Lowland Distilleries - Anything but ‘Low‘

The Lowlands stretch across the whole of the mainland south of a mental line between Greenock and Dundee. On the other side of this line are the Highlands. As the name suggests, there are many hills and mountains in the Highlands, while the landscape in the Lowlands is much flatter. In the past, Lowland Single Malts were usually triple distilled, giving them a lighter character, such as Auchentoshan. The aroma of the Malts is usually intense and the body soft. Traditionally, non-peated malt is used for production. This is probably since the Lowlands used to be home to the coal industry, which meant that the use of peat for heating was not common.

The typical Lowland flavour is characterised by mild, elegant notes of grass, fruit, cream, ginger, caramel, toast and cinnamon. This is how we know and love our Lowland Whisky. But a lot has happened in the Scotch Whisky region in recent years: in addition to the long-established distilleries such as Glenkinchie (since 1837), Auchentoshan (since 1823), Bladnoch (since 1817), several newer distilleries such as The Glasgow Distillery (since 2014), Eden Mill (since 2012) and Kingsbarns (since 2014) are producing. Furthermore, there are some brand new distilleries that are still under construction and have not yet brought any bottlings to the market, such as Rosebank, Port of Leith or Ardgowan. Here, the old ranks of Whiskies are replaced, which are no longer produced, but are still partially available: Whiskies from St. Magdalene/Linlithgow, Ladyburn, Inverleven and Littlemill have become hard-to-get and correspondingly high-priced rarities. They make way for the expected Single Malts from the newly built distilleries, such as Port of Leith, Ardgowan and InchDairnie. We ask ourselves: What can we expect from the new Lowlanders? Will the style be similar to the 'classic' Lowland style?

Old School: Style of the "Old" Lowlanders
Rosebank was founded in 1840 by James Rankine and the Whisky produced there quickly became very popular, especially among blenders. In the 20th century, it became also popular with Single Malt connoisseurs, its light character providing a counterbalance to the heavier industrially produced Scotch Whisky of the time. By the omission of peat smoke and the triple distillation, Rosebank was very light, fruity-floral, and yet powerful due to the use of Worm Tub condensers, which influence the copper contact. In 1993 Rosebank had to be mothballed when worldwide Whisky sales dropped. The distillery stood empty for a long time until the original stills and mash tun were stolen in the winter of 2008/2009! Fortunately, this did not mean the end of Rosebank - read more about current developments in the Lowland distillery below. St Magdalene, also known as Linlithgow, was built in the mid-18th century and was privately owned until 1912, when it was acquired by Diageo, to whom it still belongs. After the distillery closed in 1983 at the time of the Great British Recession, the site was sold and subsequently converted into flats. In 2004, Diageo bottled a 30-year-old Single Malt under the Linlithgow name for the Special Releases. The special feature for the Lowlands: St. Magdalene had only two stills instead of relying on triple distillation. The Whisky is - or was - light, waxy soft with subtle fruit notes of pears, apples and honey. Typically Lowland, it had grassy and lemony notes, as well as spicy aromas of oriental spices and cloves, and sharper aromas of shoe polish. Ladyburn was built in 1966 by William Grant & Sons as an extension to Girvan in order to produce Single Malt Whisky on two stills for their blends. However, Ladyburn was only active for ten years, was dismantled by 1975, and there were never any official bottlings. The Malt was said to be a fresh Whisky with floral aromas and lemon. Inverleven was built in 1938 to distil the Malt portion for Ballantine's Whisky, which was then produced by Hiram Walker and Sons (Canada). When Hiram Walker was sold in 1988, Inverleven was also shut down shortly afterwards, in 1991. There were never any official bottlings, but the character of the Whisky was tropically fruity. Founded in 1772, Littlemill was one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland: after more than 220 years, several changes of ownership and closures, the distillery was closed for the last time in 1994 and finally dismantled in 1887. In 2004, what was left of the distillery site burnt down completely. Nevertheless, casks have survived, which is why there are still strictly limited releases of Littlemill Single Malts on the market. These are always very old (vintages between 1976 and 1992) and sweet in character with fruity notes and pronounced oak nuances due to the advanced age.

Contemporary Style: The Current Lowlanders
What we have looked at so far sounded like a very light and mild style of Whisky - no wonder, as many of the distilleries produced for Blends. Today it looks different: The focus among Whisky fans is more on enjoying Single Malts. Is this also reflected in the Lowland Whisky style?
The Glasgow Distillery was opened in 2014 as the first distillery in the Scottish metropolis since 1902. The Glaswegians initially bottled their Whiskies as limited releases, but now they are standard bottlings. With 'Original Fresh and Fruity', what you get is what you see: fresh and fruity, the Malt is characterised by berries, pears and sweet vanilla and toffee. The 'Peated Rich and Smoky' bottling is similar: as the name promises, the Malt is smoky with rich fruity and sweet notes. The 'Triple Distilled' is a classic Lowlander: well-balanced, floral and soft on vanilla, caramel and cream.
The Eden Mill distillery, which opened in 2012, has so far only had limited releases, which appear annually - and are accordingly sold out quickly. Each release uses different types of malt. The 2018 bottling from Propino barley was - typical Lowlands - characterised by vanilla, grain and fruit flavours. 2019 relied on new makes from chocolate malt and caramelised malt for a sweet Whisky. In 2020, Eden Mill combined Pale Ale, chocolate, caramel and stout malts to create a grainy and fruity-spicy Malt with cinnamon and vanilla sweetness. In 2021, only Pale Ale malt was used, resulting in a flavour profile with caramel, pears, fruitcake, hazelnut chocolate and pepper. However, it seems that the releases are becoming more and more limited: in 2021, there were only 800 bottles of Eden Mill.
The independent bottling family Wemyss founded Kingsbarns in 2014. In 2019, the standard Single Malt 'Dream to Dram' could be bottled for the first time. Local Fife barley, double distillation, 90% Bourbon- as well as 10% Portuguese Wine casks are used to create the sweet, fruity and smooth, light Lowland Single Malt.

Comeback: Style of the New Lowlanders
In February 2021, the remodelling began at Rosebank. There is still no spirit from the new/old distillery, but Distillery Manager Malcom Rennie (formerly of Ardbeg, Glen Moray, Kilchoman, Annandale) and his team are trying to imitate the style of the old days. You remember: the distillery equipment was stolen from the distillery. There is still a bit of the original Single Malt, but no original New Make Spirit. Rennie says you can't tell if you're right until the Whisky has been stored for a few years. So, the new style isn't quite set yet, but the stills are exact replicas of Forsyths' originals and they're sticking with triple distillation and Worm Tub condensers, which makes for a similarly mild spirit to Rosebank 30 years ago.
The Edinburgh-based Port of Leith distillery is due for completion later this year. At the moment, experiments are underway with the New Make. This one is supposed to be 'complex and balanced', but they are not sure yet in which direction it should go. It was only in mid-February 2022 that two first batches of the current new make spirits were bottled for sale. Nothing is known about the taste yet, but future distiller Victoria Muir-Taylor used a Norwegian and a Belgian ale yeast strain.
The to be built Ardgowan distillery also has no Whisky to bottle yet, but already has a precise and transparent plan how it will be: three different styles, in three different ages (4, 5 and 7 years) are planned: Heavily Peated, Lightly Peated and Unpeated. Ardgowan Heavily Peated will be very smoky and robust. The Whisky is to be offered for sale first, as the peat smoke is to dominate and thus a long cask maturation is not desired. But patience is still needed until then: the plan is to let the smoky variant mature for four years, meaning to bottle it four years after the start of production at the earliest. That, in turn, is not scheduled until 2023. In short, it may take until the mid to late 20s for the first Whisky. In Ardgowan Lightly Peated, the smoke should not dominate so much, but rather the maritime coastal flavours and typically fine notes of a Lowland Whisky. We can expect this style about five years after the start of production. Finally, Ardgowan Unpeated uses the traditional Lowland style with a light, floral, fine spirit. It is set to be the flagship and will initially be released in limited edition as a 5-year-old, and then as a standard 7-year-old - probably not until 2030.
InchDairnie plans to bottle the first 12-year-old Whisky in 2029. Ground was broken for the new Lowland distillery in 2014; production began in 2016. In December 2017, they distilled the spirit for the first Whisky to be bottled. It is called RyeLaw and has a high proportion of malted rye with malted barley. Rye was traditionally used in the production of Scotch Whisky in history, so they are going back to the roots. However, the casks will only be bottled when they are considered 'fully matured' (the aim is 2029). The second planned release is KinGlassie, named after the hometown of the distillery, Kinglassie in Fife. It will probably be the first smoky Whisky from the area and should be balanced between peat smoke and distillery character. After eight to ten years of maturation in Amontillado Sherry and Bourbon casks, the aim is to rather achieve chimney smoke flavours. The PrinLaws Collections, on the other hand, are experimental distillates made from different grains, yeast strains and casks. The first experiment, for example, is mainly with malted oats and is meant to mature in a combination of Bourbon barrels and former Muscatel casks from Portugal. Finally, there is the Strathenry Malt, which will not be bottled itself but will be produced for Blends.

What does all this tell us? To get back to the question from the beginning: Yes, it still exists, the classic mild, sweet, grassy Lowland Whisky. But the trend seems to be that the new Lowland Whisky is no longer so easily lumped together and is becoming more diverse. The new distilleries are also diversifying, with different flavour profiles, peat levels and cask maturations. This development is not surprising given the increasing demand for Single Malts to enjoy; producers want to offer something for different tastes. But there are also Lowland Blending Malts, as in the past. So, everything is the same and everything is new!