Hebridean whisky

The spotlight frequently falls on Islay, but there's more for Scotch lovers to explore in the Hebrides. Discover a new wave of distinctive whisky

- ABBIE MOULTON

Craggy rocks, white-sand beaches and mountains that plunge into the sea. The Hebrides, an archipelago off northwest Scotland, is famous for its dramatic landscapes; less so for contemporary whisky.

While the island of Islay is densely populated with famous-name distilleries, legendary for robustly peated drams, the mainstay of production in the rest of the Hebrides has, for 200 years, rested with Jura on the eponymous island, Talisker on Skye and Tobermory (originally Ledaig) on Mull. A few others have come and gone, or produce whisky on a much smaller scale.

There must be something in the pure Hebridean water, however, as the past decade has seen these wild islands welcome a new wave of distilleries, together shaping a distinctly Hebridean identity.