ALL ALONG SPEYSIDE
JUNE 16, 2024
dalwhinnie distillery
Dalwhinnie, on the eastern border of Cairngorms National Park, has the dubious distinction of being one of the coldest villages in the UK. It’s also home to Diageo’s Dalwhinnie Distillery, founded in 1897. Highlighted by a beautiful backdrop, a stop here makes for not only a great photo and shopping op but a chance to learn a bit about the history and lore behind the worm tub!
A tasting reveals Dalwhinnie’s signature light peat flavor and notes of heather and cut grass, and just how beautifully the distillery’s single malts pair with local Scottish chocolate. Last but not least, Dalwhinnie makes for an especially scenic gateway to the proper Speyside whisky region which officially begins just to the north.
the cairn distillery
Owned by legendary bottlers Gordon & MacPhail, this modern distillery, just opened in 2022, is beautifully situated near both the Cairngorm Mountains and the River Spey. With its ultra-contemporary turf-roofed architecture – built to gradually blend into the surrounding landscape – “The Cairn” stands in stark visual contrast to the company’s traditional 19th-century distillery, Benromach. while its reforestation projects are intended to encourage the growth of native species around the distillery.
Gordon & MacPhail themselves have been a major force in the whisky business for over 125 years and today are considered Scotland’s premier bottlers. The blended malts from their own collections poured at The Cairn – a 12, 18, 25, 30, 57 and the world’s most ancient blended malt – a 70-year-old – are incentive enough for a visit. The Cairn will offer its own bottlings in the 2030’s but the new distillery has already made a name for itself within the Scotch Whisky world.
the glenallachie
A relative newcomer, The GlenAllachie was built in 1967 and made its first production run as a primarily gravity-fed distillery in early ’68. It was mothballed in 1985 after a corporate takeover, but new ownership resulted in its resurrection in 1989. After 29 years of uninterrupted production (primarily for blends), it was then acquired in 2017 by a group called GlenAllachie Distiller’s Company Limited, which included whisky legend and former Benriach MD Billy Walker, who was recently inducted into the prestigious Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame. GlenAllachie was at this point “relaunched” as a distillery identified by its fruity single malts.
Today it’s one of Scotland’s few independently owned and managed distilleries, boasting 16 onsite warehouses holding over 50,000 casks, many dating to the 70’s. Its Visitor Centre was named Visitor Attraction of the Year in 2022 by Whisky Magazine.
elgin
The largest town in the Speyside area, Elgin has a rich history, boasting as it does an ancient castle and the stunning ruins of a grand cathedral, a landmark once referred to as the “lantern of the north.”
Here history buffs can also visit a battlefield made famous by the participation of a certain tragic, real-life Scottish character immortalized by Shakespeare. Not surprisingly though, as one of Speyside’s whisky meccas, Elgin is also home to two distilleries and surrounded on all sides by dozens of others. Being the home base for the famed independent bottler and distiller Gordon & MacPhail further ensures the town’s status as a global capital of malts.
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