Spirits · Three bottles for your palate
Whisky Compass
Five sliders for smoke, sweetness, fruit, spice and body, one budget, and a shortlist from twenty-four whiskies you can actually buy.
The whisky aisle sorts bottles by country and price. Your mouth sorts them by smoke, sweetness, fruit, spice and body. The Whisky Compass maps what you like on those five axes and finds the bottles closest to it, within what you want to spend.
Twenty-four whiskies from Scotland, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan and America, profiled by the editors on five axes. Prices are typical European retail in 2026. If you do not know your profile yet, start from the middle and move one slider at a time.
Questions we get asked
I have no idea what I like.
Leave the sliders in the middle, set a budget, and buy the first bottle. Taste it, decide whether you wanted more or less of each thing, move the sliders, and the second bottle will be closer.
Why is there no score?
Scores tell you what a critic liked. The compass tells you what is close to what you like. Those are different questions.
Are these the best whiskies?
They are good, available and different from each other, which is what a first shelf needs. The best whisky is the one you finish.
Read on
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