11 Distilleries to Visit on Your Scotland Road Trip

Distilleries in Edinburgh

Holyrood Distillery

Most distilleries we saw in Scotland tend to specialize in one spirit style, namely whisky or gin. Holyrood Distillery in the heart of Edinburgh was one modern distilleries that produced both (plus vodka and rum)!

As such, when visiting, be sure to try a mix of spirits in a flight to taste the full spectrum of their capabilities.

Our personal favorite was the Height of Arrows gin line, particularly the award-winning Heavy variant which won gold in the World Gin Awards!

Holyrood Distillery is located at 19 St Leonard’s Lane in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Gin Distillery

Edinburgh Gin Distillery is another distillery in the heart of the city that is hard to miss. As its name implies, this one specializes in, you guessed it, gin!

This distillery has a long list of London Dry gins, flavored gins, and even gin-based liqueurs, meaning they have a little something for everyone. Throw on a full cocktail program, and you can see how their spirits work in one of your favorite cocktails- like our go-to of The Last Word!

Edinburgh Gin Distillery is located at East Market Street, The Arches in Edinburgh.

West Coast Distilleries

Oban

Oban is a popular place to stop on a road trip in western Scotland, as the town is picturesque, it is home to some excellent seafood shacks, and, of course, the namesake distillery can be found just steps away.

One of our favorite things about a tour of Oban Distillery was that, unlike other distilleries, they only really have four core products- 14 year old, 18 year old, Little Bay, and the Distiller’s Edition- the latter of which has a second maturation in fino sherry casks.

This one was fun for us not only to tour, but also because we sampled our way around their complete portfolio in a single stop. It was also here that we started to gain an appreciation for cask finishing on whisky and realized that our tastes really appreciate that extra bit of flavor!

Oban Whisky is located at Oban Distillery Stafford Street in Oban.

Ben Nevis

At first, Ben Nevis in Fort William was not on our must-visit list of Scottish distilleries. However, when all the parking near the famous bridge nearby was full, and it was pouring rain (such that we didn’t want to hike a mile or two from the next closest lot), we decided it was distillery time!

Unfortunately, it was because of this that we couldn’t get into a tour, but we did grab a seat at the bar and get to try a few drams of some of the distillery’s premier products. Give the Coire Leis a try for a wonderful toffee and oak hit.

Ben Nevis Distillery is located at Lochy Bridge in Fort William.

Talisker

For those who want a distillery visit on the Isle of Skye, you’ll do well to score a reservation to Talisker. We booked ours to coincide with our drive in (allowing enough time to eat at The Oyster Shed next door), and are glad we did! While popular, it is a bit out of the way from the other tourist sights you may consider when visiting, so stopping on your way in or out can make for easier logistics.

The tour at Talisker was certainly an interesting one from a larger distillery perspective; however, we do admit that the tasting flight did not include some of the higher-end and non-exported bottles that we were hoping to try. For those, we made our way over to the bar after the tour had ended and ordered an extra dram, particularly the Port barrel finished Port Ruighe that grabbed a bottle of to take home!

Talisker is located at Carbost in Isle Of Skye.

Speyside Distilleries

Glenlivet

If we could be so bold as to call out our favorite distillery in Scotland (from those that we visited at least), it would be Glenlivet- and we were really bummed to not visit this one on a full tour.

First off, the campus of this distillery is simply astonishing. It is one of those large facilities that we wish we could’ve toured just because it is quite impressive. But, as we were just visiting for the bar, we got the best of all worlds- we took the money that would’ve been spent on a tour (which, for most distilleries, can be quite expensive) and put it to sampling drams!

One of the best parts about Glenlivet’s bar is that virtually all of their spirits are available for purchase by the dram, and, while expensive, they were still rather reasonable all around. Why, yes, we would love to try the limited batch Amarone barrel finish and the 21 year triple cask for a similar price to what two tours would’ve been, thanks!

The only downside here? We ended up buying a bottle of each, and that, well, that killed our budget. But it was worth it, and these two were easily some of our favorite whiskies from our entire trip.

• We later found the Glenlivet 21 Triple Cask in Duty Free in both Edinburgh and London for only a nominal price difference. Had we known that it was available there, we probably would’ve bought it at duty-free instead of risking it in our suitcase. Your mileage may vary.

Glenlivet is located at Ballindalloch, Banffshire in Speyside.

Benromach

Benromach is a smaller, family-owned distillery that is taking Speyside back to its historical recipes- with a hint of smoke in every bottle. Yes, we mean peat.

Although Benromach likes to hail their use of peat in their whisky, we have to admit, it was still quite subtle, and resulted in quite a well-balanced whisky. For something a bit different, give their Contrasts series a try which highlights a unique variation in the production like double oak, high enzyme, unpeated, and a whole lot more!

Admittedly, we didn’t get to try many of the more unique creations on our tour, and if we were to go back, we would’ve likely seen about just doing a tasting alone to try some of the more unusual styles.

Benromach is located at Invererne Rd, Forres IV36 3EB.

Macallan

Of all of the distilleries we’ve visited, Macallan was the only one we did not visit for a tour or drams at the bar. Instead, we visited for their popular prix fixe dinner at TimeSpirit!

So, why are we including it in a distillery guide then? Well, we tried roughly 10 whiskies from their lineup, ranging from the more conventional 12-year to the more esoteric bottles like Aurora, Litha, Rare Cask, and Art is the Flower to name a few- some of these bottles sell for many hundreds of GBP at their shop (and, in our opinion, are also many hundreds of GBP overpriced).

Still, one thing about this dinner that was shocking to us was just how reasonable it was- both for the food and whisky pairing. So while we probably would not normally shell out the price for any of these on their own in a normal situation, getting in for dinner is a must. But, if you do fancy Macallan, getting in for a tour could also be a good one simply to see the distillery proper- it is a work of art and is truly unlike any distillery we’ve ever been in, in Scotland or otherwise.

But for us, dinner at TimeSpirit was perfect, and yes, we absolutely would eat there again.

• Given its popularity, Macallan does not allow walk-ins for tasting or even shopping at the on-site store. So if you want to check this distillery out, for whatever reason, you need a reservation.

Macallan is located at Easter Elchies, Craigellachie in Moray.

Aberlour

Aberlour, in the heart of the town of the same name, is an artisan distillery with some of the finest products we tasted in all of Scotland. Although we could only stop for a tasting, as their distillery was under renovation during our visit, this one packed a punch.

Our favorite whisky sampled was the A’Bunadh. This one translates to “the original” and is a nod to the founder while being bottled at cask strength. It won the best overall in the Spirits of Speyside Whisky Awards in 2024, and after you taste it, you’ll quickly see why that is.

Aberlour is located at Banffshire, A95, Aberlour AB38 9PJ.

Glenfarclas

Glenfarclas is a massive, family-owned distillery that had arguably our favorite tour that we took in Scotland. The reason for this is that the grounds of the distillery are quite impressive, and we got a chance to check out the grounds, the production facility, rickhouse, and more- making for a really enjoyable all-around tour.

In terms of product range, Glenfarclas skips the barrel finishes and variants that you may find at other distilleries, and simply produces their core lineup of age indications (10-30 years) as well as a series focusing on distilling years- a lot like how you would see on a Vintage Port over a distilled spirit. Admittedly, we prefer barrel finishes in our Scotch whisky, so the tasting wasn’t our personal favorite. But for the tour? You really can’t ask for better than here.

Glenfarclas is located at CMGM+MM Ballindalloch.

GlenAllachie

One of our last distilleries visited was GlenAllachie, where we visited for a few drams at the bar where most all of their range was available for purchase.

GlenAllachie had recently won best single malt in the world for their GlenAllachie 12, which we bought sight unseen (it is really incredible), and during our visit, we sampled some barrel finished variants- the 12 year Sauternes finish and 17 year ex-solera sherry finish, which you really could taste in the final product. Had these not been a bit on the more expensive side for our budget (and one of the last distilleries we visited, so we were running low on funds), we would’ve picked these up in addition to the 12 year.

But if you want a great intro to Speyside whisky and want to start with the best, it is hard to beat a dram of their standard 12 year!

GlenAllachie is located at FQ3C+XJ Aberlour.

Do you have a favorite Scottish distillery we should visit on our next trip? Comment to share!