Ballater - Justerini & Brooks

This Highland town located in Aberdeenshire is best known for being the closest village to Balmoral Castle, the summer residence of the various generations of the Royal Family. The location of the Balmoral estate and the construction of a railway and subsequent station right into the town meant that many people from all over the world visited this small northeast town. Including a Czar, various Prime Ministers and even a Beatle (Paul McCartney). Royal Lochnagar distillery is located on the grounds of Balmoral and was given a Royal Warrant in 1848. The grounds are also home to Scotland’s answer to the pyramids, in the form of eleven cairns erected by Queen Victoria in memory of Prince Albert.

This tiny distillery still gives its whisky a privileged start in life, enhanced by traditional methods and extraordinarily long fermentation. Its stills are among the smallest in Scotland and production is naturally limited by their small size. A tiny batch of Royal Lochnagar, part of a pioneering experiment to gain "The Angels’ Share”, the whisky lost from the cask by evaporation over time. When the experiment ended, a small amount of liquid was transferred into the present casks, to slumber peacefully until its fifth decade. There’s always a rhyme in the back of my head when I talk about this - "When the Angels take their share, the gap is filled with Highland air”. This 40-year-old dram truly makes you feel your picturesque surroundings