Top Food and Drink Experiences
Scotland has an amazing natural larder and the North Highlands boasts some of the best food and drink in the country. With rich fertile farmland, spectacular coastlines, glistening lochs, deep water fish ports, as well as roaming game and foraged foods, the North Coast 500 is a culinary heaven for food lovers or ‘foodies’.
The abundance of wonderful food in the North Highlands isn’t only to be enjoyed at mealtimes, though. Part of the fun of discovering Scotland’s foodie delights lies in the experiences which really allow you to immerse yourself in the local culture.
In this blog, we’ve chosen just some of the top places to eat on the North Coast 500, perfect for any food lover looking for places to eat along the route. Need more inspiration? Take a look at our Food & Drink Itinerary. Please note, many of these experiences require you to book in advance.
The Water of Life
Whisky, from the Gaelic uisge-beatha, or ‘water of life’, has been produced in Scotland for hundreds of years, and the east coast of The North Coast 500 is home to several distilleries, each with own distinct character and flavour, no two distilleries are the same.
Find a warm Highland welcome from the legendary Men of Tain at Glenmorangie Distillery, the skilled craftsmen who ensure that Glenmorangie is created in the same unhurried and uncompromising way it has been since 1843. Learn how the Clynelish Distillery produces it’s fruity, waxy, slightly smoky single malt using water from the Clynemilton Burn. Finish your trip at the Glen Ord Distillery, where the barley from the Black Isle meets the water from the White Burn to make a Scotch of vibrant colour: The Singleton of Glen Ord. Don’t forget to collect your final NC500 Passport stamp at Glen Ord and receive your NC500 engraved whisky glass.
While you’re driving the NC500 you’ll also pass one of the oldest and most picturesque distilleries in the world, Balblair Distillery; and one of the second most northerly distillery in the country, the Old Pulteney Distillery. Travel further north and you will find 8 Doors Distillery, Scotland’s most northerly mainland whisky distillery, and find out the charming local story behind their name.
Take the opportunity to taste over 365 varieties of malt whisky at The Torridon Hotel, A real special treat for the whisky lovers out there!
(Please note that the legal drink-drive limit in Scotland is lower than anywhere else in the UK: 22 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath. If you are the designated driver and visiting breweries and distilleries across the route, many of them will provide samples for you to enjoy back at your accommodation provider or on your return home.)
Photos: Glen Ord Distillery, Clynelish Distillery, Glenmorangie Distillery, The Torridon Resort’s Whisky Bar
Calling all Gin Lovers!
A visit to the Dunnet Bay Distillery provides a highly unique and personal distillery tour. Experience first hand the sights and aromas in the UK mainland’s most northern distillery. Sample the multi-award winning Rock Rose Gin and Holy Grass Vodka and take home a souvenir of your trip with a bottle of the official North Coast 500 Gin.
Go on an intimate tour at Badachro Distillery and learn how they infuse wild Highland botanical in the creation of their small batch namesake gin.
Photo: Dunnet Bay Distillers
Fishing or foraging?
Go foraging for a variety of shellfish, edible seaweeds and seashore plants with expert guides from Gairloch Canoe and Kayak Center. Learn what to collect and where to look as you walk along the shoreline, and cook your harvest at the end of the walk.
Photo: Gairloch Canoe and Kayak Center
A Sensory Experience
Visitors to Glenmorangie House can enjoy a sensory experience detecting the aromas in Glenmorangie whiskies, with a visit to the kitchen to pair three core expressions with a scallop ceviche – a great introduction to subtleties of using whisky in preparing food. Glenmorangie House also hosts wonderful locally made cheese and whisky pairing sessions.
Photos: Glenmorangie House
Time for Afternoon Tea
Indulge in a spot of Afternoon Tea at the Kingsmills Hotel, whose elegant white china and bright, airy atmosphere evoke the fresh ambience of a bygone era; sip a glass of Champagne to add some extra sparkle to your Afternoon Tea at Links House, or enjoy an Afternoon Tea with a French twist at the Rocpool Reserve.
If you’re looking for afternoon tea with a twist, why not head out for an Afternoon Tea Canoe Experience with Liquid Footprints? Take to the water on a tranquil Highland loch with one of Liquid Footprints’ expert guides, before returning to the shore for a sumptuous afternoon tea.
Or if you would like to learn how tea, coffee, chocolate and gin changed society, why not join Downright Gabbler for their Tispy Afternoon Tea event.
Photos: Downright Gabbler, Liquid Footprints, Rocpool Reserve, Kingsmills Hotel
These are just a few of the great places to eat on the North Coast 500. Click below to see more and plan your prefect trip.
