Walk into a bar and inquire about them, and the whole place will go quiet, and everyone will star at you, like one of those taverns in a Hammer horror film when someone asks about Castle Dracula.

Hailing from the Speyside region of Scotland, Mortlach is a single malt whose primary claim to fame is that it is one of the primary ingredients in the world’s favorite blended scotch whisky, Johnnie Walker. As is also the case with Strathisla (one of the primary ingredients in Chivas Regal), the popularity of Mortlach as a base for a hugely in-demand blend means that the single malt can be something of a chore to find. The distillery was founded in 1823 by a cat named James Findlater, though as is often the case, it’s likely that whisky was being distilled there long before it was legally sanctioned.

For those not in the know, “peat” is basically the claylike mud that forms many of the bogs in Scotland (among other places). Composed of decayed vegetable matter (mostly), it’s like a softer version of coal, and its abundance in certain places means it’s commonly used as fuel for heating. Islay, an island off the western coast of Scotland, is full of peat, and as such, distillers back in the day used it for fuel whenever a part of the distillation process called for a little fire. What was quickly discovered was that peat infuses a particularly unique flavor to the whisky. And since the make-up of peat can vary depending on where you cut it from, the peaty flavor of whisky can vary just as wildly from one peated whisky to another. Smoky, earthy, seaweedy, salty, oily, meaty — lots of different flavors, but all of them are big and bold.

Black and White is a blended scotch whiskey that traces its beginnings to the 1880s. It was an offshoot of London-based whiskey makers James Buchanan and Company’s Buchanan Blend and was originally known as House of Commons. Buchanan was actually born in Canada, lived in Scotland, and was raised in Northern Ireland. He got into the whiskey business largely as a result of his brother’s grain company, and after picking up experience, became a London agent for whiskey blenders Charles Mackinlay & Co. He set up his own company, acquiring casks of whiskey for clients, five years later but soon noted that the bulk of the product available on the market did not appeal to the London palette.

Ah yes, Pinch: the official whiskey of Felix Leiter, forever living in Bond’s shadow and acting as his Watson. But also pretty much the official whiskey of the Bond books as a whole. I don’t think any brand is mentioned by name and consumed quite so often as Haig & Haig — which is known these days as Pinch and instantly recognizable thanks to the odd-shaped bottle enclosed in a thin web. I was recently at a party where I got to drink a considerable amount of Pinch from a bottle that had been sitting in someone’s parents’ apartment since the 1960s.

Topping asked McDougall about the possibility of importing the John McDougall label independent bottlings for sale in the United States. McDougall countered with the offer to not only work on that, but take Topping under his wing, teach him all the details of being a distiller, a blender, and a bottler — thus creating the Wild Scotsman. The brand now contains two distinct lines — there are the John McDougall bottlings that pre-date the establishment of Wild Scotsman as a brand, and there’s the Wild Scotsman bottlings proper. They are not a distillery; they’re a bottler and blender (or a vatter), which means they are sampling and buying casks of single malts from other distilleries, join them together, age them, then have them bottled.

Well and rainy by the time we rolled into the mighty, mighty Glenfiddich Distillery. A marked difference from Strathisla, which we’d just been to earlier in the day — but still a damn site more picturesque than, say, the Jim Beam distillery. The Glenfiddich Distillery was founded in 1886 by William Grant in Dufftown. Glenfiddich means “valley of the deer” in Gaelic. It’s currently one of the most popular single malt brands in the world, with a production capacity of more than 10,000,000 liters per year. That’s led some to call it the “Budweiser of scotch,” but don’t let the volume fool you. Sometimes things are popular for a reason, and while I find the standard 12 year old to be acceptable but hardly of note, Glenfiddich works some wonders with the 15 year old Solera Reserve and 21 year old Gran Reserva.

The first Scotch Whisky Distillery Ellie and I ever visited, and still one of my favorite whiskies. Strathisla is little known, because the vast majority of their single malt is distilled solely to go into Chivas Regal blends. But their single malt does trickle out and is well worth sampling (and buying) if you get the chance. Here’s a few shots from our visit.

Some shots from Ardbeg’s tasting at Morrell’s, as well as some tasting notes mixed in for good measure. Can’t get enough free Ardbeg.

Writing things up during/immediately after WhiskyFest always seems a study in folly. There’s too much going on, too much to drink, and too many things to carry for me to make notes of any use. And trying to make it all up again the day after? Please. But this year, I might be able to manage since I went to WhiskyFest 2009 doped up on cold medicine and, thus, less prone to drinking myself silly. So while the combination of cold medicine with dozens of whiskies means I’m not possessed of any dependable tasting notes, I can mention some of the notables. This would be stuff I’ve never had before, rather than the stuff I already know about.

So I have this group on meetup.com, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. Our usual mode of operation is to gather at someone’s apartment, with everyone bringing a bottle of whiskey to contribute to the night’s tasting. It’s always a lot of fun, and you get to taste a lot of stuff you might otherwise never thought to buy. Well, over the course of my drinking career, I’ve gotten to know a lot of distillers and brand ambassadors, so I thought it would be fun to change things up a bit and do a meetup featuring a specific whiskey maker, with a rep being on hand to talk about the whiskey and the company — as well as pour some of their whiskey.

I mentioned once elsewhere that after some years of drinking bourbon, it was the gift of a Dalmore 12 year old that got me started on single malt scotches. Since that time, I’ve grown fond of The Dalmore, especially the Cigar Malt. So it was with sadness in my heart that I discovered one day that their single malts had disappeared from the shelves of American stores. Luckily, New York is full of little (and big) hole in the wall liquor stores where stuff that has been unavailable for years is still for sale at reasonable prices. Well, not too long ago, Dalmore reintroduced itself to the United States with a new line-up which I’ve now been lucky enough to sample.