BELOW THE LINE, BUT RAISING THE BAR
The Lowland region, which once produced some famous names and gave rise to the first of the great whisky families, the Haigs and the Steins, has, much like the wider industry, seen its fortunes both rise and fall over the past century – and now those fortunes are rising again.
Whiskies produced beneath the imaginary ‘Highland line’, which was first laid out by the Wash Act of 1784 and runs from the Firth of Clyde (Greenock) on the west coast to where the River Tay meets the North Sea at Dundee on the east, have traditionally been known for a very specific style, defined by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) as being ‘soft and smooth’ and ‘lighter’ than those found elsewhere in the country. However, the existence of this unified regional style in the modern era is debatable.
From Littlemill and Ladyburn in the west to St Magdalene and Rosebank distilleries in the east, this region suffered more than most in the great closures of the 1980s and early ‘90s, which saw many sites mothballed, eventually demolished and the stills cannibalised. Only a select few single malt distilleries survived to carry the once-proud region forward. For decades, anyone looking to try these lighter malts would have been pointed in the direction of Auchentoshan, close to Glasgow; Glenkinchie, near Edinburgh; and, after a hiatus in the ‘90s (and again in 2015), Bladnoch to the southwest in Galloway.
However, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the rampant growth
