February Outturn 2025 Feature Article
Scotch whisky — like so many other aspects of Scottish culture — is steeped in romance. Tartan, bagpipes, stirring and dramatic landscapes, myths and legends, triumphant and tragic history…they’re all elements that play to our emotions.
You need only read the blurb on the packaging of many whiskies to see how the marketeers play on the romance of it all. Have a read of the back of the box of the next single malt you pick up at your local bottle shop. (Assuming you might occasionally buy whisky that isn’t SMWS!). In so many cases, you’ll read about the “purest water”, the “traditional, handcrafted methods”, the “pristine Highland air”, the “slow, careful maturation”, and how the whisky was made to “contemplate, ponder, and savour”. It’s all highly evocative language, and there’s no denying the romance of it appeals to our hearts.
As drinkers and enthusiasts, our very enjoyment of whisky has romantic strings. It’s the malt by the open fire in winter; the precious bottle we cracked for a special occasion; the evening we spent sharing drams with our friends or family.
Somehow, magical moments with whisky get embedded in our memory bank. It’s usually for the right reasons and the positive, romantic experience we associate with the occasion. We tend to remember our first single malt, or the first time we tried a vintage whisky from the year we were born, or the first whisky tasting event we attended. Such romance hits a higher plane when you travel to Scotland and visit a whisky distillery — particularly if it happens to be your favourite distillery.
On that note, there’s a wee irony when it comes to visiting Scotland’s distilleries. While there are some notable exceptions, the majority of Scotland’s whisky distilleries are industrial factories designed and set up to make vast quantities of spirit. You can visit some distilleries whose whitewashed, functional, no-nonsense buildings and personalities might erode any preconceived images and romance you formed in your head. In some cases, the notion of a distillery using “traditional, hand-crafted methods” can disappear when you see the brewer and the stillman is just one guy sitting behind a computer. And yet…
As whisky tourism grows and an increasing number of distilleries incorporate a visitor centre and tours into their offering, some distilleries go the extra mile in delivering a more romantic experience. They play to the same romance and emotions we discussed earlier: The visitor reception is the re-purposed, granite stone-built Manager’s Cottage from the 19th century; the visitor centre has tartan carpets and curtains; the tasting room has oak wooden panelling around the walls and deer antlers hanging from the ceiling; display cabinets ooze old-world charm and nostalgia; the tour guides wear kilts; and you’ll often hear more about the distillery’s fabled history than the actual day-to-day operations.
But let not the preceding paragraph dissuade you or sound like a lament. It is all wonderful and glorious. There are few things as beautiful, as sentimental, and as magical as tasting a dram of single malt at the site where it’s made: A Lagavulin on the pier at Lagavulin Bay. A Bowmore in the No. 1 Vaults below sea level. A Highland Park on windswept Orkney. A Glenfarclas in the old, dunnage warehouse with Benrinnes behind you. An Aberlour with the River Spey surging just a few hundred metres from you. A Caol Ila on the wharf whilst looking across the water to the Paps of Jura. I could list many more. The whisky just tastes so much better, and it’s the romance of the occasion that enhances the moment and, somehow, further tickles your tastebuds. Even the most ubiquitous of malts tastes extra special when you’re having it at the distillery — the under-rated Glenfiddich 12yo or Glenlivet 12yo somehow showcases extra depth and complexity when being nosed amongst the Speyside air and with a dash of Speyside water.
If you’re lucky, the romance of whisky can intersect with the romance in your love life. If you and your partner share a mutual love of whisky, then you’ve got something particularly special. A shared love of single malt and of each other surely only adds to domestic bliss.
Chances are, you’ve got a favourite whisky. Chances are, you get sentimental thinking about the best dram you ever had. Chances are, there’s a special bottle you’ve got at home and you’re waiting for the right occasion to crack it. Is there a romance to whisky? Of course! Why do you think we have a love affair with the stuff?
Cheers,
AD
This article is featured in the February 2025 issue of Outturn Magazine — bottles will be available to purchase on Friday the 7th of February at midday AEDT exclusively to members of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Not a member? Click here to learn more about the world’s most colourful whisky club.
