Birnam distillery

Highland single malt Scotch whisky

Birnam distillery (also known as Dunkeld) stood beside what was then the main road between Perth and Inverness – the A9, which now bypasses the town of Birnam.

To the east of the old site is the Inchewan Burn, which flows eventually into the Tay. Water for the distillery would have been drawn from the burn via a lade.

The woods that surround the village of Birnam are immortalised in Shakespeare’s Macbeth: ‘When Birnam Wood shall come to Dunsinane Hill’.

Image
Map
  • Region
    Highland
  • Production type
    Single malt
  • Distillery Status
    Demolished
  • Previous names
    Dunkeld

Birnam History

Distilling at Birnam began in 1821 under R. Stevenson and Co. but stopped that same year.

Birnam was reopened by James Duncan and Co. in 1825 but the company was dissolved two years later. David Burns swooped in to save Birnam, resuming distilling duties until 1831 when he too was sequestrated.

Timeline

  • 1821 Birnam distillery opens under R. Stevenson and Co. but the site falls silent within a year
  • 1825 James Duncan and Co. re-opens the distillery
  • 1827 James Duncan and Co. is dissolved and distilling stops, only to resume under David Burns
  • 1831 David Burns is sequestrated and the distillery closes

Contact

Address
Dunkeld
Perth and Kinross
United Kingdom
Map

See also

  • Dunkeld Dunkeld Dunkeld Distillery

    Dunkeld

    The small town of Dunkeld housed a distillery that operated for just a few years in the 1800s.

  • Haughend Haughend Haughend Distillery

    Haughend

    A briefly operational 19th century distillery near Dunkeld in Perthshire.

  • Bridgend Bridgend Bridgend Distillery

    Bridgend

    A lost distillery located at the town of the same name, close to the River Tay.

  • Duntanloch Duntanloch Duntanloch Distillery

    Duntanloch

    Perhaps a misspelling of Duntanlich, the site of two farms near Pitlochry.

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