Newbie Touring Scotland Needs advice buying single malt

[dondford]

We will tour Scotland for two weeks the end of this month and plan on bringing home 5-6 bottles of single malt. As for my tastes, I do not care for the Islay style heavy peated SM, I do like Balvenie 12 yr Doublewood very much. I have signed up for the Friends of the Classic Malt tours and plan on a few more. I am looking for advice on what/how to buy.
I have been looking at the World Duty Free web site and have the option of ordering what I want and picking it up at the Glasgow airport. I have read that many do not recommend buying Duty Free, but directly from the distillery or good whiskey shops. I am also reading conflicting info on prices. I have read that I will not save any money buying in Scotland and was advised to buy Travel Exclusives or brands not available in the US. I have also read I can pick up a "VAT Card" and get the VAT refunded. I understand my wife and me can each bring back 1 lt each duty free but mind paying the 3% on additional bottles in the US.

I would greatly appreciate any advice, recommendations, thoughts how to best buy, as well as recommendations of what to buy.

Thanks,
D

[sorren]

Hi ..
If it was me visiting I would try to buy bottles from the distillery that are exclusive.. bottle your own types for example.. there are some fabulous exclusives available.. for example
Auchentoshan
Glengoyne
Glenfiddich
Glen moray
Glendronach
Aberfeldy
Tomatin
Balvenie
These are distilleries I have visited and bottled my own..
There are many more and I am sure some one will list them..

[Alexppp]

Travel retail isn't what it used to be - a lot of distilleries now have travel retail exclusives that do not carry age statements and are normally more expensive than their regular offerings. They often have fancy names to lure unsuspecting tourists. Those are the bottles I would avoid, unless it's something you really want to try or something by a distillery you like that's unavailable in your country.

Now, at the distilleries themselves you also have to be careful because they'll have all their regular bottlings at somewhat inflated prices. A lot of people want to buy whisky straight from the distillery so they're taking advantage of that. When buying at the distillery, go for a distillery exclusive - a lot of them have excellent cask strength bottlings, sometimes cask strength versions their regular bottlings. And as sorren said, also go for a bottle your own whisky straight from the cask - that way you're really getting a distillery exclusive!

I would recommend Glengoyne as a first distillery to visit - it's near Glasgow and at a beautiful location, and also it's a very picturesque distillery. I would call ahead about their bottle your own option as it's not available at all times in my experience. If you're a fan of Balvenie definitely go to that distillery too!

[jwbassman]

Totally agree with everything said so far, the bottles to buy are the ones you can't get elsewhere (supermarkets, online etc). The distillery exclusives or bottle your own, or bottles from the local shops that are exclusive to them are sometimes an interesting option too... whatever you do have fun, enjoy your tours and take home some good whisky

[minesascotch]

When I last went to Balvenie they didn't have a visitor centre so you will need to book ahead for their distillery tour and tasting well worth it in my opinion, on my last visit we tried three from the cask aged 12. 14 and another the age escapes me I'm afraid, followed by a tasting room experience where we tried at least 6/7 of their core range.

[deadz101]

If you do go to Speyside, aberlour 18 is about £55 for a bottle at their shop, normally £80 everywhere else, a very good 18 yo imho.