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Whisky for beginners: first bottles under £40

Good first whiskies across styles, light, sherried, gently smoky, bourbon and Irish, with the lowest current UK price for each from the retailers we check.

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The best first bottle is a style choice, not a brand choice. A light Speyside single malt such as Glenfiddich 12 Year Old (£36.96 at Master of Malt), an Irish blend such as Jameson (£23.40 at Master of Malt) and a wheated bourbon such as Maker’s Mark (£35.00 at The Whisky Shop) cover three very different styles, and each was in stock under £40 in our October 2026 checks.

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

How we chose

These are bottles in stock and in budget, not our favourites. We compared full-size whiskies whose best in-stock price at the UK retailers we check was under £40 in October 2026, preferring bottles sold by more than one independently owned retailer, and grouped the picks by style. If a bottle’s best price moves over £40 it drops off this page. We have not tasted them for this guide.

Prices exclude delivery unless the offer says otherwise; the live figure carries its retailer and check time.

Light and fruity

Light, unpeated single malts are the commonest starting point, and Speyside is full of them.

Glenfiddich 12 Year Old: £36.96 at Master of Malt. A 12-year-old Speyside single malt at 40% ABV, unpeated as Glenfiddich’s core range is. Several of the retailers we check stock it, so there is a real comparison on price.

The Glenlivet 12 Year Old: £34.95 at Hard To Find Whisky. A 12-year-old Speyside single malt at 40% ABV, also unpeated by house style. Several retailers stock it.

Sweet and sherried

Sherry casks tend to add dried fruit and spice. The cask tags here come from catalogue information rather than a label we have read, so treat them as a guide.

Jura 12 Year Old: £33.50 at Master of Malt. A 12-year-old island single malt at 40% ABV, tagged as an oloroso sherry cask finish from catalogue information. Several retailers stock it.

Gentle smoke

Peat is not off-limits for a first bottle, but the evidence for it matters. Both picks state peat on the label rather than relying on house style.

Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey: £33.45 at Master of Malt. A peated Irish single malt at 40% ABV with peat stated. Only one retailer we check currently stocks it, so there is nothing to compare yet.

Big Peat Islay Malt Whisky: £36.00 at The Whisky Shop. An Islay blended malt at 46% ABV with peat stated. Two retailers stock it, so delivery may decide which is the lower total.

Bourbon and Irish

Bourbon and Irish blends are usually the least expensive way to try a clearly defined style. More Irish bottles are listed on our Irish whiskey page.

Maker’s Mark Bourbon: £35.00 at The Whisky Shop. A 70cl Kentucky straight bourbon at 45% ABV. Maker’s Mark uses red winter wheat instead of rye as its flavouring grain, which gives a softer, sweeter bourbon.

Jameson Irish Whiskey: £23.40 at Master of Malt. A 70cl triple-distilled Irish blend at 40% ABV, mixing pot still and grain whiskey. Several retailers stock it.

How to taste it

A small measure, nosed before it is sipped, with a few drops of water if you like, is the usual starting point. Whiskipedia’s guide to tasting whisky covers nosing, palate and dilution properly.

Worth knowing before you buy

Delivery matters at this budget. A single bottle below a retailer’s free-delivery threshold pays a delivery charge, which for the under-£40 bottles we checked added between a tenth and a quarter of the shelf price on 14 October 2026.

Comparing shops matters more here too. Among the under-£40 bottles stocked by more than one of the retailers we check, the typical gap between the lowest and highest price was 20% on 14 October 2026, wider than across the catalogue as a whole. The under £30 and £30 to £50 selections show where each bottle sits.

Retailers and check date

We compared in-stock offers from Abbey Whisky, DrinkSupermarket.com, Hard To Find Whisky, Loch Fyne Whiskies, Milroy’s of Soho, The Whisky Shop, Tyndrum Whisky and Whisky Me in our October 2026 catalogue checks. Loch Fyne Whiskies and The Whisky Shop count as one owner. Prices and stock change; the live table on each bottle page is current, and the retailer’s checkout price is the one that counts. Read how we compare prices.

Questions

Should a beginner start with single malt or a blend?
Either. Single malt and blend describe how the whisky is made, not how good it is; both are legal categories under the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009. Single malt is made at one distillery from malted barley in pot stills; a blend mixes one or more malt whiskies with grain whisky. Compare the single malt and blended styles.

About the author

John Fegan

· Editor

Hailing from the land of haggis and deep-fried Mars bars, John was always going to find his way to whisky. He has run Uisge Beatha since 2015 and Whiskipedia.com since 2020.