What is a Speysider? What is a Highlander?

@Robert99, for me you are my friend Robert. Not "a person from Canada". Not "a person from Quebec". Not "a person from the greater Montreal metropolitan area". Not "a person whose first and primary language is French". I look at whiskies the same way. They are individuals.

Marketing and mythologizing are the only reasons I can see for fomenting conversations about "the six whisky regions of Scotland." Why in the world would anyone base discussions about whisky on historical taxing jurisdictions? Tax jurisdictions are only of interest to tax collectors. This is largely a marketing creation of Diageo.

@Victor - Well said!

I'd add that from a historical standpoint the regional identities have some bearing; as in Islay couldn't get coal very easily but had peat in abundance, as did many highland places, hence the peated style of that 'region'. Speyside, being relatively low-lying (by comparison) and on the mainland had the rail network so could get coal. Although I believe peating of malts in Speyside was much more common than it is today, 'a la' the modern day Benromach style. (I'd guess you knew that though!?)

That's how I see the regions anyway - as more of a historic marker, which some distilleries still emulate or 'milk' dependent on your point of view

To answer your question @Robert99 - I guess the name Speyside conjures up images of lighter, fruitier, sherried and generally non-peated styles; but as Victor eloquently points out that is far from the reality.

My understanding is that Speyside is simply a area with a high concentration of distilleries within the broader Highland region

Likewise, I would go with @Nozinan and apply the designations to areas rather than styles. Yes, you can make a generalisation about the styles from various areas but they have become more and more meaningless over time - in most cases. I'm still partial to the Lowland variants I've tried to date. Strictly speaking Speyside is a sub-region of the Highlands, so in terms of Venn diagrams, all Speysides are Highland, but not all Highlands are Speysides. I believe each whisky stands on its own merit and it is what it is regardless of its regional designation. Having said that, thee are some similarities between some whiskies from the same region.

I guess years ago when whisky was made from what was locally available and they sourced all their own barley etc then you probably would get more regional variations of whiskies. Nowadays I think it's just a chance to add some romantic history to the marketing of product so they can charge a bit more for it.

I feel when I hear about a speysider or an Islay whisky it refers more to the style of whisky than the area it's from. When I hear Speysider I think of a sherried whisky. Islay a peat monster. But then you get Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich that make Islay whiskies that don't feel like I Islay whiskies.

I've always found whiskies called Highlanders and Speysiders to be very similar in style. Generally Highlanders are just a bit more on the heathery and honey notes and a bit less on the Sherry is my perception.

But in these days where a 'highlander' can be made in Japan then it's a bit of a misnomer.

I agree with all of you. Though, I still have a question: why people are so eager to identify the region first when they are having a blind tasting?

I mainly start this discussion because I think I would be easily fooled in a blind tasting session. I find that there is many Scotch that are not typical of their region and that leads me to ask myself what are people refering to when they are talking about a ...

I am happy to realize that even if there are some characteristics associated to some region my fellow Connosr are basically not paying too much attention to that to concentrate on the specifics of each expression and so do I.

As a marketing gimmick, the region makes sense. It allows lesser distillery to suggest that, by association, they are good.

@Robert99, I did a blind tasting tonight from my cabinet. For years my son has been selecting and pouring whisky from my cabinet and challenging me to identify it, them. He has carte blanche. I have nearly two hundred whiskies in my cabinet. I do not always correctly identify the selections, even though I should know what is in my cabinet. It can be a humbling or humiliating experience when unable to correctly identify the selection. Conversely, it can be satisfying, and sometimes profitable when a wager is on the line and a correct assessment is made. Tonight I was successful. I had two minutes to narrow it down to five selections, an additional minute to pick three finalists, and then 30 seconds to put a name on it.

A quick sample by nose led me to conclude it was a corn based whisky. Group of five was: Highwood 90/20 burgundy label, H'wood 90/20 white label, Canadian Rockies 21 YO, Wiser's 35 YO, and Wiser's 15 YO.

Three finalists: Highwood 90/20 burgundy label, H'wood 90/20 white label, Canadian Rockies 21 YO

Final choice: Canadian Rockies 21 YO

@Robert99, why do people often seek to try to identify Scottish regions during blind tastings? I think that the reason is that for many people the stereotypes they hold for Scottish regional styles are very powerful ideas in their minds. They serve as organizing principles. People like to put things into well-defined boxes even if those boxes do not really fit. It makes them feel confident in their knowledge, even while their knowledge may be very sketchy and based on little experience. They feel like they know something certain and it gives them psychological security, even though they really do not know what the whisky in the glass is, and their overall knowledge of the 12,000+ whiskies out there is quite small. In a blind tasting such people typically think that they have accomplished something significant by saying that "this whisky tastes like a Speysider to me". Accomplishing something is more valuable than accomplishing nothing to such people. In sum, I would say that the desire for such classifying is usually based on a combination of a desire to be and to seem knowledgeable coupled with a lack of experience and insecurity.

Which is a way of saying that I find such stereotypes to be of limited usefulness and accuracy.

The whisk(e)y universe is vast. Even the Scottish malt whisky universe by itself is rather vast. Too vast for one human being to keep up with in detail. Jim Murray proves that by being unable each year to keep up newly updated reviews of the latest batches of even the most common whiskies sold. Saying something at a blind tasting like, "This tastes to me like a Speysider" seems more significant and more self-affirming to many people than, "I don't know what the hell this whisky could possibly be."

I think being able to identify whisky by style is very important. I was burned a few years ago when I ordered a dram of the legendary batch 28 of Aberlour A'Bunadh at a dinner that was held in a very reputable club. If I had the confidence I have now, I would have identified just by the colour (and clearly by the smell and taste) that this was no A'Bunadh. As it happened, I waited until I got home and inspected my sealed bottle of 28 and it was quite clear that it a fake.

I have not entered that establishment since, as they never properly followed up on my complaint. And I have made sure that the group that plans the annual dinners has not returned there as well.

@Robert99 Here's the main difference: Highlanders don't wear anything under their kilts.