Up there…
Highland single malts formally cover all of mainland Scotland above the Highland fault line and excluding Speyside. A few miles North of Glasgow or Edinburgh and there you are, so while the inhabitants of Aberdeen and Stirling might not consider themslves Highlanders, their local distilleries certainly do.
It’s easily the largest region and includes some of the grandest, popular names, and others might consider some on our list to be Speysiders.
As might be expected of such a broad geographical & topographical area, Wick (Old Pulteney) can hardly be compared with Pitlochry(Edradour, Blair Athol), there is not typical Highland flavour so for the requirement to fill this page and historical precendent let us follow the Sun.
- Glenmorangie
- Glen Ord (Singleton of)
- Glenturret
- Loch Lomond (eponymous, Inchmurrin)
- Millburn
- Oban
- Old Fettercairn
- Old Pulteney
- Royal Brackla
- Royal Lochnagar
- Teaninich
- Tullibardine
- Tomatin
- Wolfburn
- Knockdhu (AnCnoc)
- Aberfeldy
- Ardmore
- Balblair
- Ben Nevis
- Blair Athol
- Clynelish
- Dalmore
- Dalwhinnie
- Deanston
- Drumguish
- Edradour (eponymous, Ballechin)
- Glencadam
- MacDuff (Glen Deveron)
- Glendronach
- Glen Garioch
- Glengoyne
Ignoring the more diverse nature of production, we might consider a ‘typical’ Northerner as big, sweet & malty moving towards floral and dry. You’ll find a whiff of smoke from those in the West, with more fruit elsewhere with lighter body and sweetness than Spey with a dry finish. Honestly, that’s as far as i’m willing to commit other than to state when it comes to a Highlander the older the better – not entirely a negative but there’s a reason Oban bottles at 14 and i find majority of the region’s NAS bottlings too light, too lacking in flavour… too young?
From the hills to the coast, this is the most diverse region and perseverance pays off as guaranteed to find a dram that satisfies your palate.