Whisky comes from Scotland, and whiskey, spelt with the ‘e’ does not come from Scotland, possibly Ireland but also places like Japan.

As Champagne is to a very specific region of France, and the name is protected by law, the same holds good for whisky. The only genuine, real whisky is found on the native soil in Scotland from her distilleries many of which are renowned around the world.

Contrary to popular belief there are whisky distilleries in the Lowlands, and they can easily be visited in a day trip from Edinburgh.

To many people the only real legendary whiskies are distilled in the Highlands, and it is the malt whisky in particular that attracts thousands of visitors, who quite frankly are more like demented pilgrims when it comes to their desire to see where their favourite malt comes from.

Firstly for the uninitiated the word malt whisky comes from the Gaelic for ‘water of life’ and this is uisge beatha, quickly pronounced by a non Scot is sounds like ‘oosqabay’ which isn’t too far from Whisky!!

Whisky has been produced all over Scotland for centuries but for the purposes of this article we will concentrate on the very beautiful Grampian Highlands , which could understandably be called the Whisky capital of the World.

You will find a signposted route that will take you to some celebrated malt whisky distilleries. There are seven or eight which the connoisseur will regard as ‘not to be missed’, in fact stronger than that ‘not to be missed under any circumstances’!! We are talking here about world famous let us be quite clear about that.

So when you set out on your voyage of discovery, where the discovery is the mysteries of the malt, you must include on your route. Glenlivet which is in the Glenlivet itself could be priority number one. As the X Factor judges might say, these names are in no particular order, but the whisky fan will know the order he wishes to go!!

Another not to be missed is Glenfiddich which is in Dufftown, and then Cardhu which you will find easily enough in Archiestown.

One could go on listing the top distilleries, but that might be to tempt fate and anger certain individuals whose malt is left out. Suffice to say the single malts mentioned are all from the Spey valley, but if you followed every signpost in that part of the Highlands you would find many more, in fact dozens of small distilleries. The amazing thing is, if you had the stamina to taste them all, how completely different they all are.

The reason for this is the making of a single malt, which is much dependent on the water used. Whilst water is the key, the quality of the barley, and the amount of peat used in the fire is also critical.

On the other hand a blended whisky could contain up to sixty malts and what you get is an identical taste bottle upon bottle.
The choice is many, and the choice is yours when it comes to Scotch Whisky.