Dalwhinnie 20 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice 1963

Famed for being the highest working distillery in Scotland until the re-opening of Braeval, Dalwhinnie is located in the Cairngorm National Park, a remote spot where winter snows often block the country roads which surround the distillery, leaving Dalwhinnie cut off in its fastness until the temperature drops.

Dalwhinnie’s water source of Lochan an Doire-Uaine, (Gaelic for ‘lake in the green grove’) in the Drumochter Hills flows over peat through Allt an t'Sluic, the distillery burn, which is thought to contribute to Dalwhinnie malt’s subtly smoky Highland mouthfeel. But even though the gently peaty style of Dalwhinnie can be regarded as Highlands (confusingly, it was also nominated as the Highlands representative of the Diageo Classic Malts series), Dalwhinnie is geographically Speyside, and indeed was formally classified as a Speyside malt in 2009.

Production is geared towards producing a sulphur-y new make and a style of single malt whose smoky, floral edge surrounds a clean, honeyed centre. The flagship whisky of Dalwhinnie is the 15-year-old, while the cask-strength age-statement bottlings are 25-, 29- and 36-year-olds. Dalwhinnie also produces a Distillers Edition, finished in oloroso casks. The most recent addition to the range, Winter's Gold, is an homage to the distillery’s unusually cold location: made only with spirit distilled between October and March, it is recommended to be served straight from the freezer.