Location: Dufftown, Banffshire, AB55 4BR Roads: In Dullan Glen on the fringe of town Hours: Visitors welcome by appointment Phone: 01340-820224

This was the sixth distillery to be set up in Dufftown and the fourth in the 1890s. The buildings are authentically 19th century and bunch together beside a stream in an attractive dell surrounded by hills and trees. Dufftown distillery was not custom-built, however, being converted in 1896 from a meal-mill, and yet nothing jars in the apparent homogeneity of the exterior. Most of the adaptation was internal, of course, but the added-on pagoda roof looks as if it might have been in its position from the outset.

The original distillers only lasted a year before selling out to the Mackenzie company that ran Blair Athol distillery at Pitlochry. Arthur Bell & Sons were specialist whisky blenders who bought the Mackenzie company and its two distilleries in 1933.

The floor maltings were used until 1968, after which malt to the distillery’s specifications was obtained from local suppliers. Now malt is delivered from one of the centralised maltings in the United Distillers group that took over the distillery in 1985. There are three pairs of stills.

Dufftown is light and low-key. It has some flowery elegance and a little bit of biscuity smoke; dry core, sweet edge, quiet but smooth finish. The official version is 15 years at 43% vol. and one of the independents does a 12-year-old. Dufftown is used in Bell’s blends, including the brand-leader in the UK.