WORDS
Chris Madigan
Robert Burns was a Sassenach. There, it’s been said. The thing is that a Sassenach is not an Englishman, but literally a Lowlander – and Burns was assuredly that. No Highlander, he, but a son of Ayrshire farming land. So, it only seems right that we should toast the poet’s day, or rather his night, with whiskies from the southern part of Scotland.
Compared to Speyside or Islay malts, or even the cult whiskies of Campbeltown, Lowland is a region that gets very little love. Descriptions of the general style are often characterised by damnation with faint praise: “light”, “floral”, “grassy”, “gentle”, even “best suited to pre-dinner drinking” as if it were gin.
This is unfair. Yes, Lowland whiskies can be “elegant” – a word that is often a euphemism – but they can also be packed with subtle complexity and unexpected flavour notes. What’s more, a wave of new and revived distilleries is adding variety to the offering…
Lochlea
On Burns Night, there is no more suitable whisky than Lochlea. Between his late teens and early 20s, Rabbie worked as a ploughman on the very farm where this whisky is now produced. Lochlea is one of that new wave of distilleries, having filled its first cask in 2018. The core expression, Our Barley (46% ABV, £45.50, non-age-statement), is a bald statement of what they do – owners Neil and Jen McGeoch returned what had become a livestock and dairy farm to arable land and distil their own barley (as well as building the distillery and warehouses in former pig pens and cow sheds). Combining two washes with differing fermentation times (a relatively short 66 hours and a very long 116 hours) results, respectively, in strong cereal notes and bright fruity notes that complement each other beautifully.
In addition to limited-edition seasonal releases, and a series of cask-strength bottlings, Lochlea is unveiling a new whisky on Burns Eve, the 24th, just in time to inspire your rendition of the Address to a Haggis. Lochlea 6-Year-Old (50% ABV, 2,500 bottles, £90) is the first release created by new master blender Jill Boyd, who made her reputation at independent blending and bottling house Compass Box. Her debut is a vatting of three Oloroso casks and a trio of bourbon barrels. The sherry cask is most noticeable on the nose – some red fruit, figs and dates, and sticky ginger cake. On the palate, it’s all bourbon-influenced creamy vanilla, morphing into malt biscuits and the signature cereal and citrus fruit on the finish.
lochleadistillery.com/stockists
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Rosebank
Until its closure in 1993, this Falkirk distillery was known as the King of the Lowlands – the epitome of the elegant style, with fruit and floral notes to the fore – albeit the use of a worm tub condenser makes the spirit heavier, not that damning description, “light”. Though its closure was mourned, it did raise Rosebank to the exalted cult status of “ghost distillery”.
Until now, that is… Ian Macleod Distillers (Tamdhu, Glengoyne, Smokehead) acquired the rights to the name (and the old stock) and last year opened a new distillery on the site. As the rebuild unfolded, limited amounts of old stock have been released, the pick of which is probably Rosebank 32yo Release 3 2023 edition (47.6% ABV, £2,100, from thewhiskyexchange.com). ‘The distillery was mothballed in 1993, so this was one of the last drops to be made before it shut its doors. This beautiful dram is full of mellow orchard fruits, peach blossom and some candied pineapple,’ explains Dawn Davies, head buyer of The Whisky Exchange.
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Bladnoch
This is not a misspelling of the Tory leader’s own-brand whisky (hey, if Trump can release a meme coin…), but Scotland’s most southerly distillery, near Newton Stewart in Galloway – it’s actually south of both Carlisle and Newcastle. Like Rosebank, it’s a distillery revived after a 1993 closure. The current rebirth is the second attempt to reanimate Bladnoch after a brief revival from 2000 to 2009, before it was mothballed until production restarted in 2017 under an Australian yoghurt entrepreneur. The whisky is now produced under the guidance of master distiller Dr Nick Savage, who was poached from The Macallan.
From the non-age-statement whiskies produced since the latest reset, the picks are Bladnoch Vinaya (46.7% ABV, £50), matured in a combination of first-fill bourbon and sherry casks, to create a classic Lowland whisky with aromas of fresh apple, sweet floral grass and hints of chocolate; and Bladnoch Alinta (47% ABV, £75), a rather more unusual peated single malt. Maturation in Pedro Ximénez sherry and ex-bourbon casks makes it deliciously sweet and smoky, and is probably the pick of the whiskies mentioned here to pair with an earthy, peppery haggis.
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Holyrood
When Holyrood Distillery opened in 2019 in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat, it was the first whisky distillery in central Edinburgh for over 90 years. Dawn Davies says, ‘Holyrood is all about breaking the norm. It loves experimenting with flavour from different yeasts up to barrel combos… there is nothing standard about these whiskies.’
Holyrood Embra Single Malt (43.6% ABV, £64.95, from thewhiskyexchange.com) is its first smoky whisky. ‘Part of its ageing is done in Islay whisky casks,’ Davies explains. ‘A gentle touch of smoke with lovely fresh apple and mint aromas.’
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Lindores
The northernmost of the Lowland distilleries (it’s in Fife, but only just south of the river Tay), Lindores is another newcomer, opening in 2017. It is located on the site of the old Lindores Abbey, founded by the “grey monks” from Thiron-Gardais in the Loire, who are often credited with introducing distillation to Scotland. ‘Some say it is the birthplace of whisky in Scotland,’ says Davies. In tribute to those monks, Lindores has an expression named after their original home, Lindores Thiron (49.4% ABV, £59.95, from thewhiskyexchange.com). Davies says, ‘It is aged in French oak from forests in the Thiron region. It has a lovely backbone of orchard fruits with a spicy note from that wood.’
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