Clynelish

You would enjoy visiting Clynelish just for the lovely views out across the North Sea, but they make a fine dram here too.

Originally founded in 1819, the modern Clynelish was built in 1968 to replace the old distillery which sits just across the road and is still used to store the maturing whisky. The old distillery was renamed Brora, and ran for a few years producing a heavily peated style of malt. It's well worth taking the "Taste of Brora" tour just to try this rare delight (a bottle would set you back well over £200!)

Clynelish is a busy working distillery, as the heat radiating from the pot stills tells you when you enter the main distilling hall, a wonderful glass fronted space filled with well polished copper. The tour guides relish a challenge and won't hesitate to enlist production staff to answer tricky questions.

Much of the whisky made contributes to the Johnny Walker blends, and hence is not found so often on general sale. Indeed, one expression - the Cask Strength Clynelish - is only sold at the distillery.

After the tour it is decidedly worthwhile taking a short stroll to enjoy the sea air. Some tasters even find something brine-y in the whisky itself!

Visited Summer 2010