British Travel Journal | Summer 2019

In search of
SCOTCH
WHISKY
Over four million visitors a year beat a path to Scotland's
distilleries for an authentic taste of the country
Words | Adrian Mourby
THERE ARE MANY REASONS to visit Scotland,
but its whisky industry is by far one of the best.
Unlike many major manufacturing sites, the
average Scottish distillery is almost always located
in the countryside. Because they draw their water from the
purest springs and streams, whisky-makers tend to work in
clean, unsullied rural locations. And most of these tend to be
picturesque.
Often you’ll find the famous drink being distilled inside
idiosyncratic old buildings that have evolved over time, many
of them with distinctive pagoda-like wooden rooves. Step
inside and you’ll invariably be met with a cocktail of highly
distinctive smells: old wood, grain, yeast and spirit. You’re also
likely to be met by an enthusiastic team who love sharing their
commitment to Scotland’s uisge beatha (the Celtic words for
water of life).
The whisky industry is thriving today – with the result
that the names of lots of tiny Scottish villages are famous all
round the world – so it can be hard to believe that in the 1980s
“Scotch” was verging on the unfashionable.
A drink that had evolved over centuries had become the
tipple for old men and many distilleries were on the brink of
closure. The reasons for whisky’s subsequent recovery are many
and complex. Clever marketing, astute management and
increasing affluence in the east may have had something to do
with it but the resurgence within a generation is extraordinary.
Today whisky is not just one of Scotland’s major exports, but
one of the reasons people from all over the world come to visit.
Uisge beatha began in feudal times as a crofter’s spirit
brewed and sold locally and used to provide a powerful
kick-start to the day. Not diluted as it is today (to around
40% alcohol) this original “water of life” probably actually
shortened life expectancy. Invigoration or anaesthesia against
the cold Scottish mornings was probably the main benefit of
whisky in those early days.
In the nineteenth century however the first enterprising
Scots merchants began buying up raw local whiskies and
blending them to create a predictable – and enjoyable – taste in
every bottle.
The rapid improvement in the quality of blended whiskies
like Johnnie Walker, Famous Grouse and Dewar’s had the
knock-on effect of encouraging individual distilleries to improve
the quality of their own single (unblended) malts.
These days, although there are still great blended whiskies
out there, it is the single malts that sell for thousands of pounds
at auction and it is the individual distilleries that attract
pilgrims from all over the world who come just to pay homage
to the home of their favourite dram.
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Just as French wines rely on the individual terroir where the
grapes are produced, so Scots whisky is an embodiment of the
landscape over which the water flows before going into each à
© VisitScotland / Peter Dibdin
42 BritishTravelJournal.com