| Scotland's timeless tipple |
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| Written by Carolle Doyle, 2006 | |
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There are as many varieties of whisky as days in the year, from peaty and spicy to honeyed and mellow. Carolle Doyle travels north of the border to sample a wee dram and learn about the history of scotch.
On a still day the air over Glenmorangie whisky distillery is heavy with the aroma of vaporised spirit that rises from the oak barrels lying in its cellars. This vapour, so they say, is the angels’ share of the amber liquid that we know as scotch. There are other whisky distilleries in other parts of the world but only here, in the lowlands, highlands and islands of Scotland can it be called scotch. There is still an air of gentlemen’s clubs, of pipe tobacco and of hip flasks out on the moors about scotch. It is a man’s drink just as fly-fishing and grouse shooting are predominantly men’s sports. Of all the spirits, scotch is least deserving of its wholly masculine image. There are more flavours and there is more subtlety in Scotland’s array of single malt whiskies than you will ever find in gin or vodka. A connoisseur of the amber liquid will take a glass of Caol Ila and say that its aroma of smoke and spice has the whiff of the sea about it. How not, when Caol Ila, which was founded in 1879, lies in a remote cove on the Isle of Islay. Single malt whiskies from the island distilleries of Islay and Jura all possess the same distinctive qualities but none more so than Laphroaig, a single malt that, some would say, reeks of peat because the barley is dried with peat fires. It has more than a hint of iodine from the sea, for on a stormy day the Atlantic swirls around the barrels in the maturing sheds next to the sea.  The Glenlivet is known throughout the world. This remote distillery takes water from the river Livet in the Highlands. Go to the Craigellachie Hotel if you can – it stocks some 365 whiskies in its bar. The whole array of Scottish whisky will be laid out before you, from the 13 island brands to the three lowland distilleries of Auchentoshan, Glenkinchie and Bladnoch and all the many Highland distilleries including Craigellachie itself, of course, which lies on the river Spey. Speyside is, without doubt, the very heartland of scotch, with more than 50 distilleries clustered along its banks and beside the burns that feed it. There is no finer place to spend a weekend than on the banks of this, one of Scotland’s great salmon rivers. Many of the distilleries welcome visitors; some provide tours and many have special visitors’ centres that give the history of whisky and how it is made together with gift shops and restaurants – everything you need for a grand day out. Go to Strathisla, the oldest distillery in the highlands, founded in 1786. It lies on the banks of the River Isla, which chatters its way through the little town of Keith. With its twin pagoda hatted roof and water wheel, it is one of the prettiest distilleries to be found in all the length and breadth of the highlands. The air is thick with the smell of yeast as the great vats of malted barley seethe and bubble. The barley that is steeping in the vats has first been malted by soaking the grain in water until it swells and sprouts and then dried in a peat-fired kiln. The grains are then milled into a coarse flour that is mixed with water from Broomhill Spring. The heated mash is drained and the liquid, the “wort”, is mixed with yeast. If the aroma and the sight of the bubbling liquid reminds you of beer then don’t be surprised because both begin in the same way. In whisky-making the fermented liquid is pumped into the still room at the very heart of the distillery. Here, crammed together, you will find long-necked pot stills made of copper. It is a sight that everyone should see at least once for it is sharply reminiscent of alchemy, the art of turning stone to gold, only in this case grain is being transformed into golden liquor. Strathisla does, in fact, possess an alchemist in the form of Colin Scott, a master blender who turns the raw spirit into one of the finest malts in the country. Colin takes barrels of single malt not only from Strathisla but from several other distilleries and blends them together to make Chivas Regal. It is as smooth as silk to the tongue and its flavour lingers in the mouth. The barrels, from which Chivas Regal and Strathisla’s own single malt are drawn, lie quietly ageing in a mixture of American ex-bourbon barrels and European sherry casks. The wood imparts its own flavours to the complex blend of honeyed fruits and spicy character of Strathisla 12-year-old malt. No wonder angels are said to fly overhead to take their share. History of scotchIts history is legendary for, so the story goes, an Irish giant took a prodigious leap and landed in Scotland carrying a cask of uisge beatha, the water of life that we know as whisky, on his back. It was Irish monks who brought whisky to Scotland at the cusp of the Dark and Middle Ages. Pic credit: visitscotlands/scottish viewpoint. As in many things Scottish, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert did a great deal to popularise scotch south of the border – they both enjoyed a nip. There is no doubt that throughout its history scotch was of a very variable quality. Then in the middle of the 19th century John Dewar and Arthur Bell, two rival wine and spirit merchants, discovered that by blending several single malt whiskies together they could produce scotch that had a distinct taste that could be maintained year after year. The complex world of the whisky blender had just been created. The two world wars almost ended Scotland’s whisky production as barley was needed for food and all production was stopped. Such is the world’s love of this amber spirit that it fought back, many distilleries were restored in the 1960s and whisky’s popularity has grown ever since. Marriages made in heaven Whisky is just as much a part of Burns Night, celebrated 25 January, as the haggis that is piped into the dining room to be addressed as “Great chieftain o’ the pudding race” in Burns’ mock epic poem. It is unthinkable not to toast the haggis (and one another) in whisky – there is simply no other drink for this occasion. The dryness of haggis is countered by dousing it in a libation of whisky. A far better use for whisky is to make that heavenly syllabub, Athol Brose, where the spirit is part of a trinity of flavours together with oatmeal and heather honey. It is, without doubt, one of Scotland’s most historic recipes: it was served to Robert the Bruce. Cranachan is equally famous – this lovely dessert is served at weddings and harvest homes, Burns suppers and New Year’s Eve celebrations. It is also one of the simplest puddings to make: toasted oatmeal is folded into whipped cream, heather honey and whisky. This mixture is then layered with fresh Scottish raspberries and topped with more cream to make an ambrosial desert. Distilleries to visitSpeyside: Strathisla, Keith, Banffshire, tel: 01542 783044North Highlands: Glenmorangie, Tain, Ross-shire, tel: 01862 892477 Central Highlands: Blair Athol, Pitlochry, Perthshire, tel: 01796 482003 Lowlands: Glenkinchie, Pencaitland, Tranent, East Lothian, tel: 01875 342004 Isle of Islay: Laphroig, Port Ellen, Islay, Argyll, tel: 01496 302418 To find out more about visiting Scotland to request a free brochure, call 0845 22 55 121 or visit www.visitscotland.com |
