DALWHINNIE

The Gaelic word from which the name Dalwhinnie comes is Dail-coinneeamh, also spelt Dail-Chuinnidh, which translates as "plain of meetings". Here, on these high windswept pastures between the Grampian and Monadhliath mountain ranges, 18th Century cattle drovers would pause on their journey south, over the Drumochter pass to the great trysts or cattle markets of Crieff and Falkirk.

Where it can, Dalwhinnie retains the old ways. Traditional wood is still used for its washbacks, for example. Just two copper stills, as there have always been, send the alcohol into the lye pipes on its way to the stillman.