PLANS for a new £50 million malt whisky distillery have been unveiled by drinks giant Diageo, which has preferred the Easter Ross peninsula to the traditional malt whisky country of Speyside for its new plant.
It announced Teaninich, near Alness, as the location for its distillery which, if approved, will have the capacity to produce around 13 mil-lion litres of spirit per annum (mla) from 16 copper stills or 45 million normal-sized bottles a year.
The company chose it ahead of two Speyside options at Glendullan and Inchgower.
Its announcement comes hard on the heels of figures showing Scotch whisky exports edged up by 1% last year to a record £4.27 billion, despite a 5% drop in the volume of overseas sales. The value of Scotch whisky exports has risen by 87% in the past decade.
Diageo also announced a major new phase of expansion to its Scotch whisky production in the Speyside area. The company says all of this activity is a key milestone of the £1bn five-year investment plan which was launched last year.
The new distillery, which will create up to 20 jobs, will be beside the company's existing Teaninich distillery but will have its own name and identity. An on-site bio-energy plant will also be constructed to convert co-products into green energy to power the distillery.
Diageo also plans to invest £12m in expanding its existing Teaninich distillery to almost double its capacity. The single malt whisky produced at the new distillery and at the expanded distillery will be used in a range of Diageo's blended Scotch whisky brands.
Full planning applications will be submitted to Highland Council and the company hopes to be in a position to begin work on the new distillery in 2014.
Diageo also announced plans to invest around £30m in new production facilities in Speyside, including a project to substantially increase the capacity of the Mortlach distillery at Dufftown. This will involve the building of a new stillhouse, which will replicate the unusual partial-triple distillation process which makes Mortlach unique.
Another element of the investment will be the construction of a new plant at Glendullan, Dufftown to process co-products in an anaerobic digestion process, producing bio-gas which will be used to power the Glendullan distillery.
Elsewhere in Scotland, as part of the £1 billion investment project, the company is pursuing plans for a big expansion of Glen Ord Distillery, near Muir of Ord and is progressing with construction of warehousing at Cluny near Kirkcaldy.
Brian Higgs, Diageo malt distilling director, said he was delighted to announce the next phase of investment in expanding the group's Scotch whisky production capacity in Scotland.
"All three sites we considered for the new malt distillery were excellent potential locations but after detailed investigations Teaninich came out just ahead in terms of the many complex logistics required when planning such a development."
Mr Higgs said it was a significant investment for the local economy around Alness and he looked forward to working positively with Highland Council and the local community to progress the company's plans.
Rob Gibson, SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross was delighted by the news for his constituency:
"The choice of Alness over Speyside for the new distillery identifies Easter Ross as a stronghold of top class whisky production. I look forward to seeing the details of Diageo's plans and timescale to meet worldwide demand. I hope the new Teaninich distillery develops a distinctive new taste and reputation for excellence in an increasingly discriminating world market. Drinkers value Scottish malt whiskies above all for their local and distinctive pallet. Let Teaninich flourish."
SCDI's Highlands and Islands manager, Fraser Grieve "This new distillery, along with the investment at the existing Teaninich distillery, and new production facilities in Speyside are a welcome boost to the region's economy."
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