Dalwhinnie Winter's Gold

Dalwhinnie Winter's Gold is a Scottish mountain high … served ice-cold, it is a light, unctuous, fruit-forward dram from the highest of the Highlands.

Dalwhinnie, Scotland has a population of 80. That’s not a typo. It is home to a small schoolhouse, a pub, an inn, a train station, and the Dalwhinnie Distillery. What else do you need, really? The distillery, founded in 1897 by John Grant, is famous for being the “highest” distillery in Scotland. When you are talking about spirits, “highest” can mean several things right? In this case, we are talking about altitude, sitting at nearly 1100 feet above sea level.

Importantly, only 10% of production ends up in their single-malt nameplate, and they are a small shop to boot with only one wash and one spirit still each. The rest goes into the famous blended Scotch “Black & White.” So grab what you can get your hands on.

Dalwhinnie is famous for its light, almost gentle Whiskies, and Winter's Gold is no exception. So what’s with the name? Well, their location as the highest distillery in Scotland makes for cooler weather. They noticed that the Whiskies distilled in the coldest winter months—December, January, and February—had a slightly darker, more golden hue and a fruitier taste than the ones produced at other times of the year.

They wisely decided to encapsulate the winter production runs into a special edition. Make no mistake, this is every bit a Dalwhinnie, but where the core offerings are more heather-forward in flavor, in Winter's Gold the heather is still there, but apricot and toffee step up. The folks at Dalwhinnie suggest that you serve this dram straight from the freezer—ice cold without dilution—and then enjoy the changes as the Whisky slowly warms in the glass.