Diageo has confirmed it plans to expand its Clynelish Distillery in Brora, Sutherland.

The leading drinks business has said the investment, which is worth £30m, would take its on-going capital investment in the Highlands region to almost £150m.

The Distillery produces single malt whisky and is home to one of Diageo's 12 distillery visitor centres. The plans for expansion include the installation of an additional mashtun (a vessel for soaking the malted barley), 10 new washbacks (vessels for the fermentation process) and six new copper stills for distilling the spirit. This is in addition to the 10 washbacks and six stills which the distillery currently has and will effectively double the production capacity to nine million litres of alcohol per annum. A bio-energy plant is also earmarked for the site which would provide non-fossil fuel energy to power the distillery.

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Commenting on the investment, Keith Miller, Diageo Director of Distillation and Maturation, said: "The plan to expand Clynelish Distillery is another major milestone in Diageo's £1billion investment to increase Scotch whisky production capacity to help meet the future growth in global demand for our brands.

"Clynelish is a very special distillery, producing spirit which is highly prized for its quality and character and is an important part of our Scotch whisky blending inventory, so this is an important part of our investment programme.

"I'm particularly pleased at the investment we are making in the Highland region. From Muir of Ord to Brora the investment in our distilleries is now almost £150million, which we believe is bringing great benefit to the local economies and communities."

Highland Council Leader Drew Hendry added: "This is great news for the Highlands and demonstrates that we are open for business and a great place for big platers in world markets to invest."

As part of the planning process, Diageo will hold a community engagement session next month to discuss the proposals.

(Image of Clynelish Distillery courtesy of Diageo).

(JP/IT)