Glenwyvis Distillery Community Benefit Society has commenced a community share offer to raise £1.5m to build a distillery in Dingwall, Scotland.

Offering investment opportunities from £250 to £100,000, the new initiative has been launched in conjunction with Community Shares Scotland (CSS), reported Herald Scotland.

The last distillery in Dingwall closed nine decades ago.

"Glenwyvis will be built on its whisky heritage, its community-ownership and its environmental credentials."

John F Mckenzie, an helicopter pilot and farmer, intends to build the distillery in Dingwall.

Mckenzie was quoted by STV as saying: "From the outset we have envisaged the project as more than a distillery. It is an opportunity for all social investors to help reinvigorate the historic town of Dingwall.

"Glenwyvis will be built on its whisky heritage, its community-ownership and its environmental credentials."

CSS programme manager Kelly McIntyre was quoted by STV as saying: "This is one of the biggest community projects we have been involved in and we hope it will make a seismic impact in the kind of projects that we will see coming forward to work with Community Shares Scotland in the future."

Construction of the new distillery is expected to start in June this year.

The first whisky is planned for Burns Night 2017.