Cool-kid chefs turning local bounty into Michelin- worthy dishes, an artisan whiskey boom and a clutch of stylish hotels have helped Scotland shrug off its saturnine image and rebrand as a misty, moody mecca.

The cult following of the time-travel television series “Outlander” has added to the patina. Its depiction of Highland clan life, along with stunning locations from Inverness to Edinburgh, has fueled a tourism spike that the National Trust for Scotland refers to as “the Outlander Effect.”

One thing is clear: Between women-helmed whiskey startups, the rise in gastronomic tasting menus in middle-of- nowhere settings and the classic tartan pattern’s spike in popularity, Gaelic culture has been rejiggered in a fresh and exciting way. Here, some of the new Scotland highlights.

Tartan: If there were a symbol for Scotland, it would be tartan. You see it everywhere, from hotel interiors and tabletop items to cookie tins and everyday clothing. For centuries, tartan, which comes in thousands of iterations, has served as an identifying feature for Highland clans. When the British government attempted to restrain the use of “Highland dress” in 1747, after the failed Jacobite Rising, tartan became a testament to endurance, even rebellion.

To Araminta Campbell, 34, custom tartan is the stuff of modern heirlooms. She creates one-of-a-kind patterns that express her clients’ ancestry, interests and connections to place. Her ready-made shawls, scarves and throws can be found at the Scottish Textiles Showcase in Edinburgh, a shop near the Royal Mile that supports local wool mills and artisan makers producing sustainable products.

Restaurants: At Fhior in Edinburgh, chef Scott Smith’s passion for coaxing knock-your-socks-off flavor from humble Scottish ingredients is displayed in his seven- and 10-course tasting menus. The cuisine may be haute, but the vibe is not. “We focus on flavor, not pretense,” said Smith, 34, of his casually cool restaurant.

What was once a tourist cafeteria inside the country’s oldest working distillery is now a six-table fine-dining restaurant. The Glenturret whiskey brand was purchased by Lalique, the French glassmaker, in 2018, and at the Glenturret Lalique Restaurant in rural Perthshire, an hour’s drive from Glasgow, chef Mark Donald works with local foragers, gamekeepers and fishers to orchestrate 16-course tasting menus that give Scottish staples a kick — with humor.

Case in point: His version of a tattie scone, a breakfast staple of fried unleavened potato bread, is an opulent one-bite, mayo-laced bao bun layered with Highland Wagyu beef, truffle and a bump of caviar.

“We want to smash stereotypes and make guests feel that they’ve had more than just a meal,” said the chef, 34. The restaurant has earned a Michelin Star.

‘Restaurants with rooms’: In 2021, Tom Tsappis and Matilda Ruffle, both in their 30s, opened the five-room Killiecrankie House in a 19th-century former vicarage in Perthshire. It is part of a growing trend of “restaurants with rooms,” small country guesthouses offering sophisticated dinners. The couple envisioned a boundary-pushing tasting menu with lots of cheek and zero haughtiness.

After the 4 p.m. check-in, guests gather for cocktails and get-to-know-you banter, either in the teal-and-pink salon or the garden. At 7 p.m., the three-hour dinner begins. First are light bites like venison tartare flecked with pickled garlic buds and served with bramble purée. Then come heartier dishes like liver and onions, which uses sake-cured monkfish liver instead of the usual beef.

Drink pairings are equally plucky, with a cider from Fife, a dry-hopped local lager and a Cypriot dessert wine called Commandaria.

The Dipping Lugger is a love song to a centuries-old house, the notable characters who inhabited it and the fishing village (Ullapool) that surrounds it. The design of the three-room property juxtaposes period pieces with whimsical ones: wingback chairs, fireplaces, velvet sofas set off by quirky wallpaper, and framed posters of Mumford & Sons and other bands, a nod to the side gig of the owners Robert Hicks, 52, and Helen Chalmers, 42, as music promoters.

Food, of course, is the focus. The ever-changing, seven-course menu of chef David Smith, 31, is a snapshot of the environs. For example, seaweed powder-dusted Loch Broom langoustine is plated with a prawn ravioli dotted with lemon purée and sea fennel.

Spirits: On a family farm in a fertile pocket of Angus, between Dundee and Aberdeen, Arbikie Distillery is pioneering single- estate spirits with hardcore sustainability practices. The brothers John, Iain and David Stirling, all in their 50s, founded a field-to-bottle distillery in 2013 and, within five years, introduced a rye Scotch whisky (one hadn’t been made in Scotland in over a century, the distillery says). In 2020, they created what they say are the world’s first climate-positive spirits, by planting peas and beans which reverse the distillery’s carbon output. In terms of flavor, their spirits have a taste of the terroir, since all ingredients originate on the farm. Its spirits are now available in the United States.

As if being a woman at the helm of a start-from-scratch whiskey brand was not innovative enough, Annabel Thomas, 40, has made herself known on the sustainability front. In 2020, Thomas bottled her first batch of Nc’nean at the company’s remote West Highlands distillery, which is an hour and a half drive from Fort William and requires a ferry crossing. Within two years, the company had attained B Corporation status, which signifies that it has met certain standards for social and environmental performance, and achieved net zero emissions for its own operations.

Thomas also bucks tradition on the flavor front. Her whiskey, which does not adhere to classic aging practices, is light, citrusy and unpeated.

“Classic whiskey is designed for 70-year-olds. I wanted to create something for the new generation, a contemporary looking, lighter-tasting product that is transparent about environmental impact,” she said.

The company currently offers a single-malt whiskey, a gin-like botanical spirit and a seasonal small-batch whiskey called Huntress that experiments with yeast.