Where to buy your whisky

guide
Written By Chris White

Price comparisons across 11 online retailers

As the holiday season unfolded from Black Friday to the arrival of the New Year, enticing offers and exclusive deals beckoned from the shelves of whisky retailers. Succumbing to the allure of discounts, I found myself acquiring more than a few coveted bottles during this festive period. Yet, this spree sparked a pondering question: Amidst the plethora of online options, where does one find the best value when purchasing whisky in the UK?

While many enthusiasts have their cherished local off-licenses or specialty spirits shops, each brimming with unique merits be it expert guidance, bespoke requests or supporting local businesses - this investigation is focussed on bang for buck - where can I buy my whisky at the cheapest price? It's not a dismissal of the charm and significance of smaller, independent establishments; it's a quest for a comparative analysis that spans the vast landscape of online retailers.

To embark on this exploration, I selected five commonly available whiskies - Glenfiddich 12, Aberlour 12, Glenlivet Founders Reserve, Macallan 12 Double Cask and Talisker Skye. This line up served as the foundation for the price comparison. Next, I selected 11 online retailers to scrutinise: Amazon, Master of Malt, Whisky Exchange, Whisky Shop, House of Malt, Whisky Online, Amathus, Majestic, Tesco, Ocado and Waitrose. This gave me a selection of specialist whisky retailers, general spirits specialists and supermarkets.

Here is what I learned…

  1. Best places to buy - Amazon and House of Malt emerged as the champions when it comes buying whisky on a budget. Despite Amazon not being the cheapest for any of the 5 chosen bottles, they consistently claimed second cheapest position on all but the Macallan 12. House of Malt, however triumphed as the most budget-friendly option for the Glenlivet and Talisker and was in the top 5 cheapest for the remainder. Both retailers outshone the others, proving to be more than 6% cheaper than the average across the five bottles!

  2. Most expensive places to buy - unsurprisingly, supermarkets turned out to be the less economical option, selling whisky at a higher price than the specialist retailers on nearly all the chosen bottles. Tesco, Ocado and Waitrose proved to be between 4% and 10% more expensive than the average across the five bottles, with Waitrose claiming the title of most expensive among them.

  3. Best selection - Master of Malt emerged as the frontrunner in providing the broadest selection, boasting over 12,000 bottles available. All of Amazon, The Whisky Exchange, The Whisky Shop and Whisky Online had a selection listed as over 1,000 bottles (well over in some cases). However, it’s worth noting that Whisky Online listed four of the five bottles as out of stock and with no price during the assessment! This may just be due to the festive period being finished and stock running low - I will need to return in future to check.

  4. Narrowest Selection - as expected, the supermarkets carry only a limited selection of whiskies, with Tesco and Waitrose offering fewer than 50 different bottles, and Ocado offering less than 150. Despite the limited variety, all the supermarkets carried nearly all of the five selected bottles.

  5. Biggest surprises/takeaways:

    • Majestic had a curious selection - ranking as the second cheapest place to the Aberlour 12 but only carried three of the five bottles and on average were pretty close to the middle in terms of price.

    • House of Malt, despite offering great value, present a more limited selection, with only 666 bottles available (at the time of writing). You may find it harder to get what you want but if they stock it, it is likely to be at a good price.

    • The Whisky Exchange and The Whisky Shop proved to be the cheapest for Aberlour 12 and Macallan 12, respectively, but on average were closer to the middle in terms of prices.

    • Amathus offered a decent selection, similar to House of Malt but, with the exception of the Macallan 12, were about the most expensive place to buy.

In summary

The five specialist whisky retailers stand out as excellent starting points for purchasing whisky. Whisky Online caters more for collectors and specialist whiskies (which these obviously aren’t) so may fair even better in different circumstances.

Amazon is probably the best all rounder for the five bottles checked.

I would mostly avoid the supermarkets and stores that originated on the high street (Majestic & Amathus) as they are likely to be more expensive.

I deliberately started this comparison after the holiday sales to get a baseline without deals or discounts. I will continue to check in periodically to see how these prices vary overtime and which sites offer the best discounts at different times of year. Stay tuned for updates…

Cheapest place to buy each of the five bottles as of Jan 6th 2024:

Some links are affiliate links meaning I may get a referral fee if you buy anything from them but you will not pay any more. For more details please see my affiliate disclosure policy

Chris White
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