Description

About Balblair 


The Balblair collection is intriguingly complex and satisfying. We capture the intense esters at the start of the spirit cut to give our Whisky the core characteristics of apricots, oranges, spices, floral notes and green apples. The heavier oils and lipids at the end of the cut are also captured, giving leathery, nutty and full-bodied characteristics.

As the quintessential distillery, Balblair sits on a remote and unspoiled hillside overlooking the Dornoch Firth in the North of Scotland. Our whiskies are the embodiment of everything we stand for.  We use only the finest ingredients and traditional processes to craft our distinctive, characterful whisky.

Our Highland home sits on an ancient Pictish gathering place;  giving it an intriguing, mystical feel.  The Picts gathered over 3,000 years ago, and like us, they were watched over by the solitary Clach Biorach standing stone which sits next to the distillery to this day.  An iconic carved Z Rod marking bears witness to this rich history and is symbolised on each bottle of Balblair.

From Black Isle barley to the open lade water that flows down the Edderton Hills capturing natural local flavour, this shapes our outstandingly light, yet complex spirit created in our original squat neck pot stills.

Our single malt is the product of the patience and dedication of our hands-on craftspeople, who won’t settle for anything than the best for Balblair.  We are never rushed and never compromised. From the exceptionally long 62 hour fermentation and the 4 1/2 hours of extremely slow distillation, it is this measured and thoughtful approach which means we can harness time to create the flavour of our unique new make spirit.


About Highland


The vast size of the area makes it difficult to generalize about the style of whisky made here, which ranges from powerful, rich and full-bodied in the north and west to lighter, sherried and more delicate in the south and east. Commonly found descriptors of a Highland single malt are a spectrum of fruity and honeyed to smoky, spicy, and robust.

Distilleries found along the northern coast will have a subtle briny or salty character although not as prominent as malts from the Islands.

Alongside Islay, the Highlands is one of the biggest regions for producing peated malt whiskies with heavily peated, full-bodied selections having more of a pine forest spectrum of flavors. Historically, peat was a fuel source to dry barley at the end of the malting process, however, modernization has made this process redundant.