Burns Night has been a calendar fixture in Scotland — and far beyond — since the first celebration was held by the poet’s friends in 1801. That initial gathering marked the anniversary of Robert Burns’ death; a year later, it became a celebration of his life, held on his birthday instead.
Some 220 years later, it’s considered a culturally significant celebration, and who are we to argue? While we boil the haggis and mash the neeps and tatties, here are a few great whisky suggestions, from £19 to £12,500, to get your celebrations started. Sláinte Mhath!
Label 5 City Lights Edition
£19
Label 5 Blended Scotch Whisky is, as the name suggests, a blended spirit combining many different grain and malt whiskies, several of which are distilled by the Glen Moray distillery — we’re big fans of its Twisted Vine expression. These are then carefully blended to create Label 5.
This might be a bottle that whisky aficionados will turn their noses up at, but don’t be too quick to discount it. This perfectly affable Speyside blend is easy to drink and offers exceptional value for money, which could explain why it’s so popular in France. It might be a little on the sweet side for some, but if you only partake in the occasional whisky tipple, that could work in its favour.
On the nose, there’s a vanilla sweetness, with a dollop of toffee, ginger, and spices that give off sticky toffee pudding vibes. Once on the palate, the sweetness is knocked back with orchard fruits taking the reins, with sweet grasses and some citrus making an appearance, before caramel takes you into a clean, sweet, zesty finish.
Our bottle is part of a limited edition range, available exclusively from Morrisons stores
. Label 5 tasked artificial intelligence with creating unique imagery for its Classic Black blend, resulting in this City Lights Edition. Every bottle features a different snapshot of the overall artwork, so no two labels are the same. It may be a bit of a marketing gimmick, but the labels are fun and colourful, and will add a splash of colour to your Burns Night table.
Tamnavulin Double Cask
£22
Tamnavulin Distillery is located in a small village in the foothills of the Cairngorm mountains, deep in the heart of Speyside. Opened in 1966, the distillery suffered the same fate as many others and was closed in the mid-1990s. A new lease of life was given to the distillery by owners Whyte and Mackay in 2007, and they have been producing single malt whisky using natural spring water from the surrounding hills ever since.
Tamnavulin Double Cask single malt is a pleasant amber gold colour with plenty of warm, sweet flavours, thanks to the spirit maturing in American oak barrels before being finished in sherry casks.
There is a creamy sweetness on the nose, with hints of honey and brown sugar, as well as notes of apple pie and tangy fruit. Once on the palate, more fruits develop, with plums and currants hinting at fruit cake. It is fresh and mellow, with an almost tropical sweetness creeping in. The finish is rich and long, with notes of spice to warm the soul.
Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky
£25
Cutty Sark was launched in 1923 in London, designed to be a bold, approachable blend that could stand up to cocktails and mixed drinks while still being enjoyable neat. Its classic house style leans towards bright, fruity, easy-drinking Scotch, making it a reliable and affordable pick for a celebratory Burns Night pour without overthinking it.
The spirit offers light yet expressive aromas of green apples, citrus zest and gentle honey, with just a hint of spice. On the palate, it’s crisp, with orchard fruits up front that give way to a touch of oak sweetness and a slightly dry finish — a profile that makes it versatile whether you’re sipping solo or making cocktails.
Cutty Sark’s strength isn’t complexity but its approachability: it’s easy on the palate, and its price point makes it a good introductory dram.
Meikle Tòir
From £50
Independent Scotch whisky distillery The GlenAllachie has released a new peated single malt Scotch whisky brand: Meikle Tòir (pronounced mee-kuhl tor). The launch, created and overseen by Master Distiller Billy Walker, has four core expressions, each with a unique character.
Those characteristics are thanks to the mainland peat from St. Fergus used to kiln the barley and the extended fermentation time of 160 hours alongside Walker’s choice of cask for ageing and finishing the spirits.
The four initial offerings, each carrying a five-year age statement, are The Original, The Sherry One, The Chinquapin One and The Turbo.
The flavours that develop in the whisky are each quite different, thanks to the carefully selected maturation casks. The Bourbon barrels, American virgin oak casks and Rye barrels used for The Original create waves of sweet spices, ginger, caramel and oak-smoked sugar.
As the name suggests, the Sherry One develops a much more fruit-forward flavour, thanks to spending the final three years of maturation in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks. Dark fruits and sweet treacle blend with the earthy, smoky peat to create a deeper, slightly harsher flavour, as well as colour.
The Chinquapin One uses Chinquapin virgin oak barrels from the Northern Ozark region of Missouri, USA, after having first sat in American oak barrels. This gives an edge of roasted nuttiness, smoked spices and a sweet vanilla note, with the underlying peat smoke coming through in each mouthful.
The Turbo 2023 Edition has a limited run of just 2,500 bottles, the spirit maturing in three American virgin oak casks and five Oloroso Sherry hogsheads for five years. The resulting small-batch release captures ‘the heart of the heart’ — the spirit cut with the highest phenol content. The whisky has a peaty punch, with a surprising amount of honeyed sweetness, hints of burnt orange and just a touch of smoky spiciness to finish.
Bladnoch Samsara
£80
Robert Burns was born in Alloway, in southern Scotland, so it seems fitting to toast him with a dram from the nation’s southernmost distillery.
The river Bladnoch, from which the distillery takes its name, runs alongside, and the waters are used to make handcrafted whiskies under the stewardship of Master Distiller Dr Nick Savage and his team.
The Bladnoch Samsara expression is a single malt whisky, bottled at 46.7% ABV, which is fragrant and full-bodied. It blends spirits that have been matured in ex-bourbon and Californian red wine casks, which add to the deep, copper-gold colour and sweetness of flavours in the finished whisky.
Samsara — which means rebirth in Sanskrit — is a non-age-statement whisky, meaning there’s no indication of how long the spirit has matured, something that may give some buyers pause at this price. That said, as a vatting of whiskies from different casks and ages, it’ll contain plenty of well-aged stock alongside younger spirit.
It isn’t short on flavour, with creamy vanilla and hints of apple and apple blossom on the nose, developing into creamy, rich fudge on the palate. There’s a hint of summer meadows underneath the sweetness, which gives way to a lingering fresh citrus note to finish. A nice, rich glassful that’ll go down well neat, with water, or over ice.
Littlemill Vanguards Collection Chapter One Robert Muir Whisky
£12,500
If you’re looking for something exceptional and have a good wedge of cash available, Scotland’s oldest licensed distillery, Littlemill, has released the first instalment in its Vanguard Collection. This first expression is dedicated to Robert Muir, who was granted the first licence to ‘retail beer, ale, and excisable liquors’ from King George III in 1773.
The 45-year-old whisky was distilled on 11th October 1977 at Littlemill’s distillery in Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, the remains of which were sadly destroyed by fire in 2004, after falling silent 10 years earlier.
Releases such as this are now crafted from the oldest and rarest reserves that remain in the care of Loch Lomond Distillery. This remarkable liquid has spent 40 years stored in refill American oak casks before being transferred to first-fill Oloroso Sherry casks for the final five-year finish.
The result is a wonderful single malt that boasts honey, elderflower, and nutmeg on the nose, with a silk-like mouthfeel of melted brown sugar, vanilla, and fresh fruits, leading to a long finish full of citrus flavour and caramelised sugars.
Bottled at cask strength of 50.5% ABV and with its natural colour, only 250 individually numbered bottles are available worldwide, priced at £12,500 — valuing our tiny sample at £446.
The good news is that your money will not just be buying you whisky. That whisky is inside a hand-blown Glencairn crystal decanter housed in a handmade ash display cabinet. The cabinet also contains bespoke artwork by British artist Vic Lee, which reimagines the original licence granted to Robert Muir through contemporary illustrations of Littlemill’s original stills and warehousing, as well as trade ships on the River Clyde used in the bustling export trade. Vic Lee’s hand-finished artworks are individually hand-signed and numbered by Vic and Master Blender, Michael Henry.
Each cabinet also houses a branded 50ml miniature so you can taste the spirit while securing the original bottle as an investment piece, and a hardback book of the Littlemill story.
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