Top Rated Affordable Scotches

BenRiach has a large range of styles of whiskies to choose from. As the name suggests, this is from their Peated Malt collection. Peat from the mainland is quite different from the islands with more earth and grassy notes. BenRiach has had such a storied past but thankfully have survived to produce such a collection.

The Scots are no strangers to hard work, but the lads at Springbank take it to the nth degree. 100% of their production is handled on site including floor malting the barley, aging, and bottling. Distilling 2.5 times is quite unexpected to say the least. In keeping this maverick theme, they also have never chill-filtered or added natural color to their whisky.

Isle of Skye is a whisky produced at Ian Macleod, named after the chieftain of the Macleod clan. The idea was to create a blend based on his family's 19th century recipe, which includes a high proportion of island and Speyside malts aged an average of 12 years or higher. After the whiskies are blended, they're aged together in oak to get to know one another, which is an unusual step as most blended whisky goes straight from blend to bottle.

Aerstone Land Cask is one of two 10 year old single malt Scotch whiskies launched by William Grant & Sons (the owners of the Glenfiddich and Balvenie Scotch whisky distilleries, amongst others). The Aerstone whiskies aim to 'demystify' whisky for beginners. The Land Cask is described as the 'rich and smoky choice.' The distillery where this is produced is not disclosed. This single malt launched in the UK in mid-September 2018 and launched in the US in September 2019.

This Speyside single malt Scotch whisky is the second batch strength release from Tamdhu. It carries no age statement and was matured exclusively in sherry oak casks, most of which were first-filled. Non-chill filtered without any additives, it is bottled at 58.5% ABV.

First launched in 2003, Ardbeg Uigeadail [Oog-a-dal] is a marriage of some young and some very old oloroso sherry aged single malt along with Ardbeg aged in ex-bourbon barrels. The name Uigeadail means "a dark, mysterious place." Fun to say and even more fun to drink. It is also the name of the loch from which Ardbeg gets its water. Bottled at cask strength with no age statement.

The Cask Strength bottling will vary per batch, but will be somewhere in the 114-117 proof range. Aged in used barrels for 10 years, the whisky is barrier filtered, meaning just large chunks of char are removed leaving the whisky to shine on its own. As it is minimally filtered, adding water or changes in temperature will create a haze in the whisky.

A far from traditional bottling, Spice Tree has certainly caused folks to pay close attention (its former incarnation was deemed illegal by the SWA). Heavily toasted French oak heads are used along with American oak in the 2nd maturation. This rich, spicy whisky is a prime example of how Compass Box is changing the perception of blended Scotch.

One of the inherent beauties of independence is freedom. Benromach, one of the very few remaining single malt Scotch houses that’s free from the shackles of global conglomerates, reminds us of its independence every so often when it comes out with some kind of radical release—something so time- and resource-intensive. Something, for example, like an organic release. Benromach Organic, the first Soil Association-certified organic single malt, is made using organic Scottish barley and aged in virgin American oak. It’s non-chill-filtered and bottled at 43%.

Glengoyne distillery prides itself on its slow, meticulous process from barrel to bottle. All of their barley is air dried with no use of peat. This whisky was first aged in ex-bourbon and then given a hit of sherry cask aging at the end.