Orkney
Orkney
Skye
Mull
Jura
Arran
Lewis

Abhainn Dearg
Arran
Highland Park
Jura
Scapa
Talisker
Tobermory

Aberfeldy
Blair Athol
Deanston
Edradour
Glenturret
Tullibardine

Ben Nevis
Dalwhinnie
Glengoyne
Glenlochy
Loch Lomond
Oban

Fettercairn
Glencadam
Glen Garioch
Glenugie
Glenury Royal
Hillside / Glenesk
Lochside
Lochnagar
North Port

Balblair
(Royal) Brackla
Brora
Clynelish
Dalmore
Glen Albyn
Glen Mhor
Glenmorangie
Glen Ord
Millburn
Pulteney
Teaninich
Tomatin

Apart from some nice Blair Athol and Aberfeldy bottlings, few of the Midlands malts I've sampled so far managed
to impress me. Most Midlanders are just what you would expect; a strange mixture of Highland and Lowland
characteristics. The younger official expressions from Deanston, Glenturret and Tullibardine are usually not really
my cup of tea. Edradour is a different story; the standard official bottlings from the 1990's were not that special
(and sometimes downright awful), but since Andrew Symington took over the distillery they released a string of
finished expressions, some of them great. I wasn't a big fan of Deanston either, but they seem to have made
some changes in their production - or my tastes have simply grown broader over time... 

The late, great whisky writer Michael Jackson puts Dalwhinnie in the (central) Speyside area but according to
the label on the OB's it's a Highland malt from Inverness-shire. That puts it in the Western Highlands, doesn't it?
As far as I was concerned in the 1990's, the Western Highlands produced just two decent malts: Oban and Ben
Nevis. The bottlings I've tried from Glengoyne, Glenlochy and Loch Lomond didn't really tickle my fancy. Well,
wait a minute. During the 1990's the Glengoynes I tried seemed like average, run-of-the-mill, malts. During the
2004 edition of the Malt Maniacs Awards I was proven wrong by a series of knockout Glengoyne bottlings.
More recent bottlings were not quite as stellar, but still a lot more interesting than their output from the 1990's.

Fate hasn't been kind to the distilleries in this corner of Scotland. Over half of the distilleries in the area were
closed in the last few decades; only (Old) Fettercairn, Glencadam, Glen Garioch and (Royal) Lochnagar are
currently operational. Glencadam was mothballed for some time as well, but it has been reopened in 2003.
 
As it turns out, I have difficulty finding specific characteristics for a 'typical' Eastern Highland malt.
Glen Garioch and Royal Lochnagar bottlings tend to be quite fruity these days (although Glen Garioch produced
a much smokier spirit before 1985), while Old Fettercairn and Lochside have a more malty and oily character.
Bottlings of Glencadam and Hillside / Glenesk that I've tried usually performed below par - but that's hardly a
'problem'. The Hillside / Glenesk distillery was closed in 1985, so we won't see many new bottlings emerging
on the shelves of liquorists. As for Glencadam; we'll have to wait and see what the new owners come up with. 

Our group of 'Northern Highlanders' includes a few distilleries that whisky writer Michael Jackson classifies as
Speyside distilleries; Royal Brackla (Findhorn Valley), Glen Albyn (Inverness), Glen Mhor (Inverness), Millburn
(Inverness) and Tomatin (Findhorn Valley). The malt maniacs felt these distilleries belonged in the Northern
Highlands 'stylisticly'. The odd one out in this group is the silent Brora distillery; for a long time they were the
only Highland distillery that produced a heavily peated malt whisky.

Ooooh - How I love those Northern Highland bouquets. Big, sweet and malty; that's the nose of a 'typical'
Northern Highlander for you. Official bottlings like the Dalmore 12yo, Glen Ord 12yo and Old Pulteney 12yo are
fragrant with a lot of complexity - or at least they used to be when I discovered single malts during the 1990's.
There was nothing wrong with the taste of most of the Northerners I've tried either. Sweet, a tad dry, often
with a long finish. Still, there's lots of variety among Northern Highlanders. Malts from Glenmorangie, Balblair
and Teaninich are a tad 'lighter' in character than the rest, for example. However I'd like to stress once more
that in these modern times (when techniques like 'finishing' are commonplace) 'regional' traits are vanishing.

Northern Highlands 

Eastern Highlands 

Western Highlands 

Southern Highlands (Midlands) 

Islands 

My favorite island is Islay, but that is considered to be a seperate whisky region in its own right.
The island Skye comes right after that, even though it only has one distillery: Talisker. Orkney would
be next with two distilleries; Highland Park and Scapa. The malts from Mull, Jura and Arran generally
lack the power and intensity of these former islands, but the stocks at Arran seem to be maturing
nicely and I'm starting to look more closely at Isle of Jura since they released some very interesting
(and very young), heavily peated bottlings. The regular product from Isle of Jura didn't really appeal
to me in the past because many younger bottlings had an oily side to them that I didn't care for.
This character trait was overshadowed by the peat - which I found a good thing...

Whiskies from the Midlands (a.k.a. South Highlands) like Tullibardine or Glenturret are
really quite different from the expressive Northern Highland malts like Glen Ord or
Dalmore. Considering that over 80% of all malts are produced in the Highlands
(if we consider Speyside to be part of the Highlands), the phrase 'Highland Malt' on
a bottle of malt whisky doesn't tell you very much about the contents. It also means
that - unlike the page that's dedicated to the 'Speyside' section - this page isn't too
useful for planning day trips. Even within a specific region like 'Northern Highlands'
or 'Islands' the geographical distances between individual distilleries can be simply
too large to make multiple visits on a single day difficult to acomplish.

For most of these geographical classifications I've simply followed whisky
writer Michael Jackson's lead, but after a 'Borderline Personalities' session
in June 2004 I decided to change the regional classifications for a number of
distilleries. Opinions amongst 'the professionals' seem to differ, so we had
ourselves a vote amongst the malt maniacs. The classifications I've used in
this 'Distillery Data' section reflects the majority opinion among the maniacs.
Please feel free to contact me if you feel we've 'mis-appropriated' a certain
distillery - if the arguments are sound I'll be happy to change these pages.

The picture at the left clearly illustrates how large the Highlands really are...
Except for the small Speyside region in the heart of the Highlands, all other (relatively small) whisky regions are located South of the Highlands; the Lowlands, Islay and Campbeltown.