Receiving whisky as a present: do you want something new or an old favourite?

When people are buying you whisky as a present, do you want them to always stick to the old reliable bottle you love or are you open to discovering something new?

Recently we took to social media. We know, we were weak and we couldn’t help ourselves. 

But we had an important question to ask. One we put to you, dear reader, and our beloved customers. It’s that one above in the bold and italics if you didn’t get that. And we’ve got an awful lot of responses.

We thought we’d round them up in this quick article because a) they’re interesting and b) they’re useful for people who find themselves in the position of regularly buying whisky as a present. 

In fact, this question is one I thought to ask when securing a bottle of Glenfiddich 12 Year Old for a friend of mine. It’s her father’s whisky and he gets it for his birthday and Christmas every year. I hope he enjoys it as always. He’s very much in the “old reliable” camp. The man knows what he wants. 

What about you? Below is a nice snapshot of the replies we got. We can’t include literally every comment or we’d be here all day. Also, note the responses are taken from Facebook and Instagram. You can distinguish which platform they came from as the Insta responses will have an @ before the username.

Let’s take a look at your replies.

Receiving whisky as a present: something new

Interestingly, most of you seemed to prefer something new.

Maurice Hall and Jason Greenwood both said, “Always something new”, while Lindsay Green replied. “Hubby loves trying new”. Brian Frederick summarised, “New is the way to go. I like discovering new whiskies”.

Amit Valecha and Paul Gray had similar sentiments, commenting “Always try to open something new” and “Always open to try something new”, respectively. Torsten Hermes felt the same way: “I’m always up for something new. Even if I have my all-time favourite whisky, I need to keep an open mind to what else is out there 😉”.

Over on Instagram, some interesting responses included @digdugexL saying, “I want them to get me what they think I want. I’m always open to try new” and @janewepunkt13 commenting “…of course something new 😊 I want my collection to grow and it’s really interesting to have a tasting with friends and talk about whisky and flavours 😍”. 

There were similar replies from @dram.mel, “Something new of course…the same is boring! I want to be surprised❤️🔥” and @rakianlockdown. “Always happy to try something new. Too many excellent bottles out there to be explored”.

Robert Weil and Andrew Richardson were open to exploring but had an important caveat: easy on the peat. “I am open for tryin’ out new stuff, there’s just one thing, please no peat, it’s just not my cuppa tea… believe me I did try the peated ones from one of my favourite distilleries… I did appreciate its depth and complexity, but… I wouldn’t be happy with it!” says Weil, while Richardson commented, “Like to try something new but want to avoid anything too peaty at the same time!”

Receiving whisky as a present: an old favourite

We got surprisingly few responses from people who know what they like and are happy to stick to it. Tushar Kataria said, “A known devil is ALWAYS better than an unknown devil. 😈”, while @Notanotherwhiskeyman also favoured a more cautious, safe approach. “I’ll stick to familiar, before you know it they’ll be sold a Jack Daniel’s Honey for me.”

David Maddox Senior was very specific. “I have a favourite and it’s a beaut, Talisker Skye.. lovely.. 👍👍👍” Anyone who knows David, you’re welcome. That’s Christmas sorted. Also a shoutout to Lee Leafham, who said “They’ll surprise me with…wait for it… Glenfiddich!” I can confirm this is not my friend’s dad, but a happy coincidence. 

Receiving whisky as a present: it depends…

There were a lot more people in favour of receiving an old favourite but only if they felt the buyer wouldn’t have the relevant experience, expertise, or insight. 

Michael Lamb typified the nuance we saw in the responses. “Depends on who’s buying. If it’s a friend who knows their whiskey well, I’d trust them to pick out something new and unconventional that suits my taste. If it’s someone with less experience, I’d prefer them to pick up a staple I like”.

Andy Blackmax replied in a similar vein. “A bit of both really, I have my favourites, but a surprise is nice. Luckily we’ve had many good whiskies from Master of Malt”. How nice. Or is somebody trying to secure some #WhiskySanta love… Flattery will get you nowhere Andy! I mean it totally works on me, but #WhiskySanta is made of sterner stuff…

Clive Darke went for a similar response, “Depends on who is buying. Not everyone has the knowledge, some might just go with some novelty bottle shape (you know the ones) rather than taking note of the contents”, as did Angela Fallone. “I like to try new but only if the person buying knows something about whisky and my tastes – otherwise I’d go with an old favourite”.

Paul Grimsley had some useful parameters for the people buying for him: “If someone doesn’t have the knowledge it comes down to 2 things. 1) do they want to engage in the decision – ‘pick a Speyside‘ might be a good direction. 2) if they don’t – “anything from [distillery A] or [distillery B] would be very much appreciated”, while Tony Recchio replied, “I would never turn my nose up at an old favourite. But, trying something new is always on my list”.

Perhaps @richyb80 summed it up most succinctly: “Something new… as long as they know my taste”.

If you’re not very confident when buying whisky, then you can head to our dedicated Christmas gift guides for inspiration or learn more about whisky in our Whisky Guides.

Just happy to be worthy of a gift

Not everybody picked a side. Neil Sutherland said: “I don’t mind what brand they buy me be it Scottish or Irish or Canadian or good old U.S whisky or whiskey I love it 😃😃🥃🥃Cheers !!” 

There was a humble response from @kellie_66 who said, “If someone thinks enough of me to gift me a bottle, I’m grateful no matter what it is”, and @lapsapchung also replied with a nice sentiment: “If they are buying it as a present I want THEM to choose even if it’s one I’ve never tried before. Any gift I receive I want to have something of the giver in it”.

Of course, there was a right answer. That came from @drbeppo: “Both please!”