Aldi vs Lidl Whisky: Which Discounter Does It Better?

Aldi and Lidl run almost identical playbooks: small range, own-label single malts, eye-catching prices, occasional Whisky-Awards medal sticker on the front. If you walk into either store you'll find a Speyside single malt for under £20 and a blended Scotch for under £15. The question this guide answers is: when you've got £20 in your pocket and a choice of either, which one do you actually buy?

A note on spelling. This guide compares Scotch whisky — the Scottish/UK spelling, no e. If you searched "Aldi whiskey" or "Lidl whiskey" to get here, you're in the right place; both Aldi and Lidl sell Scotch (no e) under their UK own-label ranges, plus the occasional Irish or American bourbon (which IS spelled "whiskey" — and is a different spirit to Scotch entirely). We use "whisky" throughout for Scotch and "whiskey" only when referring to American or Irish bottles.

This piece compares Aldi's range and the full Lidl line-up directly — on price, range, value per unit and the competition awards each has won.

The one-line version

Aldi: Wider range, slightly more polished single malts, the Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask is the standout. Best for: someone who wants a single malt at £18.

Lidl: Tighter range, the Islay-style Ben Bracken is the standout, and the £14.49 Queen Margot 8 is among the cheapest age-stated blends on any shelf. Best for: someone who wants a peat-forward dram at supermarket prices.

Neither wins outright. Buy from whichever is closer to you.

The blended Scotches — neck and neck

The entry-level blend in each discounter is the bottle most people pick up first — it's where the price-pressure lives, and where supermarkets win or lose new whisky drinkers.

	Aldi Highland Black 8	Lidl Queen Margot 8
Price	£13.99	£14.49
ABV	40%	40%
Age statement	8 years	8 years
Awards	IWSC Gold (multiple years)	IWSC Gold

On paper these are remarkably close: both are 8-year age-stated blends at around £14, and both have won gold at the International Wine & Spirit Competition — judged blind by professional panels. Aldi's Highland Black is the marginally cheaper of the two, so on value it shades it, but there's little between them and both are comfortable cocktail and highball whiskies.

Verdict: Effectively a tie — two award-winning, age-stated blends at the same money. Buy whichever is cheaper on the day.

The single malts — Aldi wins

The single-malt own-label is where the discounter category gets interesting. Both Aldi (the Glen Marnoch range) and Lidl (Ben Bracken) source from contract distilleries and bottle under their own brand. The result is a £17–20 single malt that has no business being that price.

	Aldi Glen Marnoch Speyside	Aldi Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask	Lidl Ben Bracken Speyside	Lidl Ben Bracken Islay
Price	£17.99	£17.99	£17.99	£19.99
ABV	40%	40%	40%	40%
Style	Classic Speyside	Sherry-cask Speyside	Classic Speyside	Islay-style peated

The standout single malt for the price across either discounter is Aldi's Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask — a sherry-cask-finished Speyside at around £18, where comparable named sherried malts start nearer £35. On value for the style, it's the pick of the four.

Lidl's Ben Bracken Islay is the most interesting bottle in either range though, and it's the one Aldi can't match: a peated, Islay-style single malt for £19.99. It's not Lagavulin and it doesn't try to be — but for under £20, smoke this approachable is genuinely rare.

Verdict: Aldi wins on the sherry-cask single malt; Lidl wins on the peated option. If you only buy one bottle: Aldi Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask.

Range breadth — Aldi has more shelves

	Aldi	Lidl
Blended Scotch	2 (Highland Black 8, Highland Black + occasional Glen Orrin)	1 (Queen Margot 8)
Speyside single malt	1 (Glen Marnoch)	1 (Ben Bracken Speyside)
Sherry-cask single malt	1 (Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask)	—
Highland single malt	Occasional rotation	—
Islay-style single malt	—	1 (Ben Bracken Islay)
Other ranges	Specially Selected single-cask releases at Christmas; occasional Japanese, Irish, American on rotation	Special-release Ben Bracken cask-strength bottlings appear sporadically
Range size (typical)	6-8 bottles year-round	5-6 bottles year-round

If you want choice, Aldi has a deeper shelf. If you want a single thing-that-Lidl-does-and-Aldi-doesn't, it's the peated Ben Bracken Islay.

Pricing — they're within pennies

Both discounters are pricing to the same shelf-level. The difference between them on any given bottle is rarely more than £1, and the relative rank can flip between weeks (yellow-sticker reductions, multi-buys, the various 25%-off events Lidl runs).

For the price-per-unit-of-alcohol view of either range, plug a bottle into our whisky value calculator — both discounters routinely deliver £/unit numbers that beat almost everything at £25–35 in the mainstream supermarkets.

Awards — they both medal in blind tastings

This is the bit the snobs hate. Both Aldi and Lidl whiskies have repeatedly won golds at the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC), the International Spirits Challenge (ISC), and the Scotch Whisky Masters — all judged blind by professional panels. The awards aren't marketing inventions; they're earned in blind tastings against named-brand single malts.

A short list of the medal-winners (not exhaustive — both ranges medal in most years):

• Aldi Highland Black 8 — IWSC Gold, Scotch Whisky Masters Gold (multiple years)
• Aldi Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask — multiple medals at IWSC and ISC
• Lidl Queen Margot 8 — IWSC Gold (2023)
• Lidl Ben Bracken Speyside — IWSC Silver

Translation: the gap between £18 supermarket single malt and £40 named-brand single malt is much narrower than the supermarket aisles want you to believe.

Where they actually come from

Neither Aldi nor Lidl publishes the source distilleries for their own-label whiskies (contractual restriction with the contract distilleries). The candidates below are industry speculation, not confirmed fact — treat every named distillery here as unconfirmed:

• Glen Marnoch range — speculation points to Tomatin (Highland) and either Glen Moray or Tamnavulin (Speyside), but none is confirmed. Cask-finishing is done at the bottling plant.
• Highland Black 8 — a blended Scotch; the grain whisky is widely speculated to come from Cameronbridge or Strathclyde grain distilleries and the malt from across Speyside, but the sources are unconfirmed.
• Ben Bracken Speyside — a Speyside contract distillery, with Glen Moray or a similar mid-size operation named as speculation only.
• Ben Bracken Islay — an Islay distillery, with Bunnahabhain or Caol Ila named as the likeliest candidates from public clues, but neither is confirmed.
• Queen Margot 8 — understood to be sourced from multiple distilleries and blended for Lidl by a third-party bottler; the specific distilleries are not disclosed.

The broader pattern is the open secret of the supermarket whisky aisle: most "own-label" whisky comes from the same handful of working distilleries that supply the named brands. The specific names above remain unconfirmed industry speculation — you're paying for the spirit, not the marketing.

The honest verdict

If you only ever buy one supermarket whisky: Aldi Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask at £17.99. Our research-based pick for the best single bottle either discounter sells.

If you want something that doesn't taste like the £40 single malt next to it: Lidl Ben Bracken Islay at £19.99. Peated, distinctive, the bottle in this category that surprises people.

If you just want something to drink with ginger ale or in a hot toddy: Aldi Highland Black 8 (£13.99) or Lidl Queen Margot 8 (£14.49). Both fine. Buy the cheaper one.

If you want choice on the shelf: Aldi. Deeper range, more rotation, more chance of finding a Christmas single-cask special.

The honest summary: this isn't a case where one discounter is significantly better than the other. They're running the same playbook against the same audience with the same suppliers. The differences are at the margin. Buy from whichever store is closer to you, and use the £20 you save vs named-brand single malts on a bottle that's genuinely worth the markup (Highland Park 12, Aberlour 12, Tamdhu 12) for when you're drinking it neat.

Check price on Amazon

For more on the wider supermarket whisky landscape, see our best supermarket whisky deals guide and our explainer on what actually happens inside supermarket whisky.

Prefer it delivered?

Similar bottles you can get on Amazon

The own-label bottles above are in-store only. If you’d rather not make the trip, these are close in style and value — a small step up, delivered.

Tamnavulin Double Cask

Sherried Speyside — the closest match to an own-label sherry-cask single malt

Check price

Auchentoshan American Oak

Smooth, unpeated Lowland — an easy everyday pour in the supermarket price band

Check price

Glenfiddich 12 Year Old

Age-stated single malt — the safe step up if you want a known name delivered

Check price

Affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate we may earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you. It never changes what we recommend.