WHICH IS THE BEST? - Island Distilleries RANKED | 2021 

Love the Arran 21

Hi Geoff ..Good to hear G Whisky get a 👍mention on the Ralfy and Roy nominations blog , these two guys are established and very good but hopefully your channel can grow and command the same credibility.. it certainly deserves it 👍🥃

Great stuff ...G Whisky /Ralfy /Roy ...that about covers it...Alan (The whisky friend ) worth a watch ... G whisky definitely a must watch , a really good format , quick , informative with just the right amount of Horse Pee/banter ...over and out ...Keep up the good work ...Appreciated !!

I had long ignored Highland Park's bottlings, at one point almost purchasing their Full Volume release before seeing on the box that they advertised it as chill filtered. While I very much appreciated that transparency I went with a single cask bottling- and while it was a good deal more expensive (as one would expect for a CS)- Wow! It was a damn good peated sherried scotch, and only got better with a bit of water added in. I've shared it with people who have had a LOT of scotch and they've told me they'd be more willing to purchase HP products if they came with higher proof and NCF. Hopefully, market demands for craft presentation will begin to be felt. Most of us are more than willing to spend our money- we just want to know we won't regret it on something with a thin body and wimpy finish. Thankfully in the interim we can count on distilleries like Arran and Tobermory to deliver.

I found my way to Island Scotch by actually going to the Orkneys and stumbling across Highland Park. I'd been drinking Speyside whiskies for decades. I agree with your assessment of their offerings here in the US. But their special 'travel offerings', available only through international airports, had 'Einar', which really, really appealed to me. It might be that it is only because it is unavailable here that I'm so set on it, but it became my new standard, which remains as yet unmatched. I consider Oban to be an 'Island Scotch', even though it is on the 'mainland' coast. It serves as a transportation hub to the Hebrides, so it is 'Island'. They didn't appeal to me but they have that salt air flavor component.

Arran 10yo! No contest there under 10yo unpeated category IMO. My top one will go to HP, their peat just gets me.

Great list, loving the channel. I agree with the arran pick at number 1. I lived there from 2017-2019 and the distillery is brilliant, helpful staff with great tours and taste sessions. Their whisky festivals are also badass. The lagg distillery is a beautiful building with beautiful views, im looking forward to their 3 year old stuff coming out next year

Nice! New vid and a top 5! It’s 12:51am in Hawaii and am enjoying some whisky, Masters Of distilling 1 Arran 10 year 10th year anniversary and Kilkerran 12 at the moment but had some Ledaig 18 about an hr ago Ha, I’ve only tried your top 2 distilleries

Great list! I was happy to see Tobermory and Arran taking the top spots. I've been enjoying the Tobermory 12 and Arran 21 recently. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Arran 21 (sherry bomb!)

I totally agree with the list.

Agree with you on the HP 12,Talisker 10, and all of Arran! Looking forward to try Ledaig.

Great video. My list is a little bit different, but your list is fair enough. Great job, as aways!!!

Again good list 👍🏼 I would put Tobermory ahead of Arran… best distillery character of all the Island whiskies. Other than that, I agree with all of them. Interesting little fact: Billy Walker tried to purchase Scapa from Perno Ricard for many years. After too many declined offers, he purchased Glenallachie.

The Ledaig Rioja is very affordable (cheaper than the 10 here) and it is beautiful, lovely red fruit notes from the rioja wine cask

Damn, you and Ralfy are letting the secret out on my pet distillery, Tobermory/Ledaig. I had an independent bottling of Ledaig a while ago and immediately went out and picked up a couple of bottles each of the Tobermory 12 and the Ledaig 10 because there is an AMAZING amount of value there.

Very nice list, Geoff. I'd put the islands distilleries in the exact same order. Also ruling out the new distilleries like Raasay and Torabhaig is only fair as they have just put their product on the market and it is still too young to be compared with 10+ years malts like Arran and Talisker for example. Yes, a lot of the new distilleries not only from the islands are bottling pretty decent stuff, but IMHO young whisky is young whisky no matter how skillfuly it has been dressed-up by slow, high reflux distillation, rapid maturation and gimmicky finishes. I can see why they are doing what they are doing, but they have much more to prove to make the top 5, IMHO. Cheers! Oh, I also think your channel belongs with the other whisky commentators, contributing to OSWA. The founding members list appears to be full, but Roy said everyone was welcome to contribute to the nominations one way or another. Just sayin'...😊

Tobermory 12 is a nice kicker for that distillery. I love the L10 and LOVE LOVE the L18, but that unpeated 12 is mighty nice at $53

Hi Geoff. Congratulations on the shoutout from two icons of whisky R&R. Keep it going! As regards the list, I would swap no 1 & 2. Ledaig 10 is such an underrated peated whisky. People mostly chase the usual Islay suspects and tend to overlook this gem.

The timing of your list is impeccable! Had a scotch tasting with 4 friends last weekend. The theme; Island Single Malts! Lol! We each brought an unopened bottle. I brought an Arran 10 for the main tasting and Arran Amarone cask finish as a bonus. There was also a HP12, Tobermory 12, Talisker Storm and Scapa Orcadian (my least favourite of the night). Overall it was good time and felt like a nice return to normality. Looking forward to trying a Ledaig 18 and Arran 18 at some point. Cheers!

Try Torabhaig Allt Gleann! It's really good! (Also agree on Tobermory/Ledaig and Arran being top)

Hi, I did a horizontal tasting of Jura distillery and their 12 year old had a nice price/quality average to it, it even reminded me of the HP 12 in terms of general flavors across the board in the glass. Hope you get to try one soon!

Agree with your #1 pick as Arran and I also love Ledaig. I have to disagree on HP, yes they can be a bit gimmicky, but the 12 is a dam fine dram and the 18 is excellent as well.

Hi Geoff - agreed Arran is the best. But the 21 yo is outstanding. It’s elegant, sophisticated and layered. A true treat. I can’t wait for you to dig into it. Cheers!

I absolutely agree on Arran being the top. Still looking out when the new Arran 18 arrives here to get my hands on them. Have you tried the Jura 12 Sherry finish that was released in Taiwan? How about the Highland Park 18 travel retail which have higher abv than na normal 18? Is it worth it the price?

Well Geoff, I do have both the Skirren and Glansa from Scapa, and in my opinion, as you never paid money for them, that makes you the winner.😜 As you say, price is relatively high, but I’m not impressed. In fact, if you were my Neighbour, I’d gift you them - though, in the current restrictions, you’d need to live within 5km of my home. Right now their new job is to shield from view my more expensive and desirable whiskies.

I can’t say I disagree with anything here. Great list 👍

I loved jura 7 woods and 18 years. 12 years a good daily drinker for me. also can you do the list for the rest of scotland regions? campbeltown, lowland, speyside and higland? pls!

Very solid list! Hard to disagree with anything here. You’re making me thirsty!

Hi Geoff. Nice list. No surprise on the number 1 spot though :-) I too am very sad to see the 14yo discontinued. Regarding Jura. It's a distillery that I want to love and a distillery that could be great. I really enjoyed the 12yo Elixir expression and LOVED the NAS Prophecy which was much more mature, much peatier and more intense than anything else I've tried from them. Sadly both are now hard to find and it seems like the distillery is a little... lost... these days. Which is a shame!

Thanks for the listing review. The below are my favourites for what I've tried and distillery wise matches yours: Jura 18 Year Old (Not worth buying in my opinion) 04. Highland Park 18 Year Old - Viking Pride 03. Talisker 18 Year Old 02. Ledaig 18 Year Old 01. Arran 18 Year Old

👍🏻

bang on arran and the ledaig for me the best from the different islands))

Hi Geoff! Yet again I have no other choice after watching your review, but totally agree with you:) Arran is just a class of its own - the question is for how long:) And since I've become more of a peathead lately, Ledaig would've been my number one on the list, if it was a separate distillery - I just love their 18YO expression, though it becomes a bit pricey. Cheers from Poland!

Jura21 is good

Kinda disagree that talisker is consistent. I’ve seen a lot of batch variation and definitely been downhill last 5 or so years. So much so, I’ve blacklisted them personally

Agree with this ranking but reckon Talisker when it’s on could take the top spot but Arran deserve it with the presentation alone. HP die hards will disagree but they are living in denial. I remember coming across a 21 year Jura a few years back at 40% coloured and chill filtered - shameful. I think Scapa need to go craft or just give up the ghost and just dump it all into Pernod Richard blends - nobody is buying at the asking price.