Valentine’s Whisky: with Valentine’s Day fast approaching, how do you choose the perfect bottle?

Choosing Valentine’s whisky doesn’t have to be complicated. Just follow your partner’s tastes in other drinks to find the perfect bottle to warm their hearts and remind them of just how much you like to think about them. 

Our top five gift ideas range from very sweet and indulgent to peaty and popular and all the way to wine and award winners. It’s a wonderful journey through the taste of whisky.

Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur 

Slightly off-piste, this is a rich and indulgent cream liqueur made in a single batch using cream from five family farms. Each farm is located in Co Cork and the cows are grass-fed and free roaming. Using triple-distilled Irish whiskey, the team behind this popular brand have created a wonderfully flavoured and provenance-heavy liquor.  

Bottled at 17%, this award-winning, farm-to-table release comes packed with layers of chocolate and coffee all laced through the silky-smooth cream.

Ardbeg an Oa

The Ardbeg an Oa is a confident new member of the Ardbeg family, full of sweetness and big flavours. Matured in ex-bourbon, PX sherry and new oak casks, it’s been married in the distillery’s so-called Gathering Vat made from French oak. 

Offering a classic Ardbeg experience but wrapped in layers of chocolate, aniseed and smooth butterscotch, this 46.6% single malt is still smoky and spicy but builds in flavour to the finish with a gentler, more rounded peat experience than its more robust stablemates.

Benriach 16

This is a deeply complex whisky from Speyside. Matured in ex-bourbon, sherry and virgin oak, it’s part of a core range collection from Benriach that is tremendously popular. 

The 16-year-old is distinguished by components of dried fruit, smooth creamy malt, wild honey and nutty spice. Created by master blender Rachel Barrie at the distillery that’s located between Rothes village and the town of Elgin in north Speyside this rich single malt is bottled at 43%.

Cardhu 14 Special Releases 2021

This bottle took a starring role in the 2021 Diageo Special Release series. While Cardhu has its fans, you’ll find the distillery’s output most commonly in blends like Johnnie Walker and other big-name Scotch releases so this Special Release was a treat.

Matured in refill American oak it was then finished in red wine casks, giving it a wonderfully red fruit complexity and sweetness. A Speyside classic despite the lack of sherry, it’s bottled at 55.5%.  

Glen Scotia 25

This classic Campbeltown single malt is a triumph. Bottled at 48.8%, Glen Scotia 25 took the Best in Show badge at the San Francisco World Spirits Awards in 2021 as well as the best whisky overall award at the event that year. 

Matured for 24 years in refill bourbon it was finished for one year in first-fill bourbon. The pale gold colour of the 25-year-old offers a rich and maritime-influenced nose. It offers a sweet, citrus-packed palate with vanilla, caramel and spice with a deep finish and more of that salt, oils and tropical layers. It’s a noble whisky that works hard for the team that created it and a perfect Valentine’s whisky gift.

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