A Taste of the Landscape — Highland, Scotland

A Taste of the Landscape, Highland, Scotland — The Flavor of the Highlands

A conversation about the landscapes and whisky of the Scottish Highlands

Conversation Ko Hyeon (@kohyun23), Park Shinwoo (@pswsq)
Words Pyo Youngso

Last spring, Muyongso in Seochon, a space devoted to exploring the delights of the useless, hosted photographer Park Shinwoo’s exhibition of Scottish photographs, “HIGH, LANDS — The Flavor of the Highlands.” As a special program, the exhibition offered a ‘Highland Whisky Tasting Talk,’ a talk class that combined viewing the photographs with sampling whisky. Here, Muyongso editor Ko Hyeon and photographer Park Shinwoo, who share a love of Scotland and whisky, sit down for a conversation. Will whisky taste different if you drink it while looking at the Highlands? And if you gaze at a landscape while sipping whisky, will the landscape taste different?

SESSION 1 Traveling the Highlands

Duration: 30 minutes
Content: Draw closer to the charm of the Highlands by listening to stories from a trip through the Scottish Highlands
Regions traveled: Isle of Skye (western Highlands), Thurso (northern Highlands), Morangie and others (eastern Highlands)

Ko Hyeon (hereafter Ko) I came up with this exhibition after seeing the posts about your Highlands trip on Instagram. I found it fascinating that you were serializing stories that paired your photos of the region with its whisky.

Park Shinwoo (hereafter Park) I began to wonder, ‘Would whisky taste different if I drank it while looking at landscape photographs?’

Ko Did the whisky actually taste different?

Park What do you think? I’d like to explore that together at an event like this one.

Ko I’m curious what led you to travel to Scotland.

Park It was a time when I felt that my photographs hadn’t changed in years, just as a person’s way of speaking doesn’t change easily. I wanted to create a turning point, so I canceled the insurance I’d been paying every month and used that money to go on a shooting trip. I traveled through Tokyo and London on my way to Scotland. A younger member of my church lives in Glasgow, so I made a short three-day, two-night trip to Scotland with him, and I loved it. Even after I got back, I couldn’t stand it. A month later I sold a camera and went again with my wife for three to four weeks.

Ko Let’s first look at where Scotland and the Highlands are. Scotland covers the northern part of the island of Great Britain in the United Kingdom, with an area of 78,783 square kilometers, slightly smaller than South Korea. It’s broadly divided into the Lowlands in the south and the Highlands in the north, and two-thirds of Scotland belongs to the Highlands. The western part of the Highlands, where some 800 islands are clustered, is sometimes treated separately and called ‘the Islands.’

Park On my first trip, I set out from Glasgow and visited Luss, Glencoe, Fort William and the Isle of Skye. On the second, I rented a car at Glasgow Airport, started in Oban and followed the North Coast 500 route all the way to Scotland’s northernmost tip. The NC500, which crosses the Highlands, is Scotland’s signature road-trip route, and just by following it you can see most of the Highlands’ main destinations.

Ko To add a bit about the NC500: it’s a scenic route that loops around the coast and interior of the Highlands, about 830 kilometers in total. Most people start their drive from Inverness. I’m curious what kind of impression the Highlands left on you.

Park When you’re hiking, there are moments when you feel as though the mountain peak in front of you is looking back at you. In reality, I’m the one looking, but I’m also the one being seen. At that moment, you feel both fear and trembling. The British philosopher Edmund Burke defined the ‘sublime’ as the fear that arises from human insignificance in the face of vast nature. It was frightening and mysterious, yet I wanted to get closer. Scotland’s nature is clearly different from that of other places. Would it make sense if I said it feels like a kind of religious landscape? It’s probably no coincidence that Hollywood fantasy films like “Harry Potter” and “Highlander” were shot in Scotland.

Ko As a photographer, how did you find the landscapes of Scotland and the Highlands?

Park Landscapes have their protagonists, too. We usually call them landmarks, the kind of place where you can say, ‘Once you’ve seen that, you’ve seen it all.’ I suppose the phrase comes from the limited time travelers have, but honestly, I don’t quite understand it. Can there really be a landscape that exists merely as a supporting cast for a landmark? The Highlands have landmarks, of course, but they didn’t matter much to me. Every place was mysterious. To begin with, in the southern Highlands, around Glencoe and Fort William, bright, sunny weather doesn’t suit the land. It’s damp, thick with fog, overcast and very windy. In the movie “Skyfall,” the final battle takes place at Glen Etive in Scotland, which appears as a setting that fits Bond’s mysterious family history. Imagine the mood of that scene in the film. There are almost no trees on the mountains. They’re mysterious, even a little bizarre, like an old person with wrinkled skin laid bare. I watched from the car and couldn’t stop marveling. The farther north you go, the more you find a pastoral landscape that’s the exact opposite of the mysterious scenery typified by Glencoe and Ben Nevis. It’s peaceful and beautiful. The farther north you go, the better clear, sunny weather suits it. There are few residents and few tourists. Every village has a whisky distillery. When it rains, it’s mysterious in its own way, and when it’s clear, it’s peaceful in its own way. You have to see Scotland’s landscape as the weather shows it to you.

Ko The word ‘glen’ appears often, both in whisky names and in Highland place names. In Scottish Gaelic it means ‘valley.’ It’s a word that comes from the Highlands’ terrain, with its many rugged mountains.

Park As a travel tip for Scotland, the Highlands are quite expensive. And there are many areas that are hard to reach by public transportation alone. I recommend renting a car and exploring every corner. Also, just like the ‘English breakfast,’ there’s a ‘Scottish breakfast.’ It’s extremely heavy for a morning meal, and once you finish it, you’re full all day. Be sure to try haggis, Scotland’s version of sundae (Korean blood sausage), too.

Ko I also made a short reporting trip to Scotland in the fall of 2019. I visited the on-location filming site for director Kim Jonggwan’s film “Josee.” The itinerary started in Edinburgh and took us through Aberdeen, Speyside and Cairngorms National Park.

Park I haven’t been to Speyside.

Ko Speyside is technically part of the Highlands, too, but so many distilleries are concentrated there that the whisky industry classifies it separately. I also traveled by car, and every time we passed through a village, another familiar distillery whose name I’d heard before kept appearing. On that trip I had the chance to visit the Glenlivet and Glenfarclas distilleries. The atmosphere at the two is quite different. Glenlivet is closer to a large company and runs systematic tours, while Glenfarclas is one of the few remaining family-run distilleries, so it felt very warm and friendly. The downside is that whoever is driving has to give up the tasting. I’d describe Speyside’s nature as a kind of rehearsal for the Highlands. Pastoral rolling hills continue, with old castles scattered here and there. When you enter Cairngorms National Park, which borders the Highlands, the energy of the land changes markedly. You feel as though you’re being pulled into a deep valley.

SESSION 2 Exhibition Tour & Whisky Tasting

Time: 40 minutes
Program: Learn about Scottish single malt whisky and taste whiskies from distilleries in the three regions shown in the photos
Whiskies tasted: Talisker 10 Year Old, Wolfburn Northland, Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban

Ko The origins of whisky are thought to date to the 14th and 15th centuries. Ireland claims that whisky first appeared in documents from the 12th century, but whisky in its present form is generally believed to have begun in the 15th century. Ireland and Scotland each insist they were first, but the accepted view is that Ireland came first and the craft then crossed the sea to Scotland. In any case, both countries made whisky from malt, which is barley that has been allowed to sprout. Ferment malted barley and you get something close to the beer we all know. Distill that and age it in oak casks, and you get whisky. In fact, the decisive difference between early whisky and modern whisky is cask aging.

The Scotch whiskies most of us know, such as Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal and Johnnie Walker, are blended whiskies. In the past, each distillery made its own new-make spirit, and a seasoned master blender combined them into a finished whisky. Roughly 50 to 100 different spirits are said to go into a blend, with the aim of finding the smoothest possible taste. Single malt whisky was originally enjoyed only by the people who worked at the distilleries, and it first went on sale commercially in the 1960s. Glenfarclas was one of those pioneers. When you think about it, single malt’s history is only about half a century long. Blended whisky is very smooth but lacks a distinct character in flavor and aroma, whereas single malts carry their own flavor and personality, because each distillery malts and ages differently. Now, shall we taste the whisky from each region while looking at the photos? Our first stop is the Isle of Skye, in the northwest Highlands.

Park The Isle of Skye is one of Scotland’s signature destinations, and even within Scotland its scenery is unusual. When I went, the sky was heavily overcast and the wind was strangely strong. Raindrops kept flying through the air, and all of my cameras got soaked. If you ever wonder why Scottish-brand jackets and coats are waxed, you’ll understand right away once you visit. The place in this photo is the Old Man of Storr. When you climb the low, hill-like mountain, you find all kinds of bizarre rocks. Those rocks must have influenced the taste of the whisky. This is also where the opening of Ridley Scott’s film “Prometheus” was shot, in the scene where anthropologists discover cave paintings left by an alien life form.

Ko Talisker is a whisky distillery located right here on the Isle of Skye. Founded in 1830, it boasts a history of more than 200 years. It is also owned by the global beverage company Diageo. Diageo selects a Classic Malt from distilleries in six Scottish regions: Cragganmore, Talisker, Lagavulin, Oban, Dalwhinnie and Glenkinchie. Talisker 10 Year Old is one of them. It is known for its subtle peat aroma and is a favorite among people new to peated whisky. Next, we head to Dunnet Head and Thurso Beach, at the northernmost tip of Scotland.

Park Thurso is a very small town, but it is the largest in the north of Scotland, and it feels lively. Liveliness is relative, of course. Compared with Edinburgh, Glasgow or Inverness it looks modest, but the desolate nature around it makes it seem full of energy. If you take the NC500 road west from Thurso, uninhabited land stretches out endlessly. You get the illusion that you’re driving across the American South. There are coastal road sections, too, and in some places there is a sheer drop of hundreds of feet right below you. Dunnet Head is the northernmost point of mainland Britain. It’s the kind of place where, as you endure the strong wind and gaze out at the North Sea, you feel as if you’ve become somebody. (laughs) We went to Dunnet Beach around evening, and quite a few people were out walking. I was surprised by how large the beach was, and a little later we came across a woman riding the horse in this photo along the shore. It was a very dark, blue evening.

Ko I also learned about Wolfburn while preparing for this tasting, on the photographer’s recommendation. It’s an unfamiliar, newly revived distillery. It was founded in 1821, stopped operating after 1858, and began distilling again in 2013. Its first whisky is the Northland we’re tasting now. The name Wolfburn is said to come from a “sea wolf” in a 16th-century legend, and anyone who encounters one is said to be blessed with good luck. This whisky was matured in American oak quarter casks. A quarter cask is one-quarter the size of a standard cask, which has the advantage of imparting a more concentrated aroma. You’ll also notice that no age is stated, which is called “NAS.” It’s short for No Age Statement, and these days it has become something of a trend. As demand has surged, it has become hard to make whisky aged ten years or more, as in the past, and the industry has turned that into a marketing angle instead. Now, for our last stop, we head to the northeast Highlands.

Park If the southern Highlands are mysterious and stately, the northern Highlands are pastoral and serene. I wanted to become part of that landscape. I even looked up house prices afterward. Small towns such as Brora, Golspie and Morangie line the coast, and there are a few distilleries that were once famous. When we walked along a forest path in the evening, countless sheep stared at us. I wondered, “Can even they tell Asians apart?” (laughs) I figured it was because there are few people and the land is so wide. Glen Morangie translates to “Glen of Tranquility,” and it truly makes you feel calm. It is also close to Inverness, the largest city in northern Scotland.

Ko Glenmorangie is a widely known single malt distillery. Its branding became clearer after it was acquired by the LVMH group in particular. Glenmorangie Original is its most representative whisky, and the Signet sold at duty-free shops is famous too. The Quinta Ruban we’re tasting today is considered an exceptionally unusual whisky. Taking the original 10-year-old whisky, it is finished for another four years in port casks, and it is remarkably smooth for its alcohol strength. You can enjoy the sweet yet dry aroma characteristic of port wine along with it.

📝 Editor Ko Hyeon’s Whisky Notes

❶ Scotch Whisky The general term for Scottish whisky. It is divided into six regions: Speyside, the Highlands, the Islands, Islay, Campbeltown and the Lowlands. Speyside whiskies offer bright aromas, Highland whiskies vary widely from distillery to distillery, and Islay whiskies tend to have a strong peat aroma.
❷ Single Malt Whisky Whisky made from malted barley at a single distillery. Compared with blended whisky, which mixes spirits from several distilleries, each single malt has a distinct distillery character.
❸ Cask Matured Single malt whisky mostly reuses casks that previously held Spanish sherry, American bourbon and the like. Color and flavor vary enormously depending on the cask used for maturation.
❹ Cask Strength Whisky at the stage after cask maturation and before it is diluted with water, with an alcohol strength of 50 to 60 percent. Single malt is usually diluted with water to about 40 percent.
❺ Peat Grass, moss, wood and the like transformed into something like coal. It is used in the process of drying malt.
❻ NAS (No Age Statement) Whisky with no stated age. The whisky industry devised this approach when growing demand for well-aged whisky made it hard to keep up supply. In recent years, NAS whisky has become something of a trend.