Dalwhinnie distillery's whisky was for many years highly regarded by blenders. Its oily and gently smoky character backed up by good fruitiness provided lots of flesh to blends and went a long way to softening the harsher angles of the grain components. It may well have worked away in quietly consistent obscurity were it not for the marketing notion of the Classic Malts.

Dalwhinnie was chosen as the Highland component for this series in 1988 and since then it has enjoyed a lot more popularity than it might otherwise have done. A fulsome and nicely balanced malt from one of the highest distilleries in Scotland, it is a fine dram but unfortunately with few expressions available.