The Whisky Club's Guide to the Best Scotch Whisky

New to Scotch? We've got you covered...

Scotch whisky is more than just a drink—it’s a tradition steeped in history, craftsmanship, and flavour. With over 150 distilleries across Scotland, choosing the best Scotch whisky can feel overwhelming. In this guide, we’ll explore what makes Scotch unique, break down the five whisky regions, and showcase some of the finest limited-edition releases from The Whisky Club here in Australia. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or just starting your whisky journey, this is your go-to resource for discovering exceptional Scotch.

Join the Club free now – it's the only way to get your hands on the Club's exclusive, award-winning Scotch whiskies.

What is Scotch whisky?

Scotch whisky is a distilled spirit made in Scotland from cereals, water, and yeast, aged for at least three years in oak casks, and bottled at a minimum of 40% ABV.

To legally be called Scotch whisky, it must:

• be brewed then distilled from cereals, water and yeast in Scotland
• be aged for a minimum of three years in an oak cask in Scotland
• be bottled at a minimum of 40% ABV

A simple set of rules that can be manipulated to create an endless number of drinking experiences. So let The Whisky Club guide you on your personal whisky adventure and help you find your next Scotch whisky. Whether new to the category, a casual imbiber or a Scotch whisky tragic, the Club sources limited edition and rare whiskies just for you.

What makes a great Scotch Whisky?

A great Scotch whisky balances aroma, flavour and texture. These are all influenced by the category of Scotch whisky, which region it's from, the casks it was aged in, how long it was aged for and the approach and philosophies of its distillers.

Key factors include:

• Whisky type - is it a single malt or from a number of distilleries? Does it contain any grain whisky, or is it made from 100% malted barley?
• Regionality - is it a light Lowland, robust Highland, coastal Campbeltown, fruity Speyside or smoky Islay whisky?
• Age - how long has it had to integrate and develop?
• Cask type - type of oak, previous contents, number of fills, cask size and heat treatment will all have an effect.
• Whiskymaker philosophy - How does the whiskymaker balance cask and distillery character? How do they create complexity? Is there a specific flavour story they want to tell?

Want to know more? For a deeper dive into Scotch whisky, check out the FAQs at the bottom of this article or the following guides:

The Whisky Club's guide to whisky production

The Whisky Club's guide to casks

The Whisky Club's guide to whisky ingredients

The Whisky Club's guide to the Scotch whisky regions

Like what you see? Sign up for free to gain access to The Whisky Club's exclusive Scotch whisky selection.

Here at The Whisky Club, we source whisky from all over the world and bring you all of the background and stories that come with them. This was a list containing solely Scotch whisky that was created for our Members. To find out more about upcoming releases and how we select our whiskies, you can join for free here.

Read on for more in depth information regarding Scotch whisky. If you have further comments or questions, feel free to reach out to us.

What makes a great Scotch whisky?

Whisky Types

There are 5 different types of Scotch whisky.

• Single malt scotch whisky - made using only malted barley; distilled in pot stills; product of a single distillery
• Blended malt Scotch whisky - a blend of single malt Scotch whiskies
• Single grain Scotch whisky - the product of a single distillery; fails one or more of the single malt Scotch rules; often distilled in a column still; often made using wheat or maize; includes pot still rye
• Blended grain Scotch whisky - a blend of single grain Scotch whiskies
• Blended Scotch whisky - a blend of single malt Scotch whiskies and single grain Scotch whiskies

Regionality

The main flavour characteristics are as follows:

• Lowlands - light, grassy and floral
• Highlands - malty, meaty and rich in flavour
• Speyside - complex, fruity, often Sherry cask
• Islay - smoky, peaty, intense
• Campbeltown - coastal, oily, briny

Check out The Whisky Club's guide to the Scotch whisky regions for more information.

Age

Scotch whisky must be a minimum of three years old. If there is an age statement on the bottle, it is the age of the youngest component (eg. if a distillery marries a 12 year old whisky with a 20 year old whisky, it then becomes labelled as a 12 year old). If the bottle carries a vintage, every drop must have been distilled in that calendar year.

Cask type

All Scotch must be aged for a minimum of three years in an oak cask somewhere in Scotland. The type of oak used, the previous contents, the size and the number of times the cask has been used will have an impact on the flavour of the whisky. Casks can either be used for the full term of maturation, or used to further enhance a whisky – a process known as cask finishing. 

For more information, take a look at The Whisky Club's guide to Casks.

Whiskymaker philosophy

Whiskymakers have great power when it comes to building a whisky. Their job is to either create a consistent product or tell a brand new story. This is achieved through blending of casks together. Complexity can be achieved through cask selection, age profiles, cask finishing and even selection of alcohol level in the final whisky. The Whisky Club works closely with the best whiskymakers in the industry to pull each of these levers to create whiskies exclusively for our Members.

What are the best Scotch Whisky brands?

• Johnnie Walker: Johnnie Walker, first introduced in 1820, is a classic Scotch whisky brand known for its rich layers of chocolate, floral, spicy, and smoky flavours, offering a wide range of expressions to suit every taste. 
• Glenfiddich: Founded in 1886, Glenfiddich is a world-famous single malt Scotch whisky brand that combines tradition with innovation, offering a wide range of expressions to suit every whisky lover. 
• The Macallan: The most valuable Scotch whisky brand in the world, The Macallan is known for its Sherry cask matured whiskies. They spend more money than anyone on their cask programme, and each and every cask goes through numerous quality checkpoints before making it into a bottle. A standard glass or bottle of The Macallan 12 years old will have been sensorily checked over 600 times before bottling. 
• Glenmorangie: Perhaps the most innovative distillery in Scotland, Glenmorangie grow their own barley, design their own Bourbon barrels for maturation and have an secretive Lighthouse distillery that allows their whisky making team to play with every part of the process. 

What are the five Scotch whisky regions and their characteristics?

There are five whisky making regions in Scotland these days: Lowlands, Highlands, Speyside, Campbeltown and Islay. Each one is historically famous for a particular style and profile, so much so that blenders used these regions to categorise their malts and make substituting recipe components easier. Arguably this has less of an influence on flavour these days as new distillers look to add different flavour profiles and styles to their portfolio, but even though the lines are blurring between regions, many distilleries still have long enough histories and traditions to ensure that regionality is still a useful way to categorise flavour profiles.

Speyside

Speyside is known for fruity and complex single malt whiskies. A sub-section of the Highland region, Speyside is one of the most concentrated centres of whiskymaking in the world. A thirty mile radius with over sixty distilleries, Speyside is known for its delicate, complex and fruity style of whisky. This distinction from the traditional Highland style is down to the abundance of barley, water and travel links encouraging the creation of larger distilleries with bigger stills. Couple this with the desire to produce Glenlivet-style whisky and you get the distinct fruitiness for which Speyside whiskies are famed.

Lowland

The Lowland style of whisky is renowned for delicate lemon citrus, floral and grassy aromas in their malts. If you were to draw an imaginary line from Dundee on the east coast of Scotland to Dumbarton on the west coast, you will have drawn 'the Highland Line'. Everything south of this on the mainland is classified as a Lowland whisky. Their lighter floral, citrusy and grassy styles are partly down to differing tax laws between the north and south of the country. Lowland producers were taxed on the number of stills they had, leading to larger stills in the south creating a lighter style of spirit. Another factor was the practice of triple distillation introduced by Irish immigrants.

Highland

Highland whiskies find balance between maltiness and fruitiness. Where the 1784 Wash Act drove Lowland producers to a more delicate style of whisky from larger stills, it had the opposite affect north of the Highland Line. Here distillers were taxed on the size of their stills. This ensured that the smaller stills crammed into farm outbuildings continued to be used. These produce a maltier, heavier style of Scotch whisky and continue to do so today. The non-Islay whisky making islands (Orkney, Arran, Jura, Harris, North Uist, Mull, Skye, Raasay and Tiree) are in the Highland region.

Campbeltown

A good Campbeltown whisky will showcase coastal characteristics and tend to have an oily mouthfeel. At the southern tip of a peninsula on the south west coast of Scotland lies Campbeltown. During the early 1800s there were over thirty distillers on the peninsula; the town has only three (soon to be four) single malt distilleries these days. The third of these was resurrected simply to keep the area's Scotch whisky regional status. It is known for producing oily, malty, coastal single malts. 

Islay

Islay whiskies are known for peaty, smoky robustness often with a coastal element. Islay is undoubtedly the world's most famous whisky making island. Famed for smoky, peaty and coastal styles of single malt Scotch whisky. Peat, a fossil fuel from local bogs, is used to dry the malted barley used in production. The smoke from the peat sticks to the malt and that smoky flavour is evident right through the whisky making process. Up until the 1880s, it was impossible to make anything but peated whisky on Islay, and as the blenders saw this unique flavour profile as a distinct style, the island never deviated as the mainland moved towards smokeless fuels in their kilns.

Check out The Whisky Club's guide to the Scotch whisky regions for more information.

Is older Scotch whisky always better?

Older whisky is not necessarily better than younger whisky. Older whiskies will contain more flavour and complexity, but there is a danger they will take on too much flavour and become over-oaked. As a whisky ages, three important things happen: it becomes more complex as flavour molecules break down and create new aromas in the liquid; more of it evaporates from the cask ensuring that the flavours left in the cask become more concentrated but also ensuring there is less of it to go round; it picks up more characteristics from the oak adding yet more flavour to the mix. All three of these effects need to be in balance. A process which will take different times for different whiskies.

What is the smoothest Scotch whisky?

There is no single "smoothest" Scotch whisky as smoothness depends on alcohol strength and flavour style. The perfect balance of these factors is entirely down to personal taste.

• Alcohol strength: Whisky must be a minimum 40% ABV, with many bottled above this ABV. So naturally, most whisky will contain a bit of heat. We suggest sipping a whisky at full strength and holding it in your mouth for a few seconds before you swallow. Then follow up with a second small sip. This will let you gauge the smoothness of any whisky on your palate. If it's too intense we suggest adding a few drops of water to take the edge off and also help open the flavours across your palate. You can then keep adding water until you find the spot that suits you best. Similarly, a few cubes of ice can have a calming effect on the product – but be mindful that some of your whisky's aromas may disappear in the cold conditions.
• Style: Are you someone who finds vanilla sweet, fruity Bourbon casks to be your favourite, or does your palate prefer a rich, Christmas cake-y Sherry bomb? What about smoke? If you know the answer to these questions and pair the results with dilution, you are sure to land on a whisky you find smooth as silk.
  Finding the smoothest whisky for you is all part of your journey through the category. Look for words like Bourbon cask, Sherry cask and peat on a label to find your preference of style, then feel free to add water or ice to see how these change the whisky. And if a particular type of whisky doesn't have a sweet spot for you, that's okay too.

How does cask type influence Scotch whisky flavour?

All Scotch whisky must spend a minimum of 3 years in an oak cask. Each cask type will leave a fingerprint on the whisky affecting colour, aroma, flavour and mouthfeel. Here are the main cask types you will find on a whisky shelf.

• Ex-Bourbon casks - Ex-Bourbon casks have previously held American Bourbon. Made from American oak, you can expect to find flavours of vanilla, orchard fruits and lemon citrus.
• Sherry casks - Made from either American or European oak, these casks have been seasoned with Sherry, a Spanish fortified wine. Sherry casks are known for flavours of dried fruits, dark chocolate, orange citrus and Christmas cake. European oak delivers darker colour and richer aromas and flavours than American oak Sherry casks.
• Wine Casks - Oak casks seasoned with table wines. Mostly seasoned with red wines, these casks deliver pink/red colour, tannic structure and red berry flavour in the final product.
• Virgin Casks - These are casks that have not been seasoned with any other liquid. They deliver intense vanilla and ginger aromas and a lot of natural colour.
• Refill Casks - These are casks that have been used for Scotch whisky at least once before. They deliver less colour and character than when first filled. These are extremely important when achieving consistency and balance in a final product. They can be used to add more distillery character to a final product.
• Others - Port, Rum, Madeira, Marsala, Moscatel, Stout and Sauternes are just a few other cask types that deserve honourable mentions. Each one delivering unique characteristics when used to mature or finish Scotch whisky.

For even more information, have a look at The Whisky Club's guide to casks. 

What is peated Scotch whisky and why does it taste smoky?

Peated Scotch whisky is created when aromatic peat smoke is passed through the barley during the malting process. It is characterised by strong smoky and peaty aromas. Think antiseptic, old rope, tar, smoky bacon and bonfires.

Peat is an 11,000 year old precursor to coal. When it burns, it releases aromatic smoke which will give the barley, and eventually the whisky, aromas of bonfires, antiseptic, tar and smoky bacon.

The malting process is the process of preparing the barley. It is taken from the fields and germinated allowing the distillers to get access to the starch in the grain. The germination process is then stopped by introducing heat. At this point a distillery can introduce peat smoke which will impart the smoky and peaty flavours to the barley. These will stay with the whisky throughout its life.

The Whisky Club's guide to the best peated whisky

Are rare Scotch whiskies a good investment? 

Rare Scotch whiskies can increase in value, but the secondary market is unpredictable and not guaranteed to deliver returns. Our advice is to only buy whisky you can afford to one day drink. Check out The Whisky Club's guide to rare whisky.

What are the rarest, most collectible Scotch whiskies?

The rarest and most collectible Scotch whiskies are usually limited releases with very few bottles. One such whisky is the 1926 bottle of The Macallan that was bottled at 60 years old and sold for a cool $4.5million AUD, taking the title of most expensive bottle of whisky ever.

Highly collectible brands include:

• The Macallan - recognised as the most valuable whisky brand in the world, The Macallan releases collectible whiskies for every budget.
• Ardbeg - Ardbeg's Committee releases are an outlet for their experiments and give Islay whisky fans around the world a chance to own some very unusual whisky releases.
• Daftmill - released four times a year in limited quantities, Daftmill is fast becoming a highly collectible brand.
• Johnnie Walker - the biggest Scotch brand in the world has some incredible limited releases and old bottles on the market.
• Closed distilleries - these draw huge interest from collectors looking to own a piece of history. Brora, Port Ellen and Rosebank were so sought after by collectors that they have since reopened.
   

What is the best selling Scotch whisky?

The best selling Scotch whisky as of 2022 is Johnnie Walker, shifting 22.7million 9L cases annually. The best selling single malt Scotch was Glenlivet (1.7m cases) closely followed by Glenfiddich (1.6m cases).

How should you drink Scotch whisky?

You can drink Scotch whisky however you like: neat, with water, over ice, or in cocktails.

We suggest trying any dram neat, then adding things to it as you see fit. If you want to appreciate the aromas and flavours in isolation, we would suggest adding a drop or two of water, increasing the amount of water until you find the sweet spot.

If you like it on the rocks, go for it. Some people will comment that ice will dumb down the aroma of the whisky, this is not necessarily a negative and completely down to personal preference.

As for cocktails, experimentation is part of the fun. The best chefs in the world select their ingredients based on what they bring to a dish. The same goes for selecting a whisky for your favourite cocktail. Some surprisingly delicious combinations we have found include using Lagavulin and two drops of Pernod in a whisky sour, and we love a Highland Park Old Fashioned subbing in heather honey for sugar and a dash of orange bitters instead of Angostura.

The Whisky Club's guide to enjoying whisky

What is the difference between Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey? 

The main difference is that Scotch Whisky must be distilled and matured in Scotland, while Irish Whiskey must be distilled and matured in Ireland.

Both are made from cereal, water and yeast; they both must be matured in oak for three years; both industries make single malt whiskies and single grain whiskies; and both blend them together to make blended whiskies. But Scotch must be distilled and matured in Scotland and Irish whiskey must be distilled and matured in Ireland.

The spelling also differs with Scotch using the term whisky and the Irish using the term whiskey. You can find out more about that in our blog. 

In terms of style, most Irish whiskey is triple distilled and lighter in character. Most Scotch is double distilled. But there are double distilled drams from Ireland and triple distilled drams from Scotland. Similarly peated whiskey is rarer in Ireland, but it does exist.

For an overview of the main global whisky types, check out The Whisky Club's guide to whisky definitions.

What is the difference between Scotch and Scotch whisky?

Scotch is just a shortened version of the term Scotch whisky. They both refer to whisky made in Scotland, distilled from cereals, water and yeast and aged in oak casks for at least three years and bottled at a minimum of 40% ABV.

Does Scotch whisky go bad? 

Scotch whisky doesn't go bad. As it is a distilled spirit with a high ABV, it has no expiry date. That's not to say an open bottle won't change. Direct light may change the colour, and oxidation and evaporation in an open bottle may change the flavour profile over a period of months. If the bottle is sealed, it should be just as good as when it was placed into the bottle. Corks, however, can spoil. Avoid this by storing your whisky bottles correctly (see below). 

How should I store Scotch whisky?

Scotch whisky should be stored away from direct light, sealed and upright.

For sealed bottles:

Store them in a temperate, dark cupboard. Turn the bottles every so often to keep the cork moist, but do not store them on their side as the alcohol can eat the glue in the cork causing all sorts of problems when you open the bottle later.

For opened bottles:

Store in a temperate area away from direct sunlight. Store them standing up noting that oxygen will change the contents, but we are talking months if not a year or two for this to be noticeably detrimental. This affect will heighten as the level of whisky in the bottle reduces.

How does a whisky subscription work? 

Our whisky subscription is simple, flexible, and completely opt-out; you’re always in control.

Here’s how it works:

• Sign Up Free with your payment details to access our monthly releases.
• Choose your plan: one or two bottles per month, with the option to double up later if you want more.
• Do nothing if you like the release and your bottle(s) will be delivered automatically.
• Skip the monthly delivery if you'd rather not receive that release
• Access exclusive Add In whiskies: limited whiskies offered to Club Members on a first-come, first-served basis.
• There’s never any obligation to buy; you only receive what you want when you want it.

Why can't I buy these whiskies elsewhere? 

It's all part of the Club experience. We work directly with the most celebrated distilleries and whiskymakers around the world to design and deliver limited edition, rare and exclusive whiskies just for our Members. Not only do we deliver the bottles, but we get the opportunity to share the stories and insider information we gather along the way, both on our social media channels and through our packing letters and emails. It's so much more than buying a whisky off the shelf.