Glenkinchie

Twenty minutes from Edinburgh, surrounded by some of Scotland's best barley country, Glenkinchie is the Lowlands' establishment representative — one of Diageo's 'Four Corners of Scotland' and the capital's home malt. Enormous stills (among the biggest in Scotland) make a light, aromatic spirit of cut grass, lemon and soft florals. It is the textbook aperitif whisky: proof that Scotch can open a meal as gracefully as it closes one.