My favourite whisky bars in Scotland

Watering holes where the conversation flows and the uisge beathe is bountiful

Hello Whisky Friends,

It’s Gordon from Whisky Rocks here wishing you cheer and thanking you for letting me drop into your inbox once again. This is a post for paid subscribers. Tuesdays are free for all to read. If you enjoy what I’m writing, I’d be so grateful if you’d consider an upgrade to help support my work. Thanks so much to everyone who has done that in the last few weeks. It makes such a difference!

Whisky bars are where the good things happen. Laughter with pals, schemes plotted, dreams and favourite drams divulged. Problems untangled. New friendships forged. A great whisky bar provides shelter from the storm, both real and emotional. Stories will be told, the kind that tend to get wilder and woollier as the night unfurls. Time is elastic. And there’s whisky, good whisky, to bring joy and to oil the wheels and set pulses flowing.

I’m never quite sure what a whisky bar is supposed to be. For me, it could be a shed or a shining palace. Just as long as it takes its whisky selection seriously, though certainly not at the expense of providing a convivial atmosphere in which to drink it. They’re places where you can find good beer, cosy nooks to hunker down in, an understated ambience (no TVs or fruit machines please) and charming, knowledgable staff who could just as easily be sitting on the other site of the counter. The only music you want to hear is the melodious thrum of happy drinkers.