These are the Top 10 whiskies to buy for Christmas 2024!
Christmas and the New Year are on our doorstep, but there’s still plenty of time to buy Christmas presents, not just for your loved ones but for yourself as well.
Ten superb whiskies for Christmas 2024 await you below, in no particular order, but covering a range of styles and countries. It almost makes you emotional to bear witness to just how much great whisky there is out there. Something to raise a glass to this Christmas. Anyway, here’s our top 10 whiskies to buy for Christmas 2024.
Top 10 whiskies to buy for Christmas 2024
#1 Bushmills 16 Year Old Whiskey
An Irish single malt I’ve loved and championed for years. We don’t talk enough about Bushmills in my book but its style of fruity, nutty, refined whiskey is deserving of love, plaudits, and presenting in a pretty bow under a Christmas tree. Aged in three different cask types: bourbon, Port and sherry, Bushmills 16 Year Old Whiskey is sublime.
#2 Wire Works Cask Strength Caduro
Derbyshire distillery White Peak launched its original award-winning Caduro in March 2023 and now treats us to a cask strength edition, bottled at a hefty 58% ABV. The limited-edition vatting of the distillery’s lightly peated house style of single malt was aged in a combination of American first-fill ex-bourbon casks and the distillery’s signature STR casks (re-conditioned wine barriques that have been shaved, toasted and re-charred). The vatted spirit spent a further 18 months marrying, resulting in a rich and intricate harmony of Caduro’s cereal, fruit and honey flavours.
#3 Islay Whisky 8 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
Independent bottling lovers know That Boutique-y Whisky Company and its brand of small batch, single cask, limited edition whiskies housed in bottles with bright graphic novel-style labels. But last year a core range of classic age-statement spirits representing the big whisky regions was carried into our hearts by the great whisky storks in the sky. Like this impressive eight-year-old Islay single malt, which packs plenty of peaty punch, with waves of citrus, stewed fruit, and vanilla supporting pungent, earthy smoke.
#4 Westland Peated Whiskey
Another one for the peat lover in your life, this is a delicious American single malt. Yes, there’s such a thing, and Westland is very much a pioneer of the style. The distillery in Seattle, USA made this treat with a a proportion of very heavily peated whisky and unpeated, all aged in American oak and bottled at 46% ABV. American single malt and it’s peated. Oh, you’ll love this.
#5 Dalmore 15 Year Old Whisky
The Dalmore 15 Year Old is an old favourite for many but we must always remember that it is somebody’s first dram somewhere and if this is what’s in their glass, that person will become a certified whisky lover. Dalmore is a whisky to be unwrapped on the big day. Just look at it. Beautiful.
#6 Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie – Scottish Barley Whisky
Bruichladdich’s flagship unpeated single malt release would surely make anyone’s list of 100 whiskies you need to try. Its signature fruity, floral, maritime character works all year round, its bottle stands out on every shelf, and you can basically make any cocktail with it. Win, win, win.
#7 Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire & Sherry Casks 10 Year Old
Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire & Sherry Casks 10 Year Old is where peat meets sherry Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan style and the results are just as magnificent. Smoky 10-year-old Islay single malt is entirely finished in sherry casks which mellows the powerfully peaty notes at the whisky’s core just enough to bring balance to the force. This is a festive fireplace of a whisky.
#8 Craigellachie 11 Year Old (Master of Malt Christmas Bottling) Whisky
WARNING, THIS IS SELF-PROMOTION. WARNING, THIS IS SELF-PROMOTION.
Ok, yes, this is literally our Master of Malt Christmas Bottling. But a) you can’t blame and b) this is one of the Top 10 whiskies to buy for Christmas 2024. That’s why we bottled the damn thing! An 11-year-old Craigellachie single malt, this beauty was married from a selection of casks and boasts sumptuous layers of golden and maple syrup, tropical fruit, and gentle, satisfying spice.
#9 Siren Bay 18 Year Old Whisky
Heavily peated single malt from the Highlands of Scotland, Siren Bay is all elegant fruit and bristling coastal smoke. Matured for a generous 18 years, a portion of the whisky aged in oloroso sherry casks, imparting sumptuous layers of sweetness and spice to the hearty peat smoke that sings at its core. This whisky is like the thrill of hiking Ben Nevis but you don’t have to move from the couch.
#10 Traveller Whiskey
If you’re a fan of x10 Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and musician Chris Stapleton, then steady yourself. This is his whiskey. Created with Buffalo Trace Distillery and its master distiller, Harlen Wheatley, the whiskey is made from a combo of whiskies from across several award-winning distilleries and has already been awarded Best in Class Gold at the 2024 Whiskies of the World competition and Gold at the Spirits Business American Whiskey Masters 2024. The name ‘Traveller’ is taken from Stapleton’s debut studio album, which included whiskey-themed songs such as Tennessee Whiskey and Whiskey and You.
Still haven’t found the perfect gift? Head to our Christmas page where you’ll find all kinds of whiskies, tasting sets, booze-filled advent calendars, cocktails, and more!
