Editorial
Scotland has around 140 operational distilleries. Its two main cities each have more serious whisky bars per square mile than anywhere else on earth. And yet the quality range among these bars is enormous. Some are tourist traps with impressive-looking shelves and staff who cannot tell you the difference between a Highland and an Island expression. The 7 bars below are not those bars.
We spent 3 weeks in Edinburgh and Glasgow finding the venues where the whisky is taken seriously, the staff are knowledgeable without being insufferable about it, and the atmosphere justifies staying for a third pour. Edinburgh dominates the list, but Glasgow's The Pot Still is, by most measures, the finest pub whisky bar in the country.
For whisky bars outside Scotland, our companion pieces on the best whisky bars in London and the best whisky bars in New York cover the two cities where Scotch has the largest international followings. For a broader view of where the world's best Scotch is being poured, our new guide to the best Scotch whisky bars outside Scotland covers London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Edinburgh has approximately 60 venues that could reasonably call themselves whisky bars. We visited 34 of them. These 4 are the ones we would take a first-time visitor to, and also the ones we return to ourselves.
Glasgow's whisky culture is less visible than Edinburgh's because it does not target tourists. It exists for people who live there, which makes it better. The city has 3 bars worth traveling for.
The Craigellachie Hotel in Speyside operates a bar called The Quaich, and it sits on the most important whisky road in the world. The Speyside distilleries, Glenfarclas, Aberlour, Macallan, Glenfiddich, are within a short drive. The Quaich holds over 900 expressions, the largest selection in Scotland, and the setting, a Victorian country hotel in the heart of malt whisky country, makes the experience entirely unlike any city bar.
The journey from Edinburgh or Glasgow takes 2.5 hours by car. For serious whisky travelers, it is compulsory. Our best bars for whiskey lovers guide places The Quaich in the global context it deserves.
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