Scotland Whisky: Highlands, Speyside, & Lowlands (3 of 3)

Part 3 of 3:  The distilleries we visited in the Highlands (& Islands), Speyside, and Lowlands. 

Related Posts:

• My Scotland Whisky Experience (1 of 3)
• Scotland Whisky: Islay (2 of 3)

Note:  All photos were taken by Kevin Bleicher and are not approved for re-posting or publication without permission.  © 2023 Kevin Bleicher

Highlands

The Scottish Highlands includes the Northwestern region of Scotland and associated Islands (Including the Isle of Skye and Isle of Raasay). This is a sparsely populated region with many mountains, sheep, and distilleries. We approached from Islay with an overnight in Fort William, followed by an excellent viewing of the “Harry Potter” train atop the Glenfinnan Viaduct, beautiful Glen Coe, and a choppy 30-minute ferry crossing from Mallaig to reach the Isle of Skye where we stayed in Portree. As elsewhere, tourists are many and hotels & restaurants are few; be sure to reserve weeks ahead of time.

From the Wikipedia Link for Regional Distinctions & Differences:  Region Characteristics: “fruity, sweet, spicy, malty”… . When the Islands sub-region is included, the total number of distilleries is 47.

Islands

The Islands are a subset of the Highlands, but they deserve their own category per the number of distilleries and distinctive flavors. The distilleries we visited on the Isle of Skye weren’t my favorites, but the Island is BEAUTIFUL and highly recommended:

The distilleries we visited (or sampled)…

• Raasay Distillery
  • Wikipedia
  • Located on a small island near the Isle of Skye.
  • We didn’t visit Raasay, but we did sample the whisky.  Result: Our group generally loved this whisky despite the youth of the distillery (2017).  Raasay is already bottling and selling whisky after a short aging process.  But unlike many other young distilleries, they’re taking great care to age a quality product by using smaller, varied wooden casks that seem to be the real deal (doesn’t have that medicine taste we encountered with other young distilleries).  They also have a beautiful bottle; great for making a lamp!  Kudos to Raasay!

• Talisker
  • Wikipedia
  • The oldest distillery on the Isle of Skye
  • The “Made by the Sea” tasting room was over-the-top Disneyland with video walls showing a heavily bearded Scottish man standing in vast Scottish fields contemplating the choices he made in life (what does this have to do with Whisky?).  The drams were already set in front of us atop disks that illuminated when we were supposed to drink that dram.  The presentation was a huge turn-off for me, but the room was beautiful and they clearly put a LOT of money into the facility to encourage visitation, tastings, gift-shop purchases, and lasting impressions.  The gift shop was similarly large and beautiful.
  • Tasting:  The whisky was good; the samples included a limited edition and flavored barrel (sherry?).  I was struck by how buttery they became with a drop of water (quite good, actually).

• Torabhaig (‘bh’ sounds like ‘v’)
  • Wikipedia
  • Younger distillery on the Isle of Skye
  • A new visitor center with extensive production detail covered by the guide.  But what struck me:  They get their mash from the highlands, and they pass their distillate back to the highlands for aging.  The water is local, and they’re fermenting / distilling, but is that enough to make it a local product?  Perhaps their goal is to do the bare minimum in Skye so they can label it as an Island / Skye whisky and build  a following around that?  Torabhaig is NOT the only distillery doing this; it’s actually common across Scotland (esp for younger distilleries), but it still struck me as Disneyland / artificial.
  • Tasting:  Young and a medicine taste; NOT my preference.  But they also uniquely included an un-aged straight-from-the-condensation-column distillate that was fun to try.

Highlands

The distilleries we visited…

• Oban
  • Wikipedia
  • We stopped in Oban for a lunch break before taking the ferry to Islay.  Many of us visited the Oban visitor center for a flight of drams.  They had a small bar and a cramped seating area.  
  • Tasting:  This was my first distillery visit in Scotland; I enjoyed the experience but hadn’t developed a style or memory for what I was tasting yet.  I remember liking each; they didn’t strike me as bad or medicine.

• Dalwhinnie
  • Wikipedia
  • This was one of our last tour stops.  The busy gift shop included a thick menu for flight orders.  Barrels were used to spell out the name of this large distillery out front.
  • Tasting:  I didn’t have much time (after taking photos) so I asked them to choose a good distillery representative.  It was a 3-dram flight that included a different chocolate with each; it was a fun experience.  The whisky was good and even better with the chocolate samplings.

Speyside

Speyside is in Northeastern Scotland along the river Spey. It qualifies as its own Whisky region per the large number of distilleries (approximately 50) and supporting infrastructure in the area. Many of the best-selling distilleries are in Speyside (Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas, and Balvenie). As elsewhere, be sure to book your tours early or you may not get in. We approached from the Isle of Skye with a delicious stop at Manuela’s wee Bakery, and roadside / lunch stops at Eilean Donan Castle, Loch Ness, and Inverness.

From the Wikipedia Link for Regional Distinctions & Differences:  Region Characteristics: vary greatly from “rich and textured to fragrantly floral”; in general, “sweet, “caramel”, “fruity” and “spicy”.

The distilleries we visited…

• Glen Moray
  • Wikipedia
  • Our guide was friendly and detailed through each step of the production process, but she used a low quality speaker that made her very difficult to hear until we moved into the quieter sample warehouse where we could differentiate barrel odors and get a cutaway windowed view of the ‘Angel’s Share’.  It was fascinating to see the condensation columns on the outside of the warehouse for easier heat dissipation in the cooler air.  The gift shop wasn’t large but it had a nice range of items.
  • Tasting:  We had two drams in the gift shop (‘Elgin Classic Sherry Cask’ and ‘Elgin Limited Edition with Chardonnay Finish’); both were good and had a nice flavor due to the cask finishes.  Too bad there wasn’t a non-flavored option, but that may be due to limitations from an expansion in 2016.

• Cardhu
  • Wikipedia
  • One of four Scottish distilleries supplying Johnnie Walker for blending
  • Cardhu included a comprehensive tour that did a great job explaining each whisky making step, as well as a nicely produced video covering their founding and leadership by Helen Cumming.  Unlike many, they also have local warehouses to view the stacks of barrels.   
  • Tasting:  3 Drams in a large tasting room; the bottles weren’t nearby, and it was difficult to hear their details across the room.  No concerns, however, and they included limited edition pours.  They were followed by a tall Johnny Walker lemon-soda cocktail, which was refreshing after the walkabouts.

• Side attraction:  Outside near the status of Helen and Johnie there is a field of “hairy coos” that love plain digestive biscuits!

• Speyside Cooperage Visitor Center
  • Not a distillery but likewise relevant and impressive! Per Wikipedia: “Each year, it produces and repairs nearly 150,000 oak casks used by the surrounding Speyside Whisky distilleries, as well as distilleries elsewhere throughout Scotland.” Most of the barrels are shipped as staves from Bourbon centers in the U.S. and are prepared and reassembled for local production.
  • Our excellent guide approached the rear of the property where we could view the pyramids of barrels since the visitor center was closed.

The Lowlands

The Lowlands are the Southeastern region of Scotland and include Fife, Glasgow, and amazing Edinburgh. We approached from Speyside and stayed in Edinburgh with stops in Falkland (many Outlander shooting locations) and Dunkeld.

The Lowlands include a number of tourist destinations which I also visited, including Stirling Castle and Rosslyn Chapel. Hadrian’s Wall is just over the English border and has many unique viewing points. And you can spend days in Edinburgh with sites like The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, Holyroodhouse Palace, Calton Hill, and The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (for an excellent dinner and tastings), despite the throngs of tourists.

From the Wikipedia Link for Regional Distinctions & Differences:  Region Characteristics: soft and smooth, consisting of a floral nose with a sweet finish. Single malts from this area tend to be “lighter, sweet and [with] floral tones”

The distilleries we visited…

• Lindores Abbey
  • We stopped in Fife near the tour end on the way back to Edinburgh.  This distillery was built where the first distillery was believed to have been.  There’s also an adjoining Abbey in ruins that was fascinating to photograph.
  • Tasting:  I was eager to photograph the Abbey, so I purchased a single representative dram of ‘MCDXCIV’ (1494, when the original distillery first produced) rather than a flight.  I remember it tasting young, and wished they had taken more care like Raasay.  I’m sure it’ll get better with time since they started to distill in 2017.