Why I Regret Booking So Many Distillery Tours in Scotland

Scotland Distillery Tours All Follow the Same Pattern

Now, I have to start off with a preface- I love distillery tours. Seeing the equipment, learning the history, and all that comes with it is a treat. As a former chemical engineer, I really love being in distilleries every chance I get.

But in Scotland, if you do one distillery tour, you’ve done them all. They are, for the base tours at least, virtually identical. The only differences are the ambiance, whether or not you get to go into a maturation warehouse, and what whisky you get to try.

Why are they almost all the same? Well, almost all Scotch is made via the same process, with the same ingredients, and only slight variations in practices, particularly around barrel selection and aging, differentiate most whisky.

So tours really all say the same information, again, and again, and again.

I need to repeat myself here, I love a good tour. But after about two tours, I realized I could probably give most generic details as the guide, all the way to the same question about asking who likes to drink sherry. (Every single guide explained why bourbon casks are easier to acquire than sherry because of differing demand. All of them.)

So unless there is a distillery you love and really want to see, and we will have more on that in a moment, doing only a few tours may make sense purely because you’re not going to get that much new information at any one spot. 

But for me, the biggest reason I may avoid tours in the future is that most entry-level tours only taste a distillery’s core lineup, and those aren’t the types of whisky I enjoy.

Want More Unique Whisky? Taste at the Bar

Perhaps my biggest hangup on tours is that the base whiskies at distilleries are, as I quickly came to find out, not my favorite. A 10-year ex-bourbon barrel whisky is just not as exciting to me as a 15-year ex-sherry finished in Port barrels.

You will likely get the former on an entry-level tour, but may or may not get a taste of the latter as part of the flight. Many distilleries offer one “premium” bottle in base tastings, often a distillery exclusive, and I batted about 50% on enjoying those- but core bottles I found myself not liking as much.

What I found I enjoy are the bottles that are often not tasted, or are perhaps only available on more premium tours (read £100 tours), and we found those experiences to be cost-prohibitive, if only because for that amount of money I could buy a killer bottle to take home outright.

Thankfully, many distilleries have bars, and a lot of them accommodate walk-ins for DIY flights during normal business hours!

Walk-in tastings are, we admit, best suited for those who know what they like in whisky to begin with. Yes, bartenders can help guide you, but if you know your sweet spot is low-peat, 15-21 year, ex-sherry or double/triple finish, you already are in a great starting place to make an educated decision from a menu.

For us, though, it was also a monetary decision to skip tours.

A tour for two during our visit often ran about £40 to £50 with both of us getting the same base tasting flight at the end- one of which we took to go in driver’s drams). But tastings of premium bottles at most distillery bars ran about £10 to £20 per dram.

So for £40 at Glenlivet, for example, we got to try super premium 18 year from the core line, 15 year single barrel amarone cask (a £115 distillery exclusive bottle), and a 21 year triple cask (a 220 £ bottle)- all for less than the cost of a tour and base tasting for two, albeit this was just one flight that we split.

We left with two very expensive bottles all because we got to try what we personally enjoy. Would we have bought these without trying them? Absolutely not, and that’s the point.

If you want to shop for good whisky, you probably want to try it first, and you can do that at most (but not all) distilleries’ bars.

• It is important to research whether a distillery offers a bar on site, as not all do, and others have additional rules. Macallan, for example, required reservations for the bar (and even for the shop). Others may not have a walk-in tasting room, but offer tours. Some distilleries aren’t open for visitors at all. But on average, we found a great number of distilleries accommodated walk-ins without reservation during business hours, and that opened up our tasting possibilities more than we originally expected.

Tour the Big Distilleries for the Wow Factor

This may be counterintuitive, but if we were to pay for a distillery tour anywhere, especially for a base tasting, it wouldn’t be the small artisan distilleries. (Go and buy drams at the bar at those, if you can.)

It would be at the big guys. Think Macallan, Glenlivet, etc. The big producers.

Why? Their campuses are insane. Large distilleries are technological marvels and are simply awe-inspiring. I can nerd out over amazing tech any day, and I would absolutely pay for that tour. One friend called Macallan “Malt Disney” and, well, you get the drift as to what all goes with that. I really, really like these tours.

But, that said, be sure to still taste at the bar to try better bottles, because the portfolio range of bigger distilleries is often quite impressive. (Definitely do this at Glenlivet as their bottles are not overpriced like Macallan.)

We would consider smaller producer tours as well, but we would probably be more picky to either visit a distillery we knew we liked ahead of time (of which I didn’t really have any before our trip), or any that use unique or old fashioned techniques for production that would make the tour just a bit different. I’d love to visit Edradour in Pitlochry for the latter, but during our visit, they weren’t offering tours or tastings, so enjoying them at a bar it was!

Ultimately, Everyone’s Interests Differ

The only problem we have with our above recommendations is that they are suited to our unique situation. You may fall into a different case.

We love whisky, didn’t know too much about Scotch production in particular (being American, we drink more Bourbon and rye due to availability), and went to Scotland to both learn and shop.

We knew roughly what broad styles of Scotch we liked before we arrived (e.g. less peat), but didn’t know at the time we preferred ex-sherry or finished bottles of a slightly elevated age.

So we went in thinking tours and base tastings would be a good start, but ended up finding our tastes in the first few days sampling drams in Edinburgh bars- well before we even started our road trip (and perhaps most importantly, after we had booked our tours).

So for us, one or two tours were fine, but four became excessive. We ended up tasting at eight more distilleries and an untold number of bars, and that was much more enjoyable for us as we got to try more premium bottles and really hone in on our tastes. It should come as no surprise that of the 12 bottles we bought, only two were products sampled on guided tours- the rest we tried elsewhere or bought sight unseen in hopes we would like them (we did).

So are you going to Scotland to shop? Or simply to learn and enjoy? Your own personal scenario may influence how you approach things.

But next time we go to Scotland, we may only do one or two tours at most, and reserve the money we save to taste at more distillery bars, pubs, and bottle shops. 

• We admit that our trip was heavy on Speyside and the west coast, particularly in Skey and Glencoe areas. We did not visit Islay or other regions, and as such, cannot speak to whether or not distilleries there are as accommodating to walk-ins. Be sure to research for every distillery you may be interested, as they’re all different.

But from our own tour list, we have the following thoughts that may or may not help get you started.

• Holyrood Distillery: An Edinburgh-based distillery with whisky and gin. Very easy to get a tasting at the bar and craft mix flights of both spirits types if you like. 
• Edinburgh Gin Distillery: An Edinburgh-based gin distillery in the heart of town. Very easy to get a tasting at the bar and try drams a la carte.
• Port of Leith Distillery: A large facitily in Leith just outside of Edinburgh. At the time of our visit in 2025 they did not have their own products ready yet and sold drams and flights from many producers. Great for sampling at the bar.
• Oban: They offered a nice tour booked in advance, but you could also get by tasting at the bar. A limited portfolio works for either option here, so we wouldn’t feel too upset if we missed a tour. Be sure to try the Distiller’s Edition bottle, which was our favorite here.
• Ben Nevis: Only tasted at the bar, and a limited portfolio lends itself to either option. We tried almost their entire line as a walk-in tasting, and were quite happy.
• Tallisker: A good tour booked in advance, but we enjoyed more of their premium products that we later sampled at the bar instead. 
• Benromach: A good tour for a smaller facility booked in advance (although tickets were still available on our weekday tour), but we wish we would’ve tried premium products at the bar instead. The 15-year from the base tour is delicious, though, and we left with a bottle.
• Glenlivet: Only tasted at the bar walk-in, and loved their massive portfolio by the dram. But this one also has an astounding campus we would’ve liked to tour. I would do both here, if money allowed. In either case, definitely taste at the bar.
• Macallan: Probably the most spectacular campus in Speyside. Would love to tour for the engineering marvel of the space, but the whisky pairing with their prix fixe dinner meal is a worthy splurge to try super premium whisky. We did not return to the bar or the shop, mostly because I think their products are exceptionally overpriced for what they offer.
• GlenAllachie: Only tasted at the bar walk-in, and would’ve liked to taste more as all of the whiskies were delicious. Their 12-year won best single malt in the world in 2025 and certainly deserves the praise.
• Glenfarclas: A good distillery tour on a beautiful campus booked in advance, but we were less thrilled with the tasting and lineup overall as they seem to focus on year vintages over barrel finish variations that we personally enjoy. 
• Aberlour: We only tried a quick Express flight booked in advance, as the distillery is under construction (but we were walked through distillery photos with the same info you get on every tour). I would’ve liked to try the Deconstructed flight instead for more premium bottles over the Express option, but the core lineup here was perhaps our favorite of our tours. 

Overall, there really is no bad way to tackle distilleries in Scotland, but after learning our tastes, we simply found that tasting at a distillery’s bar was far more enjoyable for our palate and budget- particularly after a tour or two. After a point, I would’ve rather just put that money to premium tastings instead.

Do you prefer to take distillery tours in Scotland or head to the bar for a DIY flight of bottles of your choosing? Comment to share!