Seven regions in seven phrases
- Speyside — orchard fruit, honey, sherry; ~50 distilleries, the most of any region
- Highlands — the biggest region, every style at once
- Lowlands — light, grassy, triple-distilled softness
- Islay — peat smoke, iodine and sea spray
- Campbeltown — oily, briny, old-fashioned; only three left
- The Islands — maritime malts from Arran to Skye
- Orkney — heather-peat smoke at the northern edge
Officially the law protects five regions — the Islands and Orkney legally count as Highlands — but tasters find seven a more useful map. And regions are a compass, not a cage: Islay makes unpeated whisky (Bunnahabhain), Speyside makes smoky (BenRiach). Start with the stereotype, then enjoy the exceptions.