Whisky
in Ross and Cromarty.

It’s 20:57 in Ross and Cromarty.

Ross and Cromarty

From Glen Ord to the Dornoch Firth.

Ross and Cromarty is good whisky country, where the water comes off the hills to distilleries near the firths. At Muir of Ord, west of Inverness, a distillery opens all year for guided tours and tastings of whiskies made only there. On the south shore of the Dornoch Firth, a distillery at Edderton still draws its water from the same burn it used in 1790, and its stone buildings have a tall chimney banded in black. Outside Tain, the stills were copied from second-hand London gin stills. Book your tour ahead, and leave the car if you'd like a dram.

Balblair Distillery→

The Singleton of Glen Ord Distillery, Muir of Ord→

Glenmorangie Distillery→

From the magazine17 hours ago

Issue 05Autumn / Winter 2022-23

Ryan Sealey, a Cornishman who makes Caledonian Cider on the Black Isle, has traded bottles of cider with the Dornoch distillery for whisky casks to age it in.

Ryan used to work for the cider maker Thatchers, and he moved to the Highlands with his Scottish wife and three apple trees. By day he worked as a distiller at Glen Ord, but his passion was making cider in his shed. He told the magazine, 'Everything I do is in whisky casks'. The cider ferments with wild yeast, and the late Highland harvest means a long, slow, cold fermentation through the winter. His Islay Cask cider has a peaty nose and a soft, smoky taste, and the challenge, he says, is to keep just enough fruit to balance the smoke. He has run a yearly apple swap, where people drop off crates of apples for bottles of cider.

Read the full story in Issue 05

From our guide13 hours ago

Balblair Distillery.

At Edderton, on the south shore of the Dornoch Firth, Balblair has been making whisky since John Ross founded it in 1790. It moved a short way in 1894 to be nearer the new railway, but it still draws its water from the same burn. The buildings are of warm pink-grey stone, with a tall red-brick chimney banded in black and a copper still standing outside. Tours follow the whole process and end with a tasting, so book ahead. Afterwards, call at the Clach Biorach, a tall Pictish standing stone in a field just along the road.

See the place

Distillery of the day9 hours ago

Glenmorangie Distillery.

The distillery by the Dornoch Firth just outside Tain, famous for the tallest stills in Scotland, with a visitor centre, shop and tours to book ahead.

Read about it

A distillery6 hours ago

The stills at The Singleton of Glen Ord Distillery, Muir of Ord.

The Singleton's distillery at Muir of Ord, west of Inverness, open all year for guided tours, tastings, and a bar and deli.

Read about it

From the magazine2 hours ago

Glenmorangie House, the whisky distillery's own hotel near Tain in Easter Ross, was turned into a dazzling wonderland by Russell Sage, the designer who also transformed The Fife Arms.

There is a clue to the fantastical world inside before you even reach the door of the 17th-century house: a towering giraffe, a nod to the distillery's giraffe-high copper stills. The playful interiors reflect the stories behind Glenmorangie's whiskies. In the morning room, the walls are clad in golden wallpaper sprinkled with wildflowers, butterflies and bees, conjuring up a field of barley, with sheaves of the dried grain on the mantelpiece. Each of the six bedrooms in the house takes its cue from one of the malts, and a warming dram in front of a roaring fire makes the perfect end to a day on the whisky trail.

Read the full story in Issue 8

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