Uisge Beatha Whisky prices compared

Black Friday whisky deals

Every bottle below is the same exact bottle, size and edition at two or more of the UK whisky retailers we check, with its cheapest current shelf price clearly below the dearest. We rank each row by that gap, so you can see where shopping around makes the biggest difference. The rows update as retailers change their prices, including through Black Friday. Prices are shelf prices; open a bottle to see delivery and every shop’s price.

Best peated Black Friday whisky deals

Lightly to heavily peated bottles with the widest current price gap between the shops we check.

See every peated whisky

Best sherry cask Black Friday whisky deals

Whiskies matured or finished in sherry casks, including oloroso and Pedro Ximénez.

See every sherry cask whisky

Best independent bottler Black Friday whisky deals

Bottlings from independent bottlers, who buy casks from distilleries and release them under their own labels.

See every independent bottling

Best bourbon cask Black Friday whisky deals

Whiskies matured in former bourbon barrels, usually lighter, with vanilla and fruit.

See every bourbon cask whisky

Best Irish whiskey Black Friday deals

See every Irish whiskey

Best Japanese whisky Black Friday deals

See every Japanese whisky

Best American whiskey Black Friday deals

See every American whiskey

Best Black Friday whisky deals under £50

Full-size bottles whose cheapest current shelf price is £50 or less.

A short history of Black Friday

Black Friday began in the United States as the day after Thanksgiving, when shops opened early and the Christmas shopping season started in earnest. The name is usually credited to police in Philadelphia, who used it for the crowds and traffic that the day brought. The more cheerful story, that it was the day retailers’ accounts moved from red into black, came later.

Amazon and Asda brought it to the UK, other big retailers followed in the mid 2010s, and it has since grown from a single Friday into a week or more of offers that often runs on into Cyber Monday. Whisky retailers now take part alongside everyone else, and for many people it is the start of buying bottles as Christmas presents.

What makes a good Black Friday whisky deal

A good deal is a lower price on exactly the bottle you want. Three things matter most:

  • The same bottle. Age, strength, size and edition all change the price. A gift pack, a smaller bottle or an older release is a different product, even when the name looks the same.
  • Other shops, not the “was” price. A saving against a retailer’s own reference price tells you little on its own. The useful test is what the same bottle costs elsewhere right now.
  • The price you actually pay. Delivery can turn the cheapest shelf price into the dearest order, especially for a single bottle. Check the delivered price before you decide.

A modest saving on a bottle you were going to buy anyway is usually worth more than a large percentage off one you were not.

How we evaluate deals

We match each bottle exactly across the UK retailers we check, so prices for different sizes or editions are never mixed. For every bottle stocked by two or more of those shops, we take the gap between its cheapest and dearest current shelf price and rank each row by that gap as a share of the dearest price. Bottles with a gap under 5% are left out. Retailers’ “was” prices play no part.

Our own record of past prices is still young, so this year the rows are based on the prices retailers are showing now rather than on a long price history. That means a bottle appears because shopping around saves money today, not because its price has fallen from a past high. The page rebuilds as prices change, so the rows move with the market through Black Friday.

For the detail behind every comparison, see how we compare prices and how we make money.

Questions

When is Black Friday?
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, so Black Friday always falls between 23 and 29 November, and it traditionally opens the Christmas shopping season (Wikipedia).
Why is it called Black Friday?
Police in Philadelphia used the name in the 1950s for the crowds and traffic the day after Thanksgiving brought. The explanation that it is the day retailers’ accounts move from red into black came later, in the early 1980s (Wikipedia).
What is Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday is the Monday after Black Friday. The name was invented in 2005 by Shop.org, the online division of the US National Retail Federation, to promote shopping online (Wikipedia).
What should a "was" price mean in a UK advert?
Under the advertising regulators’ guidance, a “was” price should be a genuine, established usual selling price: generally the most recent price before the reduction, charged for longer than the sale price. The ASA expects an advertiser to be able to show at least three months of pricing history (CAP AdviceOnline: promotional savings claims).