The Highlands and Islands covers more ground than any other Scotch whisky region, running from the Isle of Skye across to the eastern coast of Angus, and the whiskies made across it vary just as widely.
At the Scotch Whisky Masters 2026, run by The Spirits Business and judged blind, four single malts from the region were awarded Master medals across three flights. Two of those came from the Aged up to 12 Years category, one from the Aged Between 13 and 18 Years heat, and one from the No Age Statement flight.
So, let’s take a look at what is, according to The Spirits Business, the best that the Scottish Highlands and Islands have to offer.
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Levenside 10 Years Old
Award: Master
Category: Single Malt: Highlands & Islands – Aged Up to 12 Years
Tasting Notes: Candied ginger, sweet peach, citrus, Highland toffee, syrup, orange blossom, honey, sugared almonds
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READ THE STORYFind Your Next Bottle: AUD$70
Levenside is an own-label single malt sold by Coles in Australia, where it is stocked through Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars. The whisky is produced for Coles by the Loch Lomond Group, and the IWSC lists the same bottling under both the Coles Liquor and Loch Lomond names.
It is a lightly peated Highland single malt, matured for 10 years in ex-bourbon oak casks and bottled at 40% ABV.
The Master is not its first medal. Levenside 10 Years Old took a Silver at the Scotch Whisky Masters in 2023, a Gold at the IWSC in 2024 and a Gold at the World Whiskies Awards in 2025.
This year the judges found “sweet baked apple and tropical fruit” in it, and for a supermarket bottling carrying an age statement, it holds its own against considerably better-known names.
Talisker 10 Year Old
Award: Master
Category: Single Malt: Highlands & Islands – Aged Up to 12 Years
Tasting Notes: Peat smoke, sea-water, fresh oysters, citrus, barley-malt, pepper
Find Your Next Bottle: $44 / £30
Talisker sits at Carbost on the shore of Loch Harport on the Isle of Skye, and was founded in 1830 by brothers Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill. The distillery runs five stills, two wash and three spirit, and condenses in worm tubs, one of only a few distilleries in Scotland still to do so.
According to scotchwhisky.com, the wash stills are very tall, with “an exaggerated U-shaped bend in the lyne arm” and a purifier pipe at the lowest point that returns heavier elements to the still for redistillation.
Triple distillation was used until 1928, and a fire in 1960 closed the distillery for two years, after which replicas of the original stills and worm tubs were installed. Malt has been bought in from Glen Ord since 1972 and is medium peated at 18 to 22 ppm.
The 10 Year Old joined the Classic Malts in 1988 and is bottled at 45.8% ABV. It remains one of the core Talisker expressions. Judges found “leafy green peat smoke” on the nose, then “milk chocolate, roasted pear and fruity dark chocolate.”
Considering Talisker’s reputation in recent years, namely that it seems to have somewhat fallen from grace amongst critics, this win is a huge accomplishment for the distillery.
Glencadam 18 Years Old
Award: Master
Category: Single Malt: Highlands & Islands – Aged Between 13 and 18 Years
Tasting Notes: Fresh stone fruits, pear blossom, dried pineapple, panna cotta, baking spices, baked peach, rice pudding, lemon curd, crème caramel, nutmeg, cinnamon, poached pears, ginger biscuits, apricot Danish,sweet spice
Find Your Next Bottle: $152 / £121
Glencadam was founded in 1825 by merchant George Cooper in Brechin, Angus, and is the last working distillery in the town. For much of its life, the whisky went into blends, including Stewart’s Cream of the Barley under Allied Distillers.
Allied mothballed the site in 2000, and Angus Dundee Distillers bought it in 2003, running its first mash that August. The distillery marked its bicentenary in 2025 with the opening of a visitor centre.
The 18 Year Old returned to the range after aged stocks ran out. Angus Dundee said the whisky is “bottled at 46% alc/vol, at natural colour and is non-chill filtered, echoing the original bottling,” distilled and matured in hand-selected American oak ex-bourbon barrels.
Judge Clinton Cawood described it as “fruit-forward and bright on the nose. The palate is superb, loaded with oranges and spices.”
Glencadam American Oak Reserve
Award: Master
Category: Single Malt: Highlands & Islands – No Age Statement
Tasting Notes: Vanilla pod, buttercream, orchard fruits, golden raisin, Turkish delight, poached pear, apple blossom, acacia honey, roast chestnut, mocha, lemon rind, sweet-cooked fruits, white grapes, apple crumble, peppery cask spice
Find Your Next Bottle: $40 / £30
The stills at Glencadam are unusual in that the lyne arms are angled upwards rather than down, which maximizes reflux. There is one pair of stills, both 14,000 liters, and the spirit is unpeated.
Master distiller Robert Fleming hand-selected American oak ex-bourbon barrels from Kentucky for this release, which were filled with new-make spirit, matured in the distillery’s dunnage warehouses and then chosen for bottling. Glencadam bottles it at 40% ABV as a small batch release, and lists it in the core range as the entry point to its single malts.
Judge David T Smith found “lovely sweet notes, soft hay notes and straw, a touch of camomile, balanced wood, and lovely creaminess.”
Glencadam has garnered a loyal following in recent years, with its refreshed packaging update in January 2026 celebrating both its bicentenary and the entrance into a new era for the brand.
What Do You Make of the Results?
Four Master medals from one region, and very little in common between the whiskies that won them. Talisker is stocked almost everywhere and made with peated malt and worm tubs, while Glencadam spent three years mothballed before Angus Dundee reopened it, and now accounts for two of the four Masters. Levenside is sold only through one Australian supermarket group. Two of the four were bottled at 40% ABV, which is worth noting given how often higher strengths are assumed to do better in competition.
Have you tried any of these four? Are there any you would like to get your hands on, and what do you make of the awards? Let us know in the comments.
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