On the whole, Highland whiskies are bold, flavorful, and frequently (although not always) made with peat-kilned barley, giving them a smoky, medicinal quality. Lowland whiskies, on the other hand, aren’t always made with barley (many include wheat and/or corn, making them grain whisky), and peat plays a much less prominent role.

There was a big difference between lowlanders — wealthier, more civilized, collaborators with the English, less clannish, better educated; and highlanders — poor, feudal, tribal, speaking Gaelic, wearing tartans, playing bagpipes, resentful of the English, not well-educated, eager to fight.