The world 's greatest whisky-making region, in the number of its distilleries and the diverse palates of their products, lies between Loch Ness, the Grampian Mountains and the North Sea. The mountains water this region with rivers like the Findhorn, the Lossie, the Spey and the Devvron. The water often rises in granite and flows over peat to impart certain smokiness. Some of the region's classics also speak eloquently of maturation in sherry wood, giving an elegant complexity.

BALMENACH                   12 year old 43%   

Deep amber colour with bronze highlights. Complex, full-bodied nose, rich sherry with heather honey, medium-sweetness and a nutty note. Full-bodied, sherry nose with a note of nuttiness and distinct vanilla tone. Long nutty finish with a hint of tannin.

BENRINNES                  15 year old 43%   

Amber colour with gold highlights. Fresh, medium bodied nose with biscuity-yeast, vanilla and floral notes. Round, medium-sweet honeyed flavour with a biscuity and honeyed finish.

CRAGGANMORE                   12 year old 40%   

Amber colour with pale gold highlight and, a clean, medium-dry nose with a light-green touch.. Well-rounded flavour with a hint of spice and a smoky maltiness on the finish.

DALLAS DHU   1979 20 year old 40%   

Medium pale straw colour with yellow gold highlights. Full bodied nose with an apple mustiness, perhaps a little green and unripe. Ripe, rich wood flavour with hints of oak oil and long chewy, slightly spicy finish. A rare opportunity to sample the dwindling stocks of this now closed distillery. It is now a museum, open to the public.

DAILUAINE            16 year old 43%

Deep amber colour with bronze highlights with a sherry nose showing some oaky character. Medium-dry, full-bodied flavour with a touch of tannin. Slightly peaty finish, long and smooth.

DUFFTOWN            15 year old 43%

Pale amber colour with lemon highlights. Rich, fruity nose, slightly floral and medium sweet.  Rich fresh, slightly peated flavour with a slight sweetness which lasts through the long slightly smoky finish.

GLENDULLAN      12 year old 43%

Pale straw colour with green and lemon highlights. Full nose with hints of green apples and cereals, slightly peaty and spirity. The greenness lasts through to the flavour, which is rich and set, medium dry with hints of oak and vanilla. Long smooth oaky finish with smoke in the tail.

GLENFARCLAS     10 year old 40%

Straw coloured with good gold highlights, a rubbery but delicately light and sweet, leafy-oak nose with a slight tang of coffee. The flavour is sweet, malty, full rich and round with slightly spicy long and characterful finish.

GLENFIDDICH Special Reserve NAS 40%                                                                           

The world’s largest selling malt whisky is one of only two bottled at the distillery It is the only Highland Malt to use a single spring water source for all processes. It has a straw-gold colour and light soapy and delicately peated nose with hints of cooked mash. The gentle flavour is sweet, light and well balanced with a sweet, medium length finish.

GLENKEITH                         10 Year Old 43%                                                                                   

The first distillery to be founded in Scotland in the twentieth century (1957)it was originally designed for triple distillation. Pale amber with lemon highlights, a medium bodied nose with firm peat and soft rich lanolin. A rich and creamy, soft oak flavour with a slight toffee touch to the finish,.

INCHGOWER                         14 year old 43%               

Rich straw colour with lemon highlights. Medium sweet, fairly rich nose with hints of vanilla and a background greenness. The flavour is medium sweet and creamy with a lasting greenness and a vanilla note. Long clean finish with a coffee note on the tail

MANNOCHMORE                        12 year old 43%                                                                         

Very pale gold with a lemon tinge, the colour belies the full nose, lightly peated, medium dry with a yeasty note. The flavour is fresh, clean and aromatic if, perhaps with a memory of the mash tun. The long-lasting finish is similarly light and clean with a coffee note.

MORTLACH             16year old 43%                                                                                 

Deep amber colour with gold highlights and a full-bodied nose, dark, nutty and gently peated. The flavour is big, smooth and round with dark nutty vanilla notes. A long finish full of sherry cask flavour, smooth and dark with a hint of lingering nuttiness.

PITTYVAICH                        12 year old 43%               

Not often seen now, since the distillery closed in 1993, this twelve-year-old has an amber colour with pale gold highlights. Big round nose reminiscent of damp oak, very full and malty with spice and peper notes. The flavour is fairly full-bodied with a touch of tannin and a long chewy finish.

SPEYMALT                           1990 40%   

A special bottling by Gordon & McPhail of single malt from the Macallan Distillery. Rich amber colour with a slightly smoky nose and fruity, red apple notes. Light in body with a creamy sweet palate becoming dry and a lingering dry finish.

STRATHISLA                     12 years old 43%   

It is said the Broomhill Spring, which supplies the water for Strathisla is visited nightly by kelpies and it is this that gives the whisky its special flavour. The colour is mid-amber with yellow highlights. The nose has a dark hazelnut character with a delicate burnt peatiness behind. Medium dry with a nuttiness and hint of dark oaky tannins it has a medium finish with hints of hazelnut.

TAMDHU                              No age statement 40%   

Tamdhu distillery was one of several to be built along the Strathspey Railway Line. Straw amber colour with yellow highlights. It is light, sweet with hints of marshmallow on the nose Medium sweet, light flavour, biscuity smooth with a pleasant toasted finish.

TAMNAVULLIN                 12 years old 40%   

One of the modern Glenlivet distilleries, mothballed in 1995. Straw colour with light sweet nose. Mature, sweet light and gently oaky flavour with a long, easy and slightly spicy finish.

SPEYBURN                           10 Year Old 40%           

Colour very pale straw with lemon highlights. Fresh, clean and aromatic nose with a rich lemony fruitiness. Fresh, clean, rich and medium sweet flavour, quite full bodied with a long sweet finish betraying a touch of spice.

THE GLENLIVET                         12 Years Old 40%

George Smith, assisted and succeeded by his son, John Gordon Smith, founded Scotland’s first licensed distillery. In 1880, the sole rights to the name were established in court. The whisky itself has a leafy, slightly malty and very fragrant nose. An elegant and complex flavour with a slight hint of sweetness and a finish of a good length.

THE MACALLAN                         10 Years Old 40%

Matured only in oak sherry casks purchased annually and kept full of specially selected sherries in Spain for ten years. This results partly in the rich golden colour and partly in the full-bodied nose. The flavour however is of caramel tablet and the finish short and sweet.