Innholdsfortegnelse for Scotch Whisky 5 i Scotch Whisky

When I was rewatching a double-bill of Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 last Christmas, I didn’t expect that just a month later, I’d be watching Rick Deckard outside a castle raising up a bottle of Glenmorangie. Harrison Ford’s collaboration with the distillery (whose A Tale of Ice Cream release was one of my personal standouts from the last year, by the way) set the tone for what would be an unexpected year in Scotch, full of surprises, both good and bad. While it would be easy to talk about the negatives — the production halts, the financial difficulties burdening many, tariffs, taxes, closures — I would rather use this annual as an opportunity to focus on the brilliant work and positive news from the past year. There’s so much…

The past year has been a time of uncertainty and adjustment for Scotland’s whisky industry, and Speyside — home to many of the country’s most celebrated distilleries — was a mirror to its triumphs and challenges. As global markets shifted and economic pressures grew, some of the region’s most renowned names found themselves adapting to new realities. From scaled-back production to workforce changes, even distilleries with centuries of history felt the weight of change. Brown-Forman’s decision to implement a “shared production model” at Glenglassaugh and Benriach underscored this cautious environment. Although positioned as a strategic move to optimise resources, the arrangement resulted in silent seasons and redundancies, highlighting the stark realities faced by the industry at large. Yet amid these challenges, Speyside’s distilleries also showcased their enduring strengths. This region,…

If you’ve spent any time in the Scottish Highlands, you might find a lot that looks familiar as you pull into the Glendronach car park. Stone buildings, including the old malting barn, are arranged horseshoe-like around a courtyard. Pagoda roofs cap some structures. The stillhouse is enclosed behind giant windows. They’re just standard design elements for a Highlands distillery built nearly two centuries ago and, like many, expanded and updated in the 1960s. But beyond that initial impression of the buildings, there’s very little that can be called standard at this historic destination. What’s perhaps most striking isn’t necessarily the biggest or shiniest thing. It’s subtle. It’s the cottage on a hill overlooking the distillery, and it places you squarely in a centuries-ago state of mind. Built in 1771 and…

One of the Scotch whisky industry’s most impressive feats is the complex nature of its whisky regions. Despite their proximity to one another, the variation on flavour profiles in Scotch whisky is extraordinary. Whether it’s the bold smokiness of an Islay whisky, or the fruity goodness of a Speyside single malt, there’s a profile for everybody The next time somebody mentions that their favourite whisky is “Scotch”, be sure to remind them of the country’s spectacular variations. “What Scotch, though?!” In the following pages, our trusty duo of tasters tackle the diversity of Scotch whisky regions and styles, from the Highlands to the Lowlands; single malt to blended. Whether it’s a new whisky distillery making a name for itself, or a seasoned distillery with centuries of history, our tasters approach…

Inverness is the ‘Capital of the Highlands’, and stands among some of the most splendid scenery Scotland has to offer. The settlement, beloved by visitors today, was originally a modest fort, but by the 12th century had developed sufficiently to be granted a Royal Burgh charter by King David of Scotland in 1158, and 1307 saw Robert the Bruce seize the first of five castles to have existed in Inverness from English forces. More than four centuries later, the last battle on British soil took place at nearby Culloden Moor, when the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was defeated by government troops led by the Duke of Cumberland. On a less dramatic level, the city has a long heritage of malting, thanks to the proximity of…

In recent times, Hebridean distilleries have been popping up like tufted vetch through the summer machair, and one of the most architecturally beguiling is Benbecula. The styling is unorthodox, but there is something pleasingly appropriate about a distillery resembling a lighthouse on a small island with a strong maritime heritage. It is complete with a copper pot spirit still where the light itself would otherwise have been situated. The Outer Hebridean distillery is located beside the A865 at Gramsdale, in the north of the island, close to the North Ford Causeway that links Benbecula to North Uist, just as a similar causeway seven miles away joins it to South Uist. The island is served by an airport that connects with Glasgow and Inverness, while CalMac ferries sail between Uig on…

Drive south from Elgin on the main A941 road and soon the names of Speyside’s most famous distilleries start appearing on signposts: from The Macallan and Glen Grant to Benriach and Longmorn, the never-ending list reads like a Who’s Who of Scotch whisky. Then, just south of Rothes, at the turnoff for Craigellachie, another name joins the roster: the Cabrach. It’s a moniker that’s whispered in whisky circles, triggering a knowing nod from those born and bred in the north of Scotland or those getting longer in the tooth. Soon, the name will be recognised by a much wider audience. In the days before the 1823 Excise Act cut taxes on Highland whiskies, the Cabrach was renowned for the quality of its illicit Scotch, with historians estimating more than 100…

Steven Kersley faces an interesting conundrum. Not only does he need a name for a distillery, but also one for a whisky brand. The BrewDog Distilling Company’s managing director’s distillery is owned by one of the world’s largest beer businesses, which employs 2,600 staff, turns over £353 million a year, and runs more than 100 bars, having made a name for itself through marketing stunts that included driving a tank through London, dropping stuffed ‘fat cats’ from a helicopter over the Bank of England, and selling super-strength beer bottled inside taxidermy squirrels and stoats. Yet will that same BrewDog brand appeal to whisky drinkers? “Probably not,” muses Kersley as he leads the way through the distillery, which sits next to BrewDog’s massive brewery and head office at Ellon, a half…

Standing at the quayside of the former Queen’s Dock on the River Clyde, visitors to Scotland’s largest city are surrounded by the modern face of Glasgow. Further upstream, the multicoloured wrap-around lights of the Hydro music venue and the Sydney Opera House-esque Armadillo auditorium stand facing the glass and metal latticework of the BBC and STV television studios and the Glasgow Science Centre on the opposite bank. Downstream, the Riverside Museum’s roof resembles a print-out of a spiky electrocardiogram test. One hundred and fifty years ago the Queen’s Dock formed the beating heart of Glasgow’s international trade, as ships laden with whisky set sail across the Atlantic and beyond. Standing guard over the moored vessels and the quaysides lined with warehouses was the stone-built Pumphouse, a four-storey tower that provided…

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Nick Bullard approaches an unpromising looking steel structure — the sort of place workmen might use to keep their tools secure on a building site. He opens the door to reveal not the anticipated angle-grinders and mini cement mixer, but a pair of small copper stills, one of which is making whisky courtesy of a live fire being fed with logs. This is direct firing at its purest, and it is taking place just outside the historic spa town of Moffat in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, some 60 miles south of Glasgow. “Forged by fire” is the motto of Moffat Distillery, and this unusual method of wash still heating marks out this young distillery from all its contemporaries. Indeed, it is though to be only the second wood-fired whisky…

The Orkney Islands to the north of the Scottish mainland have been home to two whisky distilleries for the best part of a century, since the demise of Stromness Distillery during 1928. Now, however, the community of Orkney whisky makers has doubled, and aficionados have twice the locations to explore and ultimately more Orcadian drams to drink. While Highland Park dates back to 1798 and Scapa to 1885, Orkney Distilling was formed in 2016 by local couple Stephen and Aly Kemp, based on the harbour front in the island ‘capital’ of Kirkwall. However, it was only in March 2024 that spirit destined to be whisky flowed from the stills, around the same time that the first whisky was being produced a dozen miles away at Deerness Distillery. The Kemps at…