Scotland’s best whisky distilleries – and how to visit them
Heading to a formal Burns Night Supper next weekend? Lucky you, but be prepared. Try to avoid the table with the surgeon explaining what makes the noble haggis so delicious. Take caution around enthusiasts with pencilled tasting notes. The readings will be in Scots, accompanied by Scotch. Try not to cause a civil war.
Remember that whisky is divided into five distinct food groups – Islands, Highlands, Lowlands, Campbeltown and Speyside – each as diverse as their geographical and geological footprints. Equally, all are prone to the muck, mire and mist of Brigadoon-style romanticism.
So here’s a down-to-earth itinerary of just a few of Scotland’s 151 distilleries. We’ve chosen lesser known treasures amongst them, so your contribution round the Cranachan this evening will set the table agog. (You do know what Cranachan is, right?)
Islands
Scotland is awash with islands, about 800 to 900 depending on whose fingers you believe. Islands helped keep the excise men at bay when whisky-making was illicit.
Missing out on Islay (pron: EYE-la, not EYE-lay) is like forgetting the Louvre when you’re in Paris. Masterpieces are on show on this most southerly Hebridean landmass. Ten distilleries produce the amber elixir today.
Three centuries ago there were 23, but persistence on Islay is like the traffic round the Arc de Triomphe. Mothballed distilleries like Port Ellen have been popping up reborn, with others vigorously circling.
Here you find the low-peated smoothness of Lagavulin. And only 200m away as the sheep roam, you find the phenomenally phenolic Laphroaig. To the faint-hearted, the latter noses like a Victorian apothecary’s flask. Two entirely different water sources are the cause. And therein a neat distillation of whisky magic.
The tour at Lagavulin is no tartan fantasy. Learn the germination of malting grains, the grist percentages of milling rollers, the alchemy of yeast unto wort. The wood-panelled tasting room then completes your education.
Nearby The Machrie is a 43-room hotel by silvery machair dunes and the crashing Atlantic. A windy 18-hole course that defines world-quality links golf is a sausage throw from the breakfast room.
Opening in autumn this year, Ardbeg House (doubles from £225 B&B ardbeg.com) will offer 12 bedrooms, a restaurant with a hyper-local menu and a well-stocked bar. But for lovers of the Island story we say head north to Skye – then take a 25-minute ferry-hop east.
Isle of Raasay
It’s almost a secret. This small-batch operation on an island of 160 souls was founded in 2013 on a dream of artisanal excellence. The modern Isle of Raasay distillery has become a community beacon employing 25 locals (average age 30) who are set to stay – a small sign of the reinvigoration pervading Hebridean life these days.
The stylishly bottled whisky recounts ancient local malts, but innovatively so. Since the inaugural 52 per cent single malt release in 2020, awards have poured in.
Tours
On-site tours cost £20 to £75 for one to two and a half hour deep dives. Too far away? Try a virtual tour with six pre-posted samples.
Stay
The distillery itself. Uniquely, Borodale House (doubles from £180) is the only hotel in Scotland within a working distillery. Six ensuites. Loch views. So for a drop of water in your dram...
Highlands
The largest whisky region by size stretches from Scotland’s northernmost mainland to coasts both east and west, and as far south as Perthshire, a mere hour from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Distilleries abound, as do the contrasts between them.
The Glenturret ticks a few boxes. First, it’s Scotland’s oldest working distillery, estimated to have opened in 1763. Second, it houses Scotland’s best restaurant, the two Michelin-starred Glenturret Lalique.
Distillery tours run all year round. The Aberturret Estate House reopened in 2024 after refurbishment for private hire or Glenturret Lalique guests.
Our Highland choice sits at the opposite end of the visitor experience. Indeed, it couldn’t be more hands-on in the sense of analogue.
Ben Nevis
Snug below the lurking, glowering, cloud-shroud of Britain’s highest peak sits the eponymous distillery. Before romantic fever envelops you, the entry gate is opposite a Shell filling station in Fort William. But step inside the small, unassuming Visitor Centre and you enter a glorious enclave of rare and warming authenticity.
Tours
If you’re lucky, a well-worn boilersuit will be your guide. A distillery man through and through who didn’t need to memorise the history of the place or the whisky-maker’s intricate arts, because he is steeped in them. As you walk the process of the spirit, he’ll tell you in plain words what matters – ingredients, barrels, time.
Stay
Inverlochy Castle Hotel (doubles from £420) offers a 5-star dining room overseen by Michel Roux Jr. The hotel sits at the end of a mile-long wooded drive amidst a heaven of rhododendrons. “I never saw a lovelier or more romantic spot,” wrote Queen Victoria in her diaries on a week-long stay in 1873.
Lowlands
Triple distillation defines Lowland malts, making them lighter and easier to blend or mix than their more characterful Highland and Island cousins. Best known and tourable are Auchentoshan, Glenkinchie and Glengoyne. Our choice here is a notable newcomer.
The Moffat
The Moffat opened in 2021 and is Scotland’s first modern wood-fired distillery. Taking its cues from 21st century small-batch gin making, this is a thoroughly of the moment distillery in the heart of Dumfries and Galloway, with sustainability baked in. It crafts single malts in limited edition numbers that quickly sell out.
Tours
From February 2025, a 75 minute tour will explain what wood-firing imparts, alongside tutored tasting.
Stay
The first designated Dark Sky Community in the UK. The Annandale Arms Hotel (doubles from £90) in the centre of Moffat will help you boldly go star-travelling.
Campbeltown
Once considered the whisky capital of the world, only three distilleries survive from the 30 working in the 19th century. Glengyle was revived in 2004, while for connoisseurs Springbank remains the sole distillery in Scotland to fully malt its own barley. Our distillery of choice is allegedly haunted.
Glen Scotia
Producing peated and non-peated malts, Glen Scotia won Distillery of the Year 2021 at the Scottish Whisky Awards and was named World’s Best Single Cask Single Malt 2023. Of all its expressions, Victoriana – cue the distillery’s heyday – turns judges’ heads.
Tours
Range from a one hour basic distillery tour to two and a half hours with the distillery manager, tasting included. There’s also a Whisky Heritage walking tour around Campbeltown for history nostalgists and completists.
Stay
The Royal Hotel (doubles from £140) on Campbeltown Harbour. Suitably mod-Scot interiors, with excellent breakfasts, an onsite pub and complimentary shuttle to nearby Machrihanish Dunes, where the links course beckons afore a well-earned dram.
Speyside
For many whisky-lovers, this is the snaking heart of the whole expedition. And, as in Bordeaux and Burgundy, big names on road signs welcome you to the tiniest of villages. Aberlour, Cragganmore, Dufftown, over 50 in total get collectors’ noses twitching. Our choice is owned by the royal family of Scotch, the heritage-rich William Grant & Sons.
The Balvenie
“Full-bodied, dried fruits and honeycomb” describes The Balvenie, founded 1892. The distillery grows its own barley and it’s one of only a handful that still malts on site. No stranger to innovation, last year The Balvenie released A Collection of Curious Casks – limited releases inspired by the distillery’s history of storytelling.
Tours
A two and a half hour full-blown exploration. Meet the makers, visit the on site maltings, cooperage and compare tasting notes.
Stay
The elegant Craigellachie Hotel (doubles from £195) in Aberlour puts you snug into the heart of Speyside.
