
Single MaltScotch Whisky
Malt whisky is the ‘original’ whisky of Scotland. Although other grains were used, barley was grown specifically for making beer and whisky. However, with the success of blended whisky in the late 19th century, little was drunk as single malt outside the Highlands until the 1980s, when ‘the vintages of the North’ were rediscovered by an enthusiastic public and began to be made available by distillery owners.
Single malt whisky must be made with 100% barley
Currently there are around 90 operating malt whisky distilleries in Scotland – it is difficult to be precise, since sometimes distilleries go out of production for periods, in order to balance stock levels. Single malts from a further 30-odd now closed distilleries may still be found.
Although made from very simple materials – malted barley, water and yeast – the make of each distillery has an individual character, owing to a variety of factors, such as the length of fermentation time, the style and size of the stills, and how they are operated, the type of condensers used and amount of spirit saved (called ‘the cut’).
By law, Scotch (both malt and grain whiskies) must be matured in oak casks in Scotland, and the casks themselves can make a huge contribution to the flavour of the finished product, according to a) how long the whisky has been left to mature, b) how often the individual cask has been used to mature Scotch and c) whether the cask is made from European oak or American oak. This makes it difficult to identify the mature products of individual distilleries.
Since at least the 1880s, blenders have identified different styles of whisky coming from different parts of Scotland. The original division, dating from the 1780s, was between ‘Lowland’ whisky and ‘Highland’ whisky. Then the whiskies made in Campbeltown and Islay were discerned to be different, and the whiskies of Speyside were added to the list.
With the dramatic growth of interest in single malt whiskies since the 1980s, the ‘Highland’ region has been sub-divided into Northern, Western, Eastern, Southern and Islands.
In truth, regional differences in the style and flavour of malt whiskies has more to do with tradition (how a malt is made in one place or another) than terroir, and although it is not possible to make a malt with identical character to another in a different distillery, it is possible to imitate a regional style out-with the region in question.
Did you know?
- more than one billion bottles of Scotch are exported every year, with France the biggest market
- the first reference to Scotch whisky was in 1495
- the first single malt to be marketed outside Scotland was by Glenfiddich in 1963
Typical Character and Style of Single Malt
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Malt
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Vanilla
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Oak
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Nutmeg
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Dried Fruit
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Smoke
Sort & Filter
Tomatin 12 Year OldSmall Bottle
£18.75
(£9.38 per 10cl)
Tomatin LegacyBourbon & Virgin Oak
£28.75
(£41.07 per litre)
Tomatin 12 Year OldBourbon & Sherry Casks
£40.95
(£58.50 per litre)
Tomatin 201010 Year Old Provenance
£44.95
(£64.21 per litre)
Tomatin Discovery 2008Bot.2019 Gordon & MacPhail
£49.95
(£71.36 per litre)
Tomatin Cask Strength Edition
£50.95
(£72.79 per litre)
Tomatin 14 Year OldTawny Port Finish
£62.45
(£89.21 per litre)
Tomatin 20117 Year Old Jack Wiebers Messe Limburg 2019
£69.95
(£99.93 per litre)
Tomatin 200612 Year Old Single Cask Nation
£79.95
(£114.21 per litre)
Tomatin 200613 Year Old Fino Sherry Cask
£80.95
(£115.64 per litre)
Tomatin 18 Year OldOloroso Sherry Finish
£94.95
(£135.64 per litre)
Tomatin 18 Year OldBot.2000s
£150
(£214.29 per litre)
Tomatin Decades II
£168
(£240 per litre)
Tomatin 5 Year OldBot.1980s
£175
(£233.33 per litre)
Tomatin 199723 Year Old Daily Dram
£190
(£271.43 per litre)
Tomatin 10 Year OldBot.1970s
£225
(£300 per litre)
Tomatin 30 Year OldBatch 3 Bot.2020
£335
(£478.57 per litre)
Tomatin 196530 Year Old Lombard Jewels
£450
(£642.86 per litre)
Tomatin 36 Year OldBatch No.6 Rare Casks
£599
(£855.71 per litre)
Tomatin 36 Year OldBatch No.5 Rare Casks
£599
(£855.71 per litre)
Tomatin 36 Year OldBatch No.2 Rare Casks
£650
(£928.57 per litre)
Tomatin 197531 Year Old 2007 Douglas Laing
£750
(£1,071.43 per litre)
Tomatin 196733 Year Old Bot.2000 Sherry Cask Scottish Castles
£1,000
(£1,428.57 per litre)
Tomatin 10 Year OldBot.1960s
£1,000
(£1,333.33 per litre)