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Photo used under Wikimedia Licence |
Quite often I find that most people have no way of knowing what to expect from a bottle and, if they have had a few whiskies in the past, will only know how they place those in their own mind in isolation, unaware of their place in the grand scheme of things.
The secret is that - like wine - the whisky producing regions of Scotland do have a general style which can be as significant and pronounced as those between Beaujolais and Rhone.
There are 6 defined producing areas in Scotland and they do vary in the style of whisky that they create - some are just minor differences, but in other cases the stylistic difference can be staggering.
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Photo by Bob Freund used under CCL |
Notable distilleries: Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie
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Photo by Michel Guilly used under creative commons licence |
Notable distilleries: Glenmorangie, Oban, Old Pulteney and Dalwhinnie
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Photo byYves Cosentino under CCL |
Notable distilleries: Balvenie, Glenfarclas, The Glenlivet and The Macallan
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Photo by dtietze1 used under CCL |
Notable distilleries: Springbank and Glen Scotia
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Photo by helen_1977 used under CCL |
However, each distillery has a slightly different style, for example Bruichladdich's standard whisky soft, rounded and lighter, while still peat based, whereas Ardbeg is full-on, robust, angry, aggresive, in your face, over the top, mental smoke and peat.
Some of the distilleries (Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain) produce a lighter, less peaty style though, for those looking for just a touch of the smoke.
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Photo by Tamara Poaljnar used under CCL |
Islands: The Islands are a largely regarded as a sub-region of the Highlands, however there is a wealth of interesting and different distilleries here - I and others feel that it is worthy of it's own categorisation.
Like the rest of the Highlands it can at times be hard to categorise this region, as the different distilleries do vary greatly with their location and proximity to the sea. The whiskies do often have a light peat character with sea notes in the form of salt and seaweed.
There are lots of wonderful whiskies from this region and they do really cover the spectrum from the light and elegant to the heavier and more complex tipples.
Notable distilleries: Highland Park, Talisker and Jura
Whilst these generalities are just that, generalities, they can be helpful when faced with a wall of bottles at your local whisky emporium.
If you are looking for gifts, or just to expand you own collection, then a nice thing to try is another whisky from the same region. It can be really interesting to try more and more that do have stylistic similarities, but then tasting the vastly different characters that they impart by result of the distillery location, age in cask, the type of cask, bottling strength and so on it is a wonderful adventure... and a that's what it's all about.
I'm looking for a lighter, less peaty whisky - think I'll try the lowlands and the islands! Thanks, Hugo!
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