Drink

Why I Choose Balblair

Of all the distilleries around the North Coast 500, Balblair is the one I most often recommend. Yet its whisky is not among my favourites. So why do I keep taking guests there? Because choosing a distillery is about far more than choosing a dram.

A Highland distiller crouches beside a concealed copper still and cooling tub while an excise officer approaches along a hillside track.

The Distiller and the Gauger: whisky beyond the law

Illegal stills, prison sentences and neighbours watching the road: Highland whisky-making is a serious business, even when a quick-thinking hostess leaves the gauger struggling to get his answer.

Rows of weathered wooden whisky casks with rusty metal hoops lie on their sides in an outdoor yard bordered by a stone wall and leafy trees.

The origins of Scotch whisky?

The fish need barrels. The distillers need somewhere to hide their drink. Could the herring boom have helped Highland whisky acquire a taste worth waiting for?