Let’s embark on an island whisky voyage, a journey through the Scottish Isles. Officially, the Islands is part of the Highlands instead of being its own whisky region, although many like to separate the islands as a region in its own right, especially with all the new distilleries popping up, from Raasay to Orkney, even the Isle of Tiree. The Islands cover all the whisky-producing islands except Islay, which is a separate whisky region altogether. Each island has its own flavour profile, and anything from sweet and fruity to heavily peated is possible.
Scotland is divided into five different whisky regions: Speyside, Lowlands, Highlands & Islands, Campbeltown, and Islay. These regions work as good indicators of the specific styles of various distilleries, although these days many distillers experiment with various cask types and regularly create limited-edition bottlings that won’t necessarily match the typical flavour profile of the region. These regional profiles are simply guidelines, not regulations.
Island Whisky
Isle of Arran
Arran is the home of two very different, independently owned distilleries, Lochranza and Lagg. Lochranza is nestled amongst the peaks of the north and Lagg Distillery is located at the southern tip of the island overlooking the iconic Ailsa Craig.
The Highland–Lowland boundary fault line goes through the middle of the island, which means that Lagg is a Lowland distillery while Lochranza makes Highland whisky. However, Lagg is not your typical, traditional Lowland spirit, which tends to be light, floral and malty. Lagg whisky is rich, earthy and heavily peated (50ppm).
The barley used for Lagg is dried with peat smoke, but the distillery does not use peat from Arran. Arran is in the final stages of receiving UNESCO heritage recognition and therefore the land is protected.
For a small portion of the year, the distillery makes new make spirit with barley grown close to the distillery. There will be some interesting releasing coming from Lagg in due course. Last year it was peated to mighty 135ppm. For contrast the two previous experiments included a 90ppm new make and unpeated. It will be interesting to see how these will evolve in their casks.
Try: Lagg Single Malt Corriecravie Edition, 55% ABV. The Corriecravie Edition is aged in ex-bourbon barrels, followed by about a six-month finish in Oloroso sherry hogsheads. Expect sweet, spiced berries, rich, dark chocolate and nuttiness.
Arran single malt from the Lochranza Distillery, on the other hand, is fruity, malty, creamy and unpeated. Their 10-year-old core release is regularly winning awards, and it is no surprise as it is an excellent whisky with creamy mouthfeel. Priced around £39, you really can’t compete with that.
Lochranza has released some peated expressions in the past but have now stopped peated whisky production altogether. Some odd casks may still be found from the warehouse, however.
The distillery is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.
Try: Arran Amarone Cask, 50% ABV, full of delicious, sweet red berries, Turkish delight and dark chocolate.
Isle of Jura
Jura has one distillery named after the island itself. Its whiskies are malty and spiced with ripe stone fruits and subtle coastal elements. Although the distillery is very close to Islay, its whiskies are very different from their medicinal, peaty powerhouses. Jura Distillery plays around with peated spirit and sometimes blends together both peated and unpeated spirits, but it is by no means similar to Islay smoke.
Jura whiskies split opinions. Many whisky enthusiasts find their core range a bit dull, and being bottled at 40% ABV doesn’t help. However, their older releases as well as expressions by independent bottlers are rated much higher.
Try: Jura 13yo Two-One-Two, 47.5% ABV, 13-Year-Old matured in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels and finished in Chinkapin oak. Expect lemon cake on the nose, and treacle, cooked orchard fruits and nuttiness on the palate.
Isle of Skye
Talisker started production back in 1830 and it remained the only distillery on the island until January 2017, when Torabhaig began whisky making. Both distilleries produce robust, peated maritime whisky. Talisker offers peppery spiciness, smoke and some fruitiness for balance. Each one of its whiskies has the same baseline but they either elevate the flavours (Storm), soften them slightly (Skye) or round up the sweeter elements (Port Ruighe & Distillers Edition).
Torabhaig is still a young whisky, but each release boasts big, bold flavours and plenty of smoke. Torabhaig whiskies are slightly brinier with more tar on the palate compared to Talisker.
Try: Torabhaig Allt Gleann Batch Strength, 61.1% ABV. It has an aroma of vanilla, bonfire embers and heather honey. The rich palate offers salty peat, citrus oils, vanilla biscuits and a mix of fruits.
Isle of Raasay
Raasay Distillery’s core release brought something new to the whisky market. They distil both peated and non-peated whiskies, which are matured separately in three types of casks: 1st-fill rye whiskey, virgin Chinkapin oak, and 1st-fill Bordeaux red wine. After maturation, spirits from these six casks are blended to create their signature malt.
The inspiration came from the older styles of Hebridean single malts, styles that had been lost over the centuries. The Isle of Raasay signature flavour profile is a lightly peated whisky with noticeable notes of rich dark fruit.
They have since released 5-Year-Old Na Sia single-cask expressions to showcase the unique flavours of each signature cask. The distillery will release the series every two years to demonstrate how the whisky evolves through the years. The single cask releases elevate the dark berry notes and butterscotch sweetness, and some peated releases are rich with sticky barbecue notes.
Try: Raasay Colombian Oak, 50.7% ABV. This could have been a Campbeltown whisky, as it is full of funk, rich sweet notes, dark berries, and light smoke. The Raasay Oak Species Maturation Series will experiment with individual species of oak. The first of the series certainly is a banger!
Isle of Harris
The Hearach is the first whisky from the Isle of Harris since the tradition was lost during the island clearances in the 1840s. The oceanic climate benefits from the warm currents of the Gulf Stream, keeping the seasonal temperatures stable, ideal for whisky maturation. And of course, the casks will get to breathe the salty air from the Atlantic.
Their core whisky is made using a marriage of whisky from three types of casks: ex-bourbon casks from Heaven Hill Distillery (21%) and Buffalo Trace (64%), ex-Oloroso (11%) and ex-Fino sherry butts (4%).
It’s a lively and light whisky with a lot going on, especially on the nose. First you get a more zesty, crisp aroma, followed by sweetness, which then turns into something floral. No smoke on the nose, but on the palate, it comes through at the beginning, transforming into a saltier note. There’s also sweetness of tablet, orchard fruits and orange. Notes varies slightly from batch to batch.
Try: The Hearach Oloroso Cask, 46% ABV. Aged in first-fill Oloroso sherry, this single malt offers winter spices, orange peel and aromatic herbs on the nose, vanilla, wood smoke, dried herbs and other spices on the palate.
Isle of Tiree
The Isle of Tiree Distillery have just released its first ever whisky, which sold out in 12 minutes! It is distilled over direct flame in small copper pot stills and matured less than 100 metres from the North Atlantic Ocean in American oak ex-bourbon barrels and a 50L virgin oak cask, before spending a further two years in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks. The nose is sweet with vanilla, toffee and some honey. The palate is said to be lively, slightly oily with savoury spices, a hint of caramel, orchard fruits and citrus zest.
They will also be releasing a single grain whisky (mainly rye) later on this summer.
Isle of Mull
Mull is the home of Tobermory Distillery, which makes two whisky styles, the unpeated Tobermory and peated Ledaig. Tobermory single malt is known for its bright, fruity notes with hints of citrus, oak, subtle sweetness and salty character. It reflects the lively town, focusing on the fresh, vibrant energy of Mull’s natural beauty. Tobermory spirit works wonders in various sherry casks.
Ledaig is influenced by the rugged coastline and topography of the island. It is a bolder whisky with a rich, smoky flavour with earthy undertones. Some Tobermory Distillery whiskies can be pretty sweet, especially the distillery exclusives that tends to be chocolatey, candied and creamy.
Try: Ledaig Rioja Cask Finish – Sinclair Series, 46.3% ABV. A great value whisky with notes of Turkish delight, orange peel, cinnamon and dark chocolate. Raspberries, almonds, grassy peat and salted caramel on the palate.
Orkney Islands
Orkney is better known for Highland Park and Scapa distilleries but there is a new whisky distillery waiting for its first whisky to reach the preferred age. The Orkney Distillery started by making their Kirkjuvagr gin range, but they have now filled their first whisky casks in March last year.
Highland Park is all about peat and sherry casks. Due to the merciless winds, hardly any trees survive on the island, so the peat is woodless. It is dense and heathery, creating a sweet and floral aroma. Other notes include heather, honey, winter spices and salty smoke.
Scapa is unpeated with a much fruitier flavour profile. You can expect tropical fruits (pineapple, mango, banana, coconut) and other sweet notes such as pancakes, custard and caramel.
Try: Scapa 10-Year-Old, 48% ABV, matured in American oak barrels. This is a tropical delight with a nice weighty mouthfeel. Beautiful, new bottle design.
Overall
The Islands is a growing whisky region. The Scottish Isles offer many styles of whisky, and it deserves its own spotlight. Especially these days with so much whisky being available from both the Highlands and the Islands. Perhaps it is time to officially separate them.
It will be interesting to see how the younger island distilleries will evolve over time. The quality of whisky coming from these distilleries is already excellent. They are all doing their own thing, offering unique and intriguing flavour profiles, and giving the older, more established distilleries a run for their money. There are a few more distilleries in the islands waiting for their single malt to reach the desired age. It is worth keeping an eye out for the new island whisky from the Shetlands and Isle of Barra.
Let’s just hope these distilleries can survive the current economic instabilities with rising costs, troublesome exports, and the risk of overproduction. Many have concerns of another whisky loch creeping in. The whisky industry (and Britain in general) was in a lot of trouble back in the mid-1980s and in the end saw several distilleries closing their doors for good. The term “whisky loch” alludes to the enormous amount of whisky that was accessible at the time; as a result, some stock from the silent distilleries is still available today.
It does seem like a number of distilleries are doing better than others. While we read about employment cuts and longer silent seasons, a handful of distilleries are investing in new premises and huge marketing campaigns. Time will tell, I suppose…
Do you have a favourite island whisky? Which Scottish Islands have you been to?
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