The Whisky Flavour Map

Distilleries and bottlings placed by how smoky or delicate, and how light or rich, they taste — the ledger's own estimates, refined by members' tasting notes.

Four styles

• Smoky & Coastal — peat smoke with a bright, briny edge
• Smoky & Rich — smoke folded into sherry, oak and spice
• Light & Floral — fresh fruit, flowers, grass and barley
• Rich & Rounded — dried fruit, vanilla, nuts and sherry

Distilleries

• Ardbeg — Big peat balanced by citrus, tar, espresso and a surprisingly sweet core
• Laphroaig — Medicinal — iodine, TCP, seaweed, tarry rope, with vanilla from first-fill bourbon
• Lagavulin — Rich, rounded peat smoke — bonfire, lapsang souchong, dried fruit, sea salt
• Port Ellen — Old-stock Port Ellen: oily, coastal, ashy peat. New-make era still being defined
• Bowmore — Medium peat with tropical fruit, violets and sea spray; old Bowmore is famous for passion fruit
• Bruichladdich — Terroir-driven: barley provenance, Victorian equipment, three spirits under one roof
• Kilchoman — Young, bright, lemony peat — sweet barley and beach bonfire
• Caol Ila — Oily, clean, lemony peat; the backbone of Johnnie Walker's smoke
• Bunnahabhain — The gentle Islay: nutty, sherried, salty, honeyed
• Ardnahoe — Peat with weight from worm-tub condensing — still young and evolving
• Springbank — Funky, oily, briny — machine oil, dried fruit, coastal smoke; 2.5-times distilled
• Glen Scotia — Salty, oily, gently smoky Campbeltown character
• The Macallan — Sherry-seasoned oak: dried fruit, ginger, chocolate, orange
• Glenfiddich — Fresh pear, apple and malt; solera-vatted 15yo
• The Balvenie — Honey, vanilla, soft spice; cask finishing pioneered here
• The Glenlivet — Floral, pineapple, orchard fruit
• Aberlour — Christmas cake and cinnamon; A'bunadh is the cask-strength sherry bomb
• Glenfarclas — Old-school sherry: raisin, walnut, toffee
• BenRiach — Orchard fruit and multi-cask complexity — plus rare Speyside peat
• GlenDronach — Sherry-cask richness: prune, espresso, dark chocolate
• Glenmorangie — Delicate: orange blossom, vanilla, peach; pioneer of wood finishes
• The Dalmore — Orange, chocolate, Christmas spice — decadent sherry
• Clynelish — Waxy, candle-wax and honey, coastal; a bartender's favourite
• Oban — Sea salt, orange peel, honey, whisper of smoke — the bridge between Highland and Islay
• Ardmore — Highland peat: earthy, sweet smoke, vanilla — not maritime
• Old Pulteney — 'The Maritime Malt' — brine, honey, citrus
• Edradour — Creamy, sherried, nutty; Ballechin brings heavy peat
• Glengoyne — Clean apple, toffee and sherry
• Talisker — 'Made by the sea': black pepper, smoke, brine, dried fruit
• Torabhaig — Clean, bright, heavily peated young Skye malt
• Highland Park — Heather-honey smoke, sherry, orange — peat without seaweed
• Scapa — Honeyed, heathery, gently salty — Orkney without smoke
• Tobermory (Ledaig) — Two spirits: fruity Tobermory and smoky, phenolic Ledaig
• Jura — Soft, nutty, lightly smoky island malt
• Arran (Lochranza) — Citrus, peach, vanilla — clean and fruity
• Lagg — Young heavily peated spirit — earthy, citrus, sweet smoke
• Isle of Harris — Gentle peat, coastal, fruity
• Auchentoshan — Light, citrus, almond, bread
• Glenkinchie — Grassy, floral, lemon sponge
• Laggan Bay — New-make era; first cask filled 2 April 2026
• Portintruan — Under construction by the founders of The Whisky Exchange
• Islay Rum distillery — Rum made on Islay
• Buffalo Trace — Home of Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Blanton's, Weller and the Antique Collection
• Castle & Key — Restored Old Taylor distillery — castle architecture and sunken gardens
• Woodford Reserve — Copper pot-still and column bourbon in horse country
• Four Roses — Ten bourbon recipes from two mashbills and five yeasts
• Wild Turkey — High-rye, high-char, lower-entry-proof bourbon
• Bulleit Distilling Co. — High-rye bourbon and rye whiskey
• James B. Beam Distilling Co. — Beam family bourbon — Jim Beam, Booker's, Knob Creek, Baker's
• Heaven Hill — Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Larceny and Old Fitzgerald
• Maker's Mark — Wheated bourbon, red wax dipped by hand
• Evan Williams Bourbon Experience — Artisanal distillery and tasting experience on Whiskey Row
• Angel's Envy — Bourbon finished in port barrels