Feature: A Guide to the Whisky Regions Part 02

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This is a guide to the four major whisky regions, the style of whisky from those regions, and distilleries to look out for. The regions are grouped into:

• Speyside
• The Highlands
• The Lowlands
• The Hebrides

Link: Feature: A Guide to the Whisky Regions Part 01

The Hebrides: The islands surrounding the North and West coast of Scotland are home to a range of magical distilleries; none more than Islay of the West coast of Scotland. Islay is considered by many to be the home of whisky, and is certainly the seat of the reigning kings of peat as the south shore is home to whisky royalty in the shape of Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig. As these three monoliths should need little introduction I'm going to mention Bunnahabhain; possibly my favourite distillery right now due to the availability and affordability of stunningly good value whisky.

Bunnahabhain is known as the unpeated Islay due to the core range of a 12 and 18 yr Old being created from unpeated Barely and using Sherry casks. Bunnahabhain also now bottle at 46.3% and does not chill filtrate or use artificial colour. The 18 yr Old at around £70 is a ball of flavour which I liken to the Man City Vs. Monaco football match in Manchester; very entertaining but not the best quality overall. Bunnahabhain likes it's limited releases and batch whisky to complement its anaemic core range and the 'Intensely Peated' Ceobanoch (Smokey Mist), Cruach Mhone (Peaty Stack), and Moine Oloroso (Peat) are outstanding whisky's ranging from £50 to £75 for the Cask strength Moine Oloroso. Independent bottlings of both peated and unpeated malt are also well worth looking out for; it is an outstanding distillery worthy of far more love and recognition than it gets.

Kilchoman is one of Scotlands newest distillery's, first producing spirit in 2005. It was the first new distillery to be built on Islay for over one hundred years and is another whisky with a devoted cult following. Kilchoman releases its whisky in annual batches so each year is a different experience; on top of that they frequently bottle special editions and single casks for a variety of companies and whisky retailers. Of course everything they bottle is unchilfiltered and bottled at 46% ABV or higher and with absolutely no colourant added.

My personal favourite is the sherried Loch Gorm, although the 2016 release of the 100% Islay was a vast improvement over previous bottling's. I purchased a recent special edition which was matured in an ex Sauternes cask (so look out for a future update). The price may seem high for what is young whisky, but the quality is extremely high. At Christmas 2015 I bought a bottle of the 2008 7 yr old whisky and upon opening it was hugely disappointed; however on returning two months later I discovered a phenomenal whisky of unbelievable quality. Kilchoman seems nowadays a whisky that you can leave in the bottle and it will get better, and better, and better.

I've been asked to add an extra mention to Bruichladdich from my whisky loving friend James; who is very jealous that I have been to Bruichladdich and he hasn't; although I haven't been able too meet the brains trust behind the distillery, Mr Jim McEwan. Bruichladdich is another highly progressive distillery which refuses to chill filter or add colourant; even on its entry level bottling 'The Classic Laddie', which is bottled at 50% ABV you can enter the bottle code into the website and see the exact cask which went into the creation of your bottle. That's the kind of attention to detail I like.

Don't be put of by the weird colours of the tins;, the bottles are simple and elegant in design to give you a good look at the colour of the whisky. I recommend the unpeated Classic Laddie as well as the heavily peated Port Charlotte Scottish Barley; the equivalent to the Classic Laddie from the peated range of whisky. I have never been overly impressed with aged Bruichladdich; the 23 yr Old is fine but didnt overly impress; likewise I drank a 23 yr Old straight from the cask at the distillery and whilst it was again a fine whisky, did really excite me. If you were going to put down that sort of money on a Bruichladdich then the one to do so with is the Black Arts bottling's. These are aged, heavily sherried whisky's, and that is about all they are prepared to tell us about them. I have had the 4th Edition of the Black Arts and there is certainly bags of flavour balanced with a hint of peaty and smokeiness that most Bruichladdich has; after all the peat is in the water on Islay.

At the time of writing the Bruichladdich TENS series is still available. The Port Charlotte TEN Second Edition is a fine peated whisky and I am very tempted by the non-peated Bruichladdich TEN. The heavily peated Octomore is significantly;y more expensive and frankly more of one for the collector.

In terms of the remaing islands; great value can be found North of Islay on the Mull of Kintyre at the Tobermory distillery. The peated malt that Tobermory produce is bottled under the name of Ledaig and the 10 yr Old is available online for £30-£35. Again everything that Tobermory bottles these days is unchilfiltered, bottled at 46.3% and has no colourant added. The Ledaig looks very handsome in iOS clear glass bottle with the rich colour suggesting that first fill American Oak barrels have been the primary source of maturation (barrels that have only previously been use to mature bourbon). The whisky tastes as the colour suggests, emparting a rich sweetness with a hearty dose of ' proper peat. Independent bottlings of Ledaig I've tried have always been rather meek, especially on the peat front,where as this is deep and booming; not dissimilar to a Port Charlotte Scottish Barely from the Bruichladdich distillery.

Above the Mull is Skye and the Talisker distillery. Here 57 Degrees North is the bottling that truest represents what the distillery is all about. Bottled at 57% it is monstrously powerful and has an intensity that few whisky's have. Part of this is due too some youthful whisky being in the bottle, but at £60 it is a bargain. 57 has almost every aspect a whisky can have in one bottle, better yet it is identifiable on the palette. There is a touch of peat and smoke, a coastal sea spray along with a peppery spice,it has rich vanillas as well as elements of sherry and stewed fruits and finally hints of oak, espresso and dark chocolate.

Of the East coast of Islay lies the Island of Jura and the Jura distillery. In a previous post I suggested that the heavily peated Jura Prophecy is perhaps the best whisky on Supermarket shelves and as such deem it worth a quick mention. This does not mean that I endorse any of the other three supermarket Jura's, non of which I am remotely impressed by. For £50-£55 Prophecy however is 'proper whisky'.

Finally, I couldn't write about The Hebrides without a mention for Orkney distillery Highland Park. The Orkney Islands are off the North Coast of Scotland and the range includes the widely available 12 yr old; which is a reasonable £35 purchase. Highland Park is characterised by offering a little bit of everything; heather honey is a key note, the malt is lightly peated and wood is used as well as American Oak casks to create the signature style of the distillery. Highland Park is however best enjoyed when aged; a practice that is unfortunately expensive. The HP 21 which won Whisky of the year at the 2009 International Wine and Spirits Awards is testament to that.

I hope that this guide has been useful. I was only able to cover a fraction of the information in this post; but I hope it has been able to answer some of your questions and perhaps enlighten the road of your whisky journey.

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