6 of the best whisky experiences in Edinburgh
With rare bottles and tasting selections, these are the best places to grab a dram
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Amber Restaurant & Whisky Bar
354 Castle Hill
As the whisky bar within the Scotch Whisky Experience, Amber has a formidable range of over 600 whiskies available. If that makes choosing hard, the team curates a special selection every month and can create bespoke flights based on flavour or themes like rare or limited editions.
Explorers’ Bothy Bar
45 Princes Street
The Johnnie Walker Princes Street visitor experience offers an engaging intro to whisky, but whisky fans should head to the top floor and skip to the good bit. There, the Explorers’ Bothy Bar has 150 rare and unusual bottlings from Diageo’s 28 Scottish distilleries and offers tutored tastings as well as whisky cocktail pairings with small plates.
Kaleidoscope
28 Queen Street
Most of the time, to drink in one of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s bars, you need to be a member (or the guest of one). Kaleidoscope is the exception, open to all and offering something a bit different. Drams are sold under the society’s own coding system for bottlings, with the emphasis on flavour rather than the traditional focus on region style or age.
Scotch
1 Princes Street
The whisky bar at The Balmoral displays 500 or so bottles in a handcrafted oak cabinet, making an impressive initial statement of intent. With soft chairs and sofas, it’s more gentlemen’s club than traditional bar and uniformed staff will guide you through tasting experiences. Alternatively seek out their monthly whisky events featuring guest distilleries and bottles.
Tipsy Midgie
67 St Leonards Hill
Colin Hinds’ whisky bar near the Pleasance manages to convey all the romance of the water of life without the hokum. With suggested drams, tastings and late-night, tutored whisky flights, this is a bar where they’ll take you by the hand and guide you through the myths to find a whisky you actually like.
Also try… Ghillie’s Pantry at 100 Princes Street where the upmarket boutique hotel’s whisky ambassador will take you through some of their private collection’s rarest drams. It’s VERY spendy, but arguably worth it if you’re really into whisky.
This TipList is taken from Eat & Drink 365, our sister mag recommending the best in restaurants, bars, cafés and more across Edinburgh. Want a copy? It’s available online or across all good stockists in Scotland’s capital; main picture: Johanna Derry Hall.