Uisge Beatha Whisky prices compared
On this page

GuideStyle and flavour

Best Scotch whisky: a pick by style and region

Scotch whisky picks from each region and legal category, from Speyside and Islay single malts to Monkey Shoulder and Chivas Regal, with UK prices.

Written by the Uisge Beatha team

Published Updated

This guide links to retailers. Some links may earn us a commission; picks are based on the price data and the criteria below.

Short answer: for a first bottle, pick by style: BenRiach The Original Ten (Speyside, 43% ABV) or Glenkinchie 12 Year Old (Lowland, 43% ABV) for single malt, Lagavulin 16 Year Old (Islay) for smoke, and Monkey Shoulder, a blended malt, for mixing as well as sipping. Every Scotch we track is on Scotch whisky.

The best Scotch whisky for you depends on style more than on any single bottle, so this guide picks one or two widely stocked bottles from each region and each legal category, with today’s UK prices. New to Scotch? Start with best Scotch whisky for beginners.

Scotch is whisky distilled and matured in Scotland for at least three years. Within that, the law sets five categories, and the label names one of them. Single malt is the best known, so it comes first, by region. Region is a guide to house style, not a rule: a Speyside distillery can make a peated malt, and plenty of Islay whisky is unpeated. For single malts organised by cask instead, see best single malt whisky. For one pick from every style, see the best whisky to buy in the UK.

Single malt Scotch, by region

Speyside

BenRiach The Original Ten: £39.50 at Master of Malt. A 10-year-old single malt at 43% ABV from Benriach, founded in 1897.

Glenfiddich 15 Year Old Solera Reserve: £47.95 at Hard To Find Whisky. A 15-year-old single malt at 40% ABV from Glenfiddich, founded in 1886 and owned by William Grant & Sons.

More: Speyside whisky.

Highland

Tomatin 12 Year Old: £35.00 at Master of Malt. A 12-year-old single malt at 43% ABV from Tomatin.

Balblair 12 Year Old: £44.95 at Hard To Find Whisky. A 12-year-old single malt at 46% ABV from Balblair.

More: Highland whisky.

Islay

Lagavulin 16 Year Old: £72.95 at Master of Malt. A 16-year-old single malt at 43% ABV from Lagavulin, founded in 1816 and owned by Diageo, which describes its whisky as intensely flavoured and smoky. The island’s other nine distilleries are compared in best Islay whisky.

Islands

Tobermory 12 Year Old: £39.99 at Master of Malt. A 12-year-old single malt at 46.3% ABV from Tobermory on Mull, founded in 1798.

Arran 10 Year Old: £44.50 at Tyndrum Whisky. A 10-year-old single malt at 46% ABV from Arran, founded on the Isle of Arran in 1993.

More: island whisky.

Lowland

Glenkinchie 12 Year Old: £47.00 at The Whisky Shop. A 12-year-old single malt at 43% ABV from Glenkinchie, founded in 1837 and owned by Diageo. More: Lowland whisky.

Campbeltown

Glen Scotia 15 Year Old: £54.95 at Hard To Find Whisky. A 15-year-old single malt at 46% ABV from Glen Scotia, founded in 1832 and one of the town’s working distilleries. More: Campbeltown whisky.

Blended malt

A blended malt mixes single malts from more than one distillery, with no grain whisky.

Monkey Shoulder: £30.95 at Master of Malt. A blended malt at 40% ABV with no age statement.

Compass Box The Story of the Spaniard: £54.95 at Master of Malt. A blended malt at 43% ABV from the blender Compass Box.

All of them: blended malt Scotch.

Blended Scotch

Blended Scotch mixes one or more malt whiskies with one or more grain whiskies. It is a different category from single malt, not a lower grade of it.

Chivas Regal 12 Year Old: £29.95 at Hard To Find Whisky. A blended Scotch at 40% ABV in which every whisky is at least 12 years old.

Black Bottle 10 Year Old: £27.03 at Master of Malt. A blended Scotch at 40% ABV in which every whisky is at least 10 years old.

All of them: blended Scotch.

Single grain

Single grain Scotch comes from one distillery but, unlike single malt, may be made with whole grains of other cereals as well as malted barley.

Loch Lomond Single Grain: £30.00 at The Whisky Shop. A single grain at 46% ABV from Loch Lomond, a Highland distillery that makes grain as well as malt whisky.

North British 17 Year Old (Living Souls): £42.95 at Master of Malt. A 17-year-old single grain at 48% ABV from North British, a Lowland grain distillery.

All of them: single grain whisky. For every Scotch bottle, see Scotch whisky.

By budget

For a first bottle under £30, see the best whisky under £30; for single malt under £50, see the best single malt whisky under £50.

How we chose

Member ratings are not shown on this site yet, so these picks are not ranked by score, and we have not ranked them against each other. We chose one or two bottles for each region and each legal category, each a full-size bottle (50cl to 1 litre) sold by at least three UK retailers we check on 11 November 2026, favouring core-range bottles over limited editions. The picks span the under £30, £30 to £50 and £50 to £100 bands. We avoided repeating the picks on the beginners’ guide, apart from Monkey Shoulder, and share none with the single malt guide. Founding years and owners come from our distillery database, categories and ages from the bottle details and the 2009 Regulations; the lines are label facts, not tasting notes. Prices change daily, and the retailer’s checkout price is the one that counts. Read how we compare prices.

Questions

What are the five categories of Scotch whisky?
Single Malt, Single Grain, Blended Malt, Blended Grain and Blended Scotch Whisky (Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009, regulation 3). A single malt comes from one distillery, made from water and malted barley only and distilled in pot stills; a blended malt such as Monkey Shoulder mixes single malts from more than one distillery; a blended Scotch such as Chivas Regal 12 Year Old mixes malt and grain whiskies.
How long must Scotch whisky be matured?
At least three years, in Scotland, in oak casks of no more than 700 litres, and it must be bottled at 40% ABV or more (Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009, regulation 3). An age on the label, such as the 12 on Chivas Regal 12 Year Old, is the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle (regulation 12).
Are the Islands a Scotch whisky region?
Not in law. The 2009 Regulations name three protected regions (Highland, Lowland and Speyside) and two protected localities (Campbeltown and Islay). Island distilleries such as Talisker on Skye, Highland Park on Orkney and Tobermory on Mull fall within the Highland region; Islands is a grouping used by writers and shops (Scotland’s whisky regions).