THERE'S nothing quite so Scottish as sitting with a plate of homemade shortbread (having just finished your haggis) in front of a roaring fire with a large dram in your favourite glass, Billy Connolly on the telly and your Westie (Dougal) asleep at your feet.
The whisky industry is enjoying a boom at the moment with a significant quantity leaving our shores destined for Russia, China and Brazil. And Holland, the Dutch love Scottish single malt whisky. This is obviously fantastic for the distilleries, the industry and our economy, but this increased interest has incited a change in the way that Scottish malts are being marketed.
Now, instead of focusing on the age of the spirit, a lot of distillers are looking at the provenance of the barley or the particular wood finish (port, Madeira, even wine casks) as the major selling point of the malt.
This is completely acceptable and the drams are still lovely, but I was always a fan of ordering a malt in a bar that was old enough to order itself. (I really like Macallan 18-year-old). The new regime allows the master distiller to finish an eight-year-old spirit in a port pipe to add complexity whilE allowing the whisky to reach the market before it hits the previously more marketable 10 years old.
Here are a couple to consider going forwards into 2017.
Tomatin 12-year-old Highland Single Malt (Inverarity One to One, £36.99). Tomatin’s signature style is one of fruity approachability, it’s a really accessible dram. The 12-year old is one of my go-to gluggers and it is lovely with a wee bit of shortbread. They have recently redesigned the bottle and the packaging, while keeping the spirit the same to bring them up to speed with the current market. This is an absolute bargain, and you should also check out the rest of the range including the more phenolic (smokier on the palate) Cu Bocan Limited Edition 1995 (Inverarity One to One, £49.99).
Arran Madeira Cask Finish (Inverarity One to One, £43.99). This lovely dram tastes of Christmas cake and spice and general loveliness and comes from one of Scotland’s truly independent distilleries from the north end of the Isle of Arran. There is no age statement on the bottle, but when the dram is this good, you really don’t need one. Enjoy it (responsibly). Have a dramtastic 2017.
Pete Stewart is Glasgow director of Inverarity One to One, 185a Bath Street, Glasgow inverarity121.com
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