Milroy's of Soho
August 07, 2024
The Milroy's Whisky Travel Index
Ranking Scotland's best distillery tour and tasting experiences
Welcome to the Milroy’s Whisky Travel Index 2024, a first-of-its-kind tool for whisky lovers planning a trip to Scotland.
We’ve ranked over 50 whisky tourism experiences across the country to provide you with an unrivalled tool for travel planning.
Metrics include the cost of tours and tastings, the variety of experiences offered, price of tours, visitor feedback, nearby amenities, and the quality of the whisky they produce. Each attraction was scored across 15 areas, with over 80,000 visitor reviews analysed in the process. The result? A comprehensive score from 0 to 100 ranking the best whisky experiences that Scotland has to offer. This is the Milroy’s Whisky Travel Index!
We’ve included the table in full so you can easily click and rank the experiences by what matters most to you. We’ve also highlighted our award-winners in four key categories: Best Value Tours, Best Premium Tours, Best Tours for Whisky Lovers, and Most Sustainable Distillery Tours. These also include our Diamond, Gold, and Silver recommendations to help make decision-making even easier.
We hope this will serve as a tool to help you plan your most fulfilling whisky trip yet. For seasoned whisky experts and curious newcomers alike, welcome to your guide to finding your dream distillery tour.
Best whisky distillery experiences
The best of the best: These distilleries scored the highest marks across all tourism metrics
1. Ardbeg Distillery, Islay
The Milroy's Whisky Travel Index Score: 92.24 out of 100
Perched on the edge of Islay’s rocky coast, the whitewashed walls with black lettering of the Ardbeg distillery are as iconic as the whisky itself.
The visitors centre offers eight different experiences ranging from £20 to £90 per person, including an outdoor tasting and picnic.
Ardbeg achieved multiple top-five finishes across several categories, including average whisky review score, number of reviews, total tour and tasting experiences on offer, and recent industry award wins. These all helped propel Ardbeg to the number one spot on The Milroy’s Whisky Travel Index for 2024.
Image credit: Moët Hennessy
Image credit: Diageo
2. Johnnie Walker Princes Street, Edinburgh
The Milroy's Whisky Travel Index Score: 88.97 out of 100
A purpose-built whisky experience rather than a distillery, the award-winning Johnnie Walker’s Princess Street is conveniently located in the heart of Edinburgh - perfect for those on a flying visit.
Before starting the tour you’ll be asked to complete a flavour profile quiz to find the perfect Johnnie Walker expression for your tastebuds. After completing your experience of choice, head upstairs to the rooftop 1820 Bar for views of Edinburgh Castle while you sip and dine.
Johnnie Walker Princes Street has been reviewed by more than 4,500 visitors, making it the second most appraised visitor experience included in our study. It also ranked top five for the number of nearby hotels and hospitality venues.
3. Glenkinchie Distillery, East Lothian
The Milroy's Whisky Travel Index Score: 83.97 out of 100
Just 15 miles from Edinburgh, Glenkinchie has a rich history dating back as far as 1825, making it one of Scotland's oldest distilleries.
Perhaps best known for being the Lowlands home of Johnnie Walker, the gardens and orchards that surround the distillery, as well as the on-site whisky museum, make it well worth a visit.
The Glenkinchie Distillery performed particularly well in for average visitor review score, the number of visitor reviews, and local accommodation options.
Image credit: Diageo
Image credit: @frombarreltobottle
4. Springbank Distillery, Campbeltown
Whisky Index Score: 83.84 out of 100
Once home to more than 30 distilleries, Springbank is the largest of the three producers that still remain in Campbeltown.
With everything from malting to bottling taking place on-site, tours at Springbank have more to see than most. Plus, the whisky itself is the best-reviewed among whisky drinkers with an average score of 88.4.
As well as crafting the best-reviewed whisky, Springbank performed well in other review categories including the number of whisky reviews and average visitor review scores.
5. Bruichladdich Distillery, Islay
The Milroy's Whisky Travel Index Score: 83.50 out of 100
While perhaps not as widely recognised as some other Islay malts, Bruichladdich should not be overlooked. On the quality of its whisky alone the distillery ranked tenth overall with an average score of 86.9. This placed it above the likes of Caol Ila, Bunnahabhain, Tobermory, Talisker, and Glenlivet just to name a few.
Bruichladdich offers four different experiences ranging from £10 to £65, with visitors given the option to sample the goods straight from the cask.
A good score in our visitor reviews category and its B-Corp status helped the Bruichladdich Distillery secure a top-five finish in our Whisky Travel Index.
Image credit: Remy Cointreau UK Limited
Top 50 best distillery tour and tasting experiences
Explore all metrics using our interactive table. Click a tab to explore further, or toggle column heads to reorder rankings
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Best value distillery tours
The distilleries and visitor centres with the lowest average cost for a tour or tasting experience
1. Kilchoman Distillery
£25 average experience cost per person
Established in 2005, family-owned Kilchoman is located towards the west of Islay and focuses on producing a more traditional style of single malt whisky. It has an excellent cafe on-site, too.
Its 100% Islay range uses barley grown on Kilchoman's own farm, with malting, distilling, maturation and bottling also taking place on-site. It is one of just a handful of 'farm distilleries' across Scotland.
Kilchoman offers three tour and tasting experiences at an average cost of £25 per person.
Image credit: Kilchoman Distillery
Image credit: Diageo
2. Cragganmore Distillery
£25 average experience cost per person
While Cragganmore only offers a choice of two experiences, both come with a guided tasting to help visitors really get to know this distinctive whisky.
In a classic case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don't fix it’, Cragganmore hasn’t changed too much since it was founded in 1869 by Big John Smith, a former manager of The Macallan and Glenlivet distilleries.
The Diageo-owned Speyside distillery is home to complex, characterful malt prized by independent bottlers.
3. Holyrood Distillery
£26.60 average experience cost per person
A relative newcomer in Scotch whisky, Holyrood Distillery was founded in the city of Edinburgh in 2019. It has become known for its experimental approach to whisky-making, often running fermentation trials. It is also making a name for itself when it comes to making use of unusual barley varieties, too.
Easy to access on foot or by bus, Holyrood is in incredibly easy reach for most Edinburgh tourists. Located adjacent to Holyrood Park, visitors can catch glimpses of its famous crags through the distillery windows.
At just £26.60, the average ticket prices are some of the least expensive in Scotland.
Image credit: Holyrood Distillery
Best premium experiences
The distilleries and visitor centres that offer the best exclusive, high-end tours
1. Bowmore Distillery
£800 premium experience cost per person
If you’re in the market for an extra-special experience, Bowmore has an offering that might be exactly what you're looking for.
In partnership with Aston Martin, Bowmore allows visitors to explore Islay from the comfort of a chauffeur-driven Aston Martin DBX.
This £800 per person luxury tour also includes tea and scones at a local beauty spot, lunch at the Bridgend Hotel, an in-depth tour of the Bowmore distillery, and an opportunity to hand-fill an exclusive bottle of Bowmore straight from the cask.
While this tour is billed as the ultimate Bowmore experience, they also offer eight others with prices starting from just £20.
Image credit: Laura Carl
Image credit: Edrinton UK
2. Laphroaig Distillery
£575 Premium experience cost per person
If you’re a whisky lover who’s interested in learning more about the day-to-day of the distilling process, the Behind the Scenes experience from Laphroaig is sure to be right up your street.
Starting at £575 per person, visitors will spend the day shadowing members of the Laphroaig team and have an opportunity to explore areas of the distillery that are usually out of bounds.
The price includes lunch, a tasting of Laphroaig’s single-cask expressions, and a bottle of Laphroaig 10-year-old to take home.
Visitors who’d prefer something a little less intensive can choose from a wide range of experiences at Laphroaig with prices starting from as little as £18.
3. Benromach Distillery
£350 premium experience cost per person
For £350 per person, the manager's experience at Benromach Distillery gives curious types a chance to put their questions to a 30-year veteran of the industry.
This in-depth and immersive tour of the facility is conducted by distillery manager Keith Cruickshank, giving visitors insight into how Benromach whisky is made by the man who knows it best.
The tour lasts up to two hours and the price includes a bottle of Benromach Distillery Exclusive to take away.
If you don’t have time for this two-hour experience, the classic tour is currently priced at £10 per person and is complete in half the time.
Image credit: Cask Liquid Marketing
Best distilleries for whisky lovers
Top producers based on how consumers rate the quality of the whiskies
1. Springbank Distillery
88.4 Average whisky review score
As we mentioned above, Springbank boasts the highest average review score of all distilleries we looked at as part of our study. It scored 88.4 across more than 125,000 reviews.
Springbank also accounts for roughly 11% of Whiskybase’s top 1,000 whiskies with 108 appearances on the list.
If you’re looking to add some Springbank whiskies to your collection, Springbank 23-Year-Old 1999 Maya bottled by My Name Is Whisky (MNIW) and Springbank 27-Year-Old from Spherical Sprits each received scores of 88.3 and 90.9 from Whiskybase users.
Image credit: @frombarreltobottle
Image credit: Brown-Forman
2. GlenDronach Distillery
88.1 Average whisky review score
With an average score of 88.1 across some 78,000 reviews, GlenDronach was the second-best-reviewed distillery by whisky drinkers.
Those unfamiliar with this producer should consider picking up a bottle of Glendronach 12-Year-Old, which at roughly £50 a bottle and an average review score of 84.1 is a great value whisky.
The Speyside distillery is known for its sherried whiskies, and has won acclaim for its core range and elevated expressions alike.
3. Ardbeg Distillery
87.9 Average whisky review score
Despite having more whiskies featured in the Whiskybase top 1,000 than Springbank with 120 entries, Ardbeg’s overall score of 87.9 ranks it third.
Notorious for its robust, smoky character, people interested in getting a sense of what this distillery is all about can pick up a bottle of Ardbeg 5-Year-Old Wee Beastie for less than £40, while Ardbeg fans looking for a special bottle for their collection might want to take a look at Ardbeg 25 Year Old. Whisky drinkers scored each bottle 83.9 points and 89.2 points respectively.
It's perhaps no surprise that Ardbeg ranks so highly – it's bold, distinctive style has long won fans all around the world.
Image credit: Moët Hennessy
Best sustainable distilleries
The whisky producers earning the most recognition for reducing their environmental impact
1. Nc'nean Distillery
91.7 Sustainability score
Established in 2017, Nc'nean is a small independent distillery with a focus on crafting organic and sustainable whisky.
While distilleries around the country are all making efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, Nc’nean has been recognised with multiple awards for its sustainable process and is also a registered B-Corp. This means it has been independently verified to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
The whisky itself is celebrated too, and it has won awards for its sunny disposition and smooth, fruit-forward flavour profile.
Image credit: Nc'nean Distillery
Image credit: Remy Cointreau UK Limited
2. Bruichladdich Distillery
82.6 Sustainability score
Ranking fifth on our Whisky Travel Index, Bruichladdich is also one of Scotland’s best sustainable distilleries.
Registered B-Corp, Bruichladdich has a slightly lower score than Nc'nean with an impact score of 100.7 compared to 135.6.
The Islay maker is known for investing in partnerships with farmers, supporting them on their annual barley crop. It's also recently made significant gains in cutting packaging and reducing bottle weight. Known as the 'Progressive Hebridean Distiller', its philosophy is to strive for continued environmental gains.
3. Arbikie Distillery
73.3 Sustainability score
While not a registered B-Corp, the Arbikie Distillery has been recognised with multiple industry awards for its sustainable practices.
Founded in 2013 by three brothers, the idea to set up a distillery in an old cattle shed on the family farm proved to be a good one.
In addition to its whiskies, it is also known for pioneering more sustainable production methods across other spirits categories too.
We're excited to follow this maker as its whisky continues to develop.
Image credit: Pour Brands Limited
Image credit: Adelphi Distillery
Ardnamurchan Distillery
Honourable mention
While it didn’t quite make our list of the top 50 best distillery tours and tasting experiences, another newer producer that deserves recognition for its sustainable practices is Ardnamurchan.
Established in 2014, this producer blends traditional methods with modern sustainable practices, such as using a hydroelectric generator, and biomass boilers fed with local woodchip.
Methodology
As of June 2024, Scottish whisky distilleries and visitor centres that offered tours and tasting experiences were ranked on the quality, cost and range of their products and offerings as well as the availability of nearby amenities.
Distilleries that didn’t offer tours and tastings (June 2024) due to construction or renovations were not considered. Distilleries without publicly available pricing information were also not considered.
Notable exclusions include but aren’t limited to: Dalmore, Glencadam, Knockdhu, Tamnavulin, Edradour, and The Glasgow Distillery Co.
Distilleries were scored on their relative performance in each category using a min-max normalisation formula. Results were totalled to create an overall index score with a maximum possible score of 100.
The availability of tours and tasting experiences may change seasonally.
Cost, range and quality factors received a higher weighting while local amenities received the lowest.
(Criteria, weighting, source)
- AVG Whisky Review: 1.0 - Whiskybase
- Number of Reviews: 0.5 - Whiskybase
- Experiences Offered: 1.0 - Company website
- Cheapest Experience: 1.0 - Company website
- Most Expensive Experience: 0.5 - Company website
- Average Cost: 0.5 - Company website
- Average Experience Review Score: 1.0 - Google Reviews, TripAdvisor
- Total Reviews: 0.5 - Google Reviews, TripAdvisor
- Food on Location: 0.25 - Company website
- Representative Bottle Price: 0.5 - Milroy's, Company website, Whiskybase (in order of availability)
- Recent Major Awards: 0.5 - scottishwhiskyawards, internationalwhiskycompetition, worldwhiskiesawards
- Sustainability Awards: 0.25 - scottishwhiskyawards, internationalwhiskycompetition, worldwhiskiesawards
- B Corp Registered: 0.25 - https://bcorporation.uk/
- Nearby Hotels: 0.25 - Google
- Nearby Food and Drink: 0.25 - Google
