wikipedia. Dunphail distillery. Revision not specified in the supplied record, checked November 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunphail_distillery
3. Drampath. My first peek at Dunphail distillery. Undated trade interview with the distillery, supplied record checked November 2026. https://drampath.com/jacks-journey-samples/my-first-peek-at-dunphail-distillery/
4. Planet Whiskies. Whisky production commences at Speyside Dunphail Distillery. Publication date not specified in the supplied record; supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.planetwhiskies.com/latest-whisky-news/dunphail-first-production.html
5. Scotch Malt Whisky. Dunphail Distillery In Speyside Goes Into Production. October 2023 production report, supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk/dunphaildistillerystartsproduction.htm
6. Scotch Malt Whisky. Dunphail Distillery Fills First Casks. October 2023 first-cask report, supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk/dunphailfillsfirstcasks.htm
7. Dunphail Distillery. Investment. Undated producer’s account, used solely for its description of The Dava Way independent bottling range; supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.dunphaildistillery.com/investment

This desk-research draft uses the supplied fact sheet and source descriptions; the underlying pages were not independently reopened during writing.

Last checked: November 2026