7 PERFECT Whiskies for Beginners!

Mine was the Glenlivet 12y (long time ago) and shortly after I switched to Bourbon. Recently I've been back to Scotch but my palate changed and now I'm interested in peaty, smoky whisky. The Caol Ila 12y did it for me when I was in Scotland. Thanks for your video!

I've just started my journey, with Glenmorangie 10 couple of months ago and absolutely loved that honey vanilla sweetness, and I'm addicted to your videos since. This one is appreciated, as that's where I'm at. I've bought couple of bottles since. I've bought Smokehead to try a smokey whiskey and it was a bargain 40% off at a local shop. I didn't love it but didn't hate it as well as I like smoked meat fish that sort of thing. Than I've bought a bourbon Elija Craig small batch it's my first 47% abv. Bottle. Have to say it was quite challenging at first but I did manage to get to flavors and appreciated those cinnamon, nutmeg, honey notes. Sherry cask is going to be my next step. Quality of your work is helpful and much appreciated. Thanks😊

Phil and Ralfy are the top two of whisky gurus.

For the price and taste and complexity, i would go with glenmorangie quinta ruban. My wife likes the islays, i prefer the highlands. I know the glenmorangie isnt an isla but it does take you on a journey. Glenlivets founders reserve is another good one and really economical. Another approach i would go is to buy the sample sets that different distilleries offer. You can buy 3 different bottles at a good price. Bottles are much smaller.

Some whiskey mmakers using urine from elderly diabetics. One is Galpin (spelling. I read another whiskey is fireball cinnamon w. Not legisstzed to expose on labels call USDA

My first whisky was Laphroaig. Nothing like jumping into the deep end of the pool.

Monkey shoulder got me into whisky. I avoided whisky (Scotch, specifically) because I did not like smokey/peaty flavors I tried in peated Scotch. I had no idea what wonderful flavors are in many whiskies that are not peated. My current favprites are Deanston 12, Bunnahabhain 12 and, Glenfarclas 12. Great video!

Thanks , nice review ❤

Phil, I love bourbon. Definitely enjoy Redbreast Irish whiskey. My first love of whiskey was Johnnie Walker Black and Johnnie Walker Blue after awhile. I really want to explore more varieties of Scotch. Using Redbreast 12 as a price point what would be your suggestions for different types of Scotches? By the way, I enjoy higher ABV, but that’s certainly not a must.

PC 10, period. :)

The whiskey that got me started was redbrest

My first whisky was a smoked whisky too (Ardbeg 10) and i never stoppes drinking whisky since. Smoked whisky can be a great door into the whisky world

After getting a taste, I think that I'd recommend Scarabus to beginners looking to sample their first peaty whisky. I'd tell them that it was a dead ringer for that $90 bottle of Caol Ila you are flashing around, but it is only $35 US. That stuff is seriously dangerously good. Me? I like Benromach 15, but that's a $100 bottle, and their 10 rolls out at ~$60, but I'll be crossing the river specifically to fetch myself a bottle of Scarabus.

the first whiskey that opened my eyes was buffalo trace. I started looking into the best scotch and an article recommended Balvenie 21 port cask, but recommended the 12 as the intro to Balvenie. And so Balvenie 12 Double wood started my descent into the rabbit hole of whiskey.

43 years ago Laphroaig 10 was my first whisky and it was far different back then, it’s much smoother & richer now.

The first single malt i liked was the glenmorangie 10, the first peated one i liked was the lagavulin 8. An old local pub of mine used to sell it for £3 a drink

Glendronach 12 was my intro

Arran 10. Price vs quality is exceptional.

Why no Ardbeg 10 in the smoky section (was thee previously) ? In other words, how would you describe the difference between Laphroaig 10?

GlenLivet... my dad (in his later years) finally graduated from bourbon to GlenLivet 15. That stuff has some memories for me.

Laphroiag was my first single malt. When I was a lad of 17/18, I never really enjoyed the taste of cheap lagers (Stella, Kronenborg etc) as I'd been brought up on red wine. I enjoyed getting drunk of course, but I would experiment with drinks just about every time I went to the pub to the point that my friends would leave me out when they bought a round because they knew I'd take too long choosing something. A bonus was that my shot of Laphroaig would last me about half an hour! Back then (1995) if a pub had a single malt it was usually Laphroaig or Macallan, but after a while (late '90s/early '00s) I started seeing Talisker, Oban, and Glenkinchie in a lot of bars and enjoyed the Glenkinchie but it was perhaps a little too smooth for my palette. Drank a lot of all of those, then started drinking Glenrothes after my brother gifted me one for my birthday (around the mid '00s I also started noticing a deterioration in whisky quality - I'd had Jura in the late '90s, but the mid/late '00s it was becoming very bland).

As big-name malts became... kind of shitty compared to how they tasted in the '90s, I started an on-off fling with bourbon as I was visiting my dad in the states a lot. After I'd tried all of the big names and even done a Kentucky distillery tour holiday, I came back to Europe and had a batch 46 Aberlour Abunadh that blew my socks off, and from then I was a regular Aberlour 12 buyer (I couldn't find the Abunadh in Spain).


Laga 16 isn't the same anymore, and I've nearly finished a Kilchoman Senaig - it was a little too smoke-forward for me for most of the bottle, but by the halfway mark I started to taste less smoke and more of the sherry cask influence. It's a really good dram if you're a smoke fan, and I would still say I enjoyed it, but neither the Senaig or the Laga are touching PC10 for me.

I cosine all of your suggestions... for a bourbon drinker, try an Arran 10, or a Classic Laddie maybe? Sherry bombs usually go down well with newcomers, and if you like the Laga 16 but want better value for money, Ledaig 10 is cheaper and tastes better to me.

Phil... good reecommendations..
BTW the Glenfiddich 'classic 12' (green bottle) has sherry cask, but the Glenlivet 12 does not.

I now play a game with my non Whiskyfile dinner guests, to find a Whisky they will appreciate.. the one that get's them excited the most is the Tamdhu 12

I am assuming by your geographic location that you do watch a bit of rugby now and then and if this is the case would be keen to see a vid on what you and your mates would be cracking open to celebrate the occasion. I need some ideas of what to buy for when the springboks win 😜.

My first single malt was an auchentoshan 12 which i considered nice but not great. People told me to stay away from peated whisky if im starting out but i got my hands a bottle of Laphroiag select and i fell in love with this kind of whisky. The bug has bit and i feel like this is going to be an endless rabit hole of money and time spent on whisky. And yet somehow i am all the more willing to walk down it.

My first malt was Old Pulteney 12 quite few years ago, and actually tried many since (Nikka from the barrell, Arefeldies, ARdbegs, Highland parks, Abelours etc...) but without any knowledge whatsoever how should I put the taste experience in place, what casks mean, let alone appreciating it, it was about quantity for me, to get drunk from nice looking bottles. So I adandoned whisky for many years, as I drink less and less to almost 0, then not long ago I saw a Dalwhinnie heavily discounted, and I pulled the trigger. Gosh it was so good on the nose, the honey especially. I like it so much that I went to the distillery this spring. Since then I kinda hooked, and thanks to these channels, learnig a lot about whisky, and eager to discover more.
I buy a bottle a month to try stuff, but I never finish them, few days a week I just pour and drink minimal amounts. For me the nose is the hook, I tend sniff the dram for long long minutes, and hours after the whisky dried out from the glass, its beautiful.

Congrats on the new place! I also have a three y/o and a four month old!
Best cheap Aussie bottles are Starward, Archie Rose and Kinglake is ok, but the best stuff comes from Tassie.
Overeem Port Cask cask strength is a must have despite the price.
And anything from Heartwood (Tim Duckett) or TIB - Tasmanian Independent Bottlers (Tim Duckett)

Just picked up the Benrinnes 15 Flora and Fauna, also awesome!

You seem to have quite an assortment of watches, in addition to whisky/ey, why not do a watch collection review??

For a beginner I would give Talisker 10 a shout (avoid the Skye and Storm releases). If your starting to look towards the smokier side, Talisker has a wee bit of everything in it, sweet, salty, smokey, savoury.

Totally agree with your list of whiskies! Tried all of them.. Thanks for your effort

What about JW Black Label

Bruichladdich The classic Lady. Very simple very nice, perfect for the start. Quite affordable in France

The whiskey that started my journey was Wild Turkey Rare Breed, a barrel proof Bourbon.

I was shocked that something as high a proof as that was flavorful, but not hot.

Bourbon was the gateway to me and as I was starting that journey a friend of mine had started experimenting with Scotch. Eventually we began sharing our favorites and now we both love it all.

Good choices, particularly Sanaig. I’d add Tomintoul 16 as a great mild bourbon-matured whisky for beginners.

Hi Phil, thanks for the awesome videos. I’m a kiwi on the South Island and was wondering if you had any recommendations on where to buy whisky. Any websites with good deals?

I always recommend Islay whisky to beginners. To normies, bourbon and sherry matured whisky will just taste like booze. Peat gives your tongue smthg to hold onto. I started to like like whisky with Lagavulin 16.
Had Macallan and Highland Park before and did not get it. Laga made me get it. Kilchoman is my favorite distillery now.

Redbreast is so great!!!!! I'm into whisky for quite some years now and Redbreast is still great to me!!!

Hands down the best starter for me is Aberlour 12. My first one was Dewer’s in 2010 and I forced myself to drink some every day of a weak long hunting trip. All I could say was Omg how horrible. I then ran into Tullamore dew, Jamison, famous grouse, black and white, and finally I had a Balvenie double wood and fell in love with it. ASAP I went out to buy one and it was $70+ I knew I couldn’t explain that to my wife at the time and after reading the label carefully I set out to find one made like it a double wood. I found Aberlour for $20 less and did it it was the best liquor purchase I have ever made to that date and made me a scotch lover. From there I kept trying all kinds and have found favorites from all 5 scotch regions, India (Amrut) us single malts and ryes. I had had experience with bourbons, Jim beam, Jack Daniel’s. All of these were of course bourbon and cokes. My first real revelation of whiskey differences was a visit in Kansas City to what I think was the Holladay distillery. That was where I tasted at least 6+ whiskies and bought a bottle of B J Holladay as my first whisky to drink neat. It was amazing to see how many different flavors of whiskey they had (none of them a flavored variety in 1991). That was where I started my whiskey journey.

Great list Phil! My first whisky which got me hooked to Scotch was Laphroaig 10 and I will always remember that moment! Interestingly my wife who said she hates whisky was absolutely blown away when I had her try Uigeadail! Now her favourite is the Signet but peaty whiskies do tend to bring some people in to the fold. Cheers for another brilliant video! 🥃

Glenfiddich and Glenmorangie got me into Whisky back in 2010. Aberlour A'Bunadh and Benriach Curiositas 10 got me into Whisky as a hobby. 🥰

Bowmore 12 got me into whisky, Smokey but not crazy

Peat scotch opened the gate for me; I would advise not trying first time in hot weather, I turned my brother off scotch giving him Laphroaig in summer 😢

Spot on Phil. Aberlour 12 was not the first one I bought, but it was the one that first amazed me at how delicious a whisky could be. Then, for a while, I liked sherried scotch but really couldn't tolerate anything peated - even HP12 was too smokey for me. Enter the Kilchoman Sanaig, that really opened my eyes to a new world of flavour. Fast forward to today, and I struggle to find a single malt that I don't like 😄

Game of thrones clynelish was the start. As much as diageo gets shit for very fair things, business wise most of their offerings are perfect for beginners! Favorite dram currently is an IB Caol Ila

The Arran 10 sucked me back into the wide world of whisky 🥃. All thanks to your recommendations @firstphil!

Mid 90’s it was The Glenmorangie sherry wood that started my journey but just after that it was the peat,Bowmore, and I loved it😋😋

My first experience with scotch was Johnnie Walker Black Label. A friend of mine suggested that I try it at a bar we were at, and I realized that it was something I could drink neat and enjoy. The first thing that really sent me down the single malt rabbit hole, though, was Ardbeg Uigeadail. I had already tried Lagavulin 16 at a friend's house, and I really didn't like it. I really wanted to see if I could find something peated that I did like though, and I also wanted to try some things other than scotch, so I ran out and got three bottles: Ardbeg Uigeadail, Benromach 10, and Woodinville Rye. I ended up liking all of them, but the Uigeadail is the first one that I tried and is what really blew me away. I couldn't believe the intensity of the flavors, and I was absolutely hooked. It's a bit of an unorthodox journey for a beginner, choosing a 54% abv heavily peated scotch and actually enjoying it, but that's the one that really started my journey, and I still love it to this day.

My first single malt was Glen Elgin 12, and it's still a favorite for me. Great one for beginners. On the smoky side, I'll suggest Talisker 10. Great channel, greetings from Argentina!

This is great! I'm going to send beginners to this video!
I would add the glenfiddich 15 to the sherry category and a green spot to the bourbon forward ( rather, smooth Irish) category.
I agree with the Lagavulin price going up is a difficult first bottle, but if the beginners palate does like peaty whisky - it is a must buy later down the road as it is a clissic and will be a favorite!

Speyburn 10 no competition at this price.

Naked Malt
Monkey Shoulder
Glennfidich 12
Singleton 12
For smoked whiskey lagavulin is a great one

Laphroaig and Lagavulin are defo the ones that made me a whisky guy. I've tasted all of the bottles in this video and I'd say all are fantastic. They cover just about all of the moods that one can get into. So there's a dram for every occasion.