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  |  News & views   |  World food  |  The easy iVillage guide to Scottish single malts
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The easy iVillage guide to Scottish single malts

by Nancy Campbell
continued from page 1

1. The Highlands
The largest and most famous whisky region, the Highlands, produces some of the best-known single malts. Speyside, the Highland area between Inverness and Aberdeen, is noted particularly for producing more honeyed, fragrant whiskies, so if you?re new to single malts, this is a good place to start.

  • Glenlivet (around £21 for 70ml bottle of 12-year-old, sold in most supermarkets and off licences) is one of the best selling Speyside single malts and is a great way to get a taste of the region. Glenlivet is characterised by a sweet, almost floral flavour, which makes it gentler on the beginner's palate.
  • Glenfiddich (around £22 for 70ml bottle of 12 year-old, sold in most supermarkets and off licences) has a richer, fruitier flavour, making it an excellent after dinner drink.

    2. The lowlands
    This region produces fewer whiskies than the other two. As with all great single malts, the whisky reflects the region, and the Lowlands are far less romantically dramatic than the Highlands, so the drink is milder and more approachable. The lowland whiskies are soft and grassy, so work well as aperitifs.

  • Glenkinchie (around £25 for 70ml bottle of 10-year-old, sold in most supermarkets and off licences) the self-proclaimed 'Edinburgh Malt', is a lovely spicy, lemony whisky with a soft, rounded structure. This would be a great place to start for people who are afraid of whisky's reputation as a 'hard' drink.

    3. The Islands
    The Island region is responsible for some of the most distinctive whiskies, combining the strong, smoky peat with an almost medicinal seaweed taste. It might be a good idea to work your way up through some of the Highland and Lowland whiskies before moving on to these dramatic flavours. Two of the main Island areas are Islay and Campbeltown, if you want to get a real taste for the Islands; here are a couple of famous names that characterise the region.

  • Laphroaig (around £23 for 70ml bottle of 10 year-old, sold in most supermarkets and off licences), an Islay whisky, is an extraordinary drink and, if you grow to love it, it makes the perfect nightcap. Taste this whisky with your eyes closed and you can imagine yourself on to the ragged and wild island it comes from. It has a strong seaweed and smoky, iodine-like flavour. While some people love it, others find it too medicinal, so be warned.
  • Lagavulin (around £35 for 70ml bottle of 16-year-old, sold in most supermarkets and off licences), another famous single malt from Islay is more approachable than Laphroaig, while expressing the same smoky, dry flavours it has a fruitier, almost orange flavoured undercurrent. Again, this is an excellent nightcap or after dinner digestif.

    If this has whetted your appetite for single malts, find out more by visiting the www.scotchwhisky.net/malt/.

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