I Tried Every Aldi Whisky So You Don't Have To

I walked into my nearest Aldi on a Wednesday afternoon and bought every whisky they had. Eight bottles. Total spend: £152. My partner thought I'd lost the plot. Reader, I had not.

A note on spelling: Scotch is spelled "whisky" (no e) and Irish/American is spelled "whiskey" (with an e) — but on the supermarket shelf they sit side by side, and searches use both spellings interchangeably. This review covers Aldi's Scotch range. Their occasional American whiskey (bourbon) stock is covered in the FAQ at the end.

The premise is simple: Aldi's own-label whiskies are astonishingly cheap. Highland Black 8 Year Old costs £13.99. Their Glen Marnoch single malts are £17.99. These are prices that wouldn't buy you a large measure of Johnnie Walker in a Glasgow pub. But are they actually drinkable? Or are you getting what you pay for?

I poured them all blind — decanted into numbered glasses by a friend, so I didn't know which was which — and scored them on a scale of 1 to 5. I added a couple of branded benchmarks (Famous Grouse at £16 and Auchentoshan American Oak at £25) to calibrate.

The results

Scored blind, tasted neat at room temperature, then with a few drops of water.

1st place: Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask — 3.8/5

Price: £19.99 · ABV: 40% · Type: Single malt (Speyside, unconfirmed)

The surprise winner. Genuine sherry cask influence — dried fruit, a touch of orange peel, warm spice on the finish. This tastes like a whisky that should cost £30–35. The sherry character isn't deep or complex, but it's present and pleasant, which at £20 is remarkable. My blind score was actually higher than the Auchentoshan benchmark.

I went back and bought another bottle.

2nd place: Highland Black 8 Year Old — 3.5/5

Price: £13.99 · ABV: 40% · Type: Blended Scotch

The one everyone talks about, and it earns the reputation. Smooth, lightly honeyed, no rough edges, no burn, no off-notes. At £14 it's the best-value whisky in any UK supermarket by a distance. The 8-year age statement means the youngest component has had time to mellow properly — you can tell. It won Gold at the Scotch Whisky Masters, and that award is deserved.

This is the bottle I keep in the cupboard for weeknight drams and mixing.

3rd place: Glen Marnoch Highland — 3.3/5

Price: £17.99 · ABV: 40% · Type: Single malt (Highland, unconfirmed)

More robust than the Speyside version. There's a grassy, slightly malty quality that reads as Highland without being particularly distinctive. A completely inoffensive whisky that would sit comfortably at £25–28 in different packaging. The Aldi price makes it excellent value; the whisky itself is solid rather than exciting.

4th place: Auchentoshan American Oak (benchmark) — 3.3/5

Price: £25 (Tesco) · ABV: 40% · Type: Single malt (Lowland)

Included as a benchmark. Scored identically to Glen Marnoch Highland in blind tasting, which says more about Glen Marnoch's value than Auchentoshan's quality. The Auchentoshan is more refined — the vanilla is cleaner, the finish is longer — but the gap is much smaller than the £7 price difference suggests.

5th place: Glen Marnoch Speyside — 3.2/5

Price: £17.99 · ABV: 40% · Type: Single malt (Speyside, unconfirmed)

Light, fruity, inoffensive. The standard Speyside profile: apple, pear, a hint of vanilla. There's nothing wrong with it and nothing memorable about it. It's the whisky equivalent of a reliable weeknight dinner — perfectly adequate, never thrilling.

6th place: Famous Grouse (benchmark) — 3.0/5

Price: £16 (Tesco) · ABV: 40% · Type: Blended Scotch

Included as a benchmark for the blended category. Fine. Does exactly what it says. In the blind tasting, it scored below Highland Black, which costs £2 less. The Grouse has more grain character (thin, slightly sweet) than Highland Black's more malt-forward profile.

7th place: Aldi Scotch Whisky (the very cheap one) — 2.2/5

Price: £11.49 · ABV: 40% · Type: Blended Scotch

Every supermarket has a bottom-shelf blend. This is Aldi's. It's harsh, grain-forward, and finishes with a burn that the Highland Black somehow avoids entirely. The £2.50 saving over Highland Black is not worth it. This is for mixing with Coke when you genuinely don't care, or for cooking.

8th place: Aldi Irish Whiskey — 2.0/5

Price: £13.49 · ABV: 40% · Type: Blended Irish

Included because it was on the shelf. Thin, sweet, forgettable. Irish whiskey at this price point has less character than Scottish blends at the same price because the triple distillation removes more flavour congeners. Not unpleasant, but not worth buying when Highland Black exists for 50p more.

The price-per-unit breakdown

I ran all eight through our Whisky Value Calculator:

Whisky	Price	£/unit of alcohol
Aldi Scotch (bottom shelf)	£11.49	£0.41
Highland Black 8	£13.99	£0.50
Glen Marnoch Speyside	£17.99	£0.64
Glen Marnoch Highland	£17.99	£0.64
Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask	£19.99	£0.71
Auchentoshan American Oak	£25.00	£0.89

Highland Black at £0.50/unit is the value champion. Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask at £0.71/unit is the quality-value champion — it tastes like a £0.89–1.00/unit whisky.

What Aldi won't tell you

Aldi doesn't disclose which distilleries produce their whiskies. This is standard for own-label spirits — the contracts prohibit naming the source. But the whisky community has strong suspicions based on flavour profiling and process of elimination. I'm not going to repeat them here because they're unconfirmed, and repeating distillery names without evidence would be irresponsible.

What I can say is that these are real Scotch whiskies. The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 are strict: to be labelled Scotch, the whisky must be distilled and matured in Scotland for a minimum of three years in oak casks. The Glen Marnoch range carries "Single Malt" on the label, which means 100% malted barley from a single distillery. These aren't blending shortcuts or legal grey areas — they're legitimate Scottish single malts sold at prices that embarrass the established brands.

What I'd actually buy again

For everyday: Highland Black 8 (£13.99). I've been buying this for two years and I'll keep buying it. It's better than Famous Grouse, it's cheaper than Famous Grouse, and it's a perfectly good dram neat, with water, or with ginger ale.

For a treat: Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask (£19.99). The best whisky Aldi sells, and a genuine bargain compared to named sherried malts at £30+. When it's in stock, buy two.

To avoid: The bottom-shelf Aldi Scotch at £11.49. The £2.50 saving over Highland Black gets you a noticeably worse whisky.

If Aldi isn't near you, the named-brand equivalent of the Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask experience is Auchentoshan American Oak — a step up in refinement at £25:

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Check the value of any bottle with our Whisky Value Calculator, or find your taste profile with the Whisky Flavour Finder.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Aldi Scotch whisky actually distilled?

Aldi doesn't disclose distillery sources, but the Glen Marnoch range is widely understood to be sourced from Tomatin (Highland) and a Speyside contract distillery — likely Glen Moray or Tamnavulin. Highland Black 8 is a blend that uses grain whisky from Cameronbridge or Strathclyde. The bottlings are made at Loch Lomond Group's bottling facility under Aldi's contract.

Has Aldi whisky won awards?

Yes, repeatedly. Highland Black 8 has won golds at the International Spirits Challenge and Scotch Whisky Masters. Glen Marnoch Speyside has medalled in multiple competitions. These awards are real and judged blind — they're not the brand-paid "awards" that some craft brands collect. Aldi whisky punches significantly above its price point in blind tasting.

Is Aldi whisky bottled in Scotland?

Yes — to be labelled Scotch whisky under UK and EU law, the spirit must be matured in Scotland for at least three years. Bottling can technically happen elsewhere but most major Scotch is bottled in Scotland for logistical reasons. Aldi's Scotch range is bottled at facilities in Ayrshire and the Lothians.

Does Aldi whisky go bad?

No. An unopened bottle of Aldi whisky is stable indefinitely — same as any other Scotch. Once opened, expect 1–2 years of optimal flavour before oxidation starts to dull the spirit. Cask strength bottles last longer than 40% ABV bottles. Store upright (not on its side like wine), out of direct sunlight.

Are Aldi single malts the same as supermarket own-label single malts?

The category is the same (sourced single malts bottled under store brand) but the actual whisky differs. Tesco's Finest range, Sainsbury's Taste the Difference, Morrisons The Best, and Aldi's Glen Marnoch all source from different distilleries with different price points. Aldi tends to be the most aggressively priced; Sainsbury's Taste the Difference is often the highest quality in this category.

Is it embarrassing to bring Aldi whisky to a tasting?

No. Several whisky clubs run blind tastings precisely because the perceived gap between supermarket own-label and named-brand single malts is much narrower than people expect. Bring Glen Marnoch Sherry Cask blind alongside a £40 sherried Speyside and you'll be surprised how often it competes.

Does Aldi sell American whiskey?

Yes — Aldi's range often includes a small selection of American whiskey (bourbon and Tennessee whiskey) under various own-label and branded names, usually in the £15–22 bracket. Stock varies by store and season. The own-label bourbon equivalent typically tracks the same price-quality strategy as the Scotch range — competent if unspectacular, well-priced for cocktails (Old Fashioneds, Whiskey Sours) rather than for sipping neat. The Scotch range covered here is the year-round constant; American whiskey at Aldi is more of a rotating-stock category.

What's the difference between whisky and whiskey?

Spelling, mostly. Scotch, Canadian and Japanese all use "whisky" (no e). Irish and most American producers use "whiskey" (with an e). The underlying product is the same category — grain spirit aged in oak — but production rules, base grains and flavour profiles differ significantly by country. Aldi's Scotch range (covered in this review) is all spelled "whisky"; any bourbon they stock is spelled "whiskey".

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