Diageo has announced plans for a £30 million expansion of its Clynelish Distillery in Sutherland. In the Diageo's £1 billion programme to increase Scotch whisky production, plans have been submitted to Highland Council for the major expansion of Diageo's most northerly Scotch whisky distillery. The Clynelish expansion will take the on-going capital investment by Diageo in the Highland Council region alone to almost £150 million, including major expansions at Glen Ord and Teaninich Distilleries and plans to build a new distillery at Alness.

The Clynelish announcement came as six new copper stills were delivered to the Glen Ord Distillery as part of the £25 million expansion plan which is doubling the size of that distillery to over 10 million litres per annum. Diageo is also doubling the capacity at the Teaninich Distillery in Alness and is progressing plans to build a new malt whisky distillery and renewable energy plant on land adjacent to Teaninich. In total these projects represent a capital investment of nearly £150 million across the Highland Council area.

Under the plans submitted Clynelish Distillery will see the installation of an additional mashtun (the vessel for soaking the malted barley) 10 new washbacks (vessels for the fermentation process) and six new copper stills for distilling the spirit. This adds 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, whilst retaining the unique character and quality of the spirit. A bio-energy plant is also planned for the site to provide non-fossil fuel energy to power the distillery.

As well as the distillery expansions the company is also investing in new warehousing to store the additional spirit, with a major new bonded warehouse site being developed at Cluny in Fife.