A land of drams

In the second part of our series on whisky we head south of the Highland line.

Following last edition's whirlwind tour of the whiskies of the Highlands and Islands, we now turn our attentions to Speyside and the Lowlands.

Both areas have great access via main airports at Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness, and there is plenty to see and do. Expect to see some dramatic scenery, gorgeous rolling, lush river valleys and to taste some of the greatest malts in Scotland.

SPEYSIDE We start off in what many consider to be the true whisky country. It certainly is one of the finest whisky producing regions in the world and has the greatest concentration of distilleries.

Depending where you draw the boundary, there is between a third and a half of Scotland's malt distilleries here, including some of the world's best loved names, as well as some you may not have heard of.

With classic names such as Glenfiddich, The Macallan, Aberlour and The Glenlivet, and an official Whisky Trail of its own, it is up to visitors to choose their path.

But it is safe to say that if you are driving around Speyside you will be hard pressed to miss a distillery. Come round a corner, admire the beauty of the River Spey and there you go, another distillery.

Perhaps one of the best places to start is Glenfiddich distillery on the outskirts of Dufftown. Glenfiddich is one of the world's best selling single malts and was the first to offer distillery tours. Today the scale of the distillery is matched by the number of people who flow through the doors.

The distillery offers s...

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• By : Rob Allanson
• In : Drinks
• Issue : 41
• Page : 68
• Words : 1,067