The Lowlands may seem like a desert dotted with intermittent single-malt oases but it is, in fact, where most of Scotland’s whiskey is made. The region includes Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Kingdom of Fife, Dumfries and Galloway.
There’s a tradition of single malt distillation in the region, although this is not as common as it once was. The Lowlands is where the “continuous” still was invented in 1827 by Robert Stein of Kilbagie – and in 1834 Aeneas Coffey’s patent still was installed at Grange. It allowed the Lowlands to become the capital of grain production.
But what about the Scotch? In a word, light. Both traditionally and modernly, Lowland malts are light and, in my opinion, grassy.. This is perhaps the by-product of high demand in the region equaling a usually larger still; the introduction of triple distillation from the Irish; the lack of use of peat.