About TasteSCOT
Scotland’s independent food & drink guide.
TasteSCOT exists because the existing Scottish food and drink media is broken. Distilleries pay for coverage. Tourism boards commission travel writers who’ve never set foot on Islay. Lifestyle magazines push whatever has the biggest ad budget. Meanwhile, the stuff Scots actually want to know — is this £45 whisky any good? where do I buy real langoustines? which farmers market is open this Saturday? — is treated as beneath serious attention.
What we do
We write consumer-first guides across whisky, seafood, craft beer, gin and local produce. Everything is tested, tasted, or visited in person. We score bottles blind where we can. We publish prices. We name the products that aren’t worth buying. We build tools that help you make decisions, not engagement metrics.
How we make money
We use affiliate links. When you click through to buy a bottle at a retailer like The Whisky Exchange, we get a small commission. The price you pay doesn’t change. Our editorial ranking is never influenced by affiliate payouts — if the best-value whisky under £30 doesn’t have an affiliate link, that’s what we’ll still recommend.
We do not take paid placements, sponsored reviews, press trips, or distillery hospitality. If we visit a distillery, we pay for the tour. If a brand sends us a sample, we disclose it in the article.
Who runs this
TasteSCOT is written and run by Gary, a Glasgow-based food and drink obsessive who got tired of reading whisky reviews that read like press releases and seafood guides written by people who’ve never been to a fish market at 6am. The site grew out of years of notes — distillery visits, market hauls, bottles bought and regretted — that were too opinionated for anywhere else.
TasteSCOT is a small independent publisher. We are not a tourism board, a marketing agency, or a subsidiary of a drinks conglomerate.
Get in touch
For editorial enquiries, corrections, or tip-offs: hello@tastescot.co.uk. For affiliate and commercial enquiries: partners@tastescot.co.uk.
And if you want weekly picks from us, subscribe to The Scottish Bite.