Online Whisky Retailers
Before you read this, I hope you will take the time to read my primer on where to buy. Again, I strongly recommend that you buy local when you can. If you can’t find what you want locally, read on.
Like almost everything else, you can buy whisky online nowadays. In some parts of the world, even Amazon sells whisky. Since the United States has relatively stringent and idiosyncratic liquor laws, things are a little more complicated for Americans who want to buy liquor online, and many US states do not allow liquor shipments. Before you even think about buying from an online retailer, it’s a good idea to get the lay of the land for whether your state will allow you to do so.
For my fellow New Mexicans, good news–we’re one of the states that can get liquor shipped!
Although there are US-based online retailers, my impression of them is that they generally have high prices and lackluster selection. If you’re going to deal with getting whisky shipped to you at all, I highly recommend that you go straight for retailers based in the United Kingdom or in northwestern countries in the European Union.
Before you buy online, be sure to consider the expense involved. Remember that the only legal way to receive shipments of liquor is via courier services such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL. That means that you can expect to pay a sizable sum on shipping–realistically, at least $50-60 on even small shipments. Also be aware that you’re going to be making your purchase in a foreign currency (pounds sterling or euros), so you will want to check current exchange rates before you make a purchase. Especially recently, dollar-to-pound and dollar-to-euro exchange rates have been a little volatile, so you need to factor that into your consideration as well; realistically, you can expect fluctuations of as much as 3-4% between the time you make your purchase, and the time your transaction is finalized. You also need to consider customs fees. Although many retailers that ship internationally build customs duties into their shipping fees, that isn’t universally true, and as the consumer, you have ultimate responsibility for that. Many credit cards also have fees of 3-5% on any foreign transaction. Finally, factoring in economies of scale, it is usually more cost-efficient to buy multiple bottles at a time, since the marginal costs of shipping each additional bottle are usually lower. If you’re going to buy whisky online, you should expect to buy at least 3-4 bottles at a time (likely more than that), and budget at least $500-600 per order (and again, likely more).
To summarize, be prepared for:
- Courier shipping rates, so probably at least $50-200 just on shipping
- Foreign exchange risk
- Customs duties
- Credit card fees
- Spending at least around $500-700 (likely more) to take advantage of economies of scale
In short, I would strongly advise against buying whisky online unless you have a fair amount of disposable income that you want to spend on whisky, along with a little flexibility for non-trivial cost overruns.
Here’s a list of UK and EU-based online retailers with good selections. Most of these ship to select US states, however, I’m including a few who don’t due to their selection and the possibility that they may start (or restart) shipping to the US.
How to use this guide:
Name – Every entry starts with a hyperlinked store name. Click the link, and you’ll be taken to that store’s homepage, or in a few cases, their homepage for whisky.
Location: The country where they’re located.
US shipping?: All the shops mentioned here ship internationally, and since I’m based in the US and assume the same of most of my traffic here, there’s a bias toward stores that ship to the US. I’ll mention a few that don’t, and that’s why this point is here at all.
My experience: Have I ever ordered from this shop, along with any quick highlights of the experience.
Selection Rating: A star-rating (out of 5) of their selection.
Strengths: Any special strengths of their selection, e.g. special releases, store exclusives, particular independent bottlings, rarities, etc.
Pros: The good.
Cons: The bad.
Notes: Anything else I feel might be relevant.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes.
My experience: I’ve been ordering from Whisky Exchange for more than a decade, and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive.
Selection Rating: 5 stars
Strengths: A strong selection of distillery bottlings, lots of store exclusives from both their affiliated bottling concern and other independents, and a solid showing of more widely available indies, as well. Outside auction, they probably still have the best overall selection of whisky from closed distilleries and other old and rare bottles.
Pros: Secure shipping, great selection, easy to use website.
Cons: Shipping has gotten really pricey, and the selection no longer completely dominates the competition.
Notes: Still pretty much the ne plus ultra of online whisky shops. You may not find what you’re looking for, or you may balk at the shipping costs, but they’re almost always the best place to start looking.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes.
My experience: My wife has ordered almost all of my gift whisky in the last couple of years from them (a switch from Whisky Exchange, due to hefty prices), and every order has arrived safely and reasonably quickly.
Selection Rating: 4 stars
Strengths: Strong general selection with a good mix of distillery and indie bottlings.
Pros: Secure shipping, strong selection, intuitive website, and amazing discounts on bulk shipping.
Cons: Unless you’re buying £500 or more worth of merchandise, the shipping is pricey; they’re prices on bottles are a little higher than most competitors; despite the name, they’re not great for lost distilleries.
Notes: Birmingham-based Hard to find Whisky is another great, UK-based site. They have a wide selection of recent bottlings, and they reliably carry some store-specific or otherwise special independent bottlings that you can’t find elsewhere.
Location: Denmark
US shipping?: Not at the moment.
My experience: My wife ordered a couple of bottles for me from them for an anniversary present. The shipping was a little slow, and felt a little dodgy, but the bottles got here safe and sound, and it didn’t cost a fortune. At the moment, US shipping has been suspended.
Selection Rating: 3 stars
Strengths: Core bottlings, Signatory, Gordon & Macphail, and Dutch indie bottler van Wees.
Pros: Solid selection of core official bottlings with a decent range of bigger indies and some dirt cheap shipping.
Cons: If you’re digging around for rarities or indie bottlers like Hunter Laing or Alistair Walker, the selection quickly gets a little thin.
Notes: I’ve heard good things, mostly on Reddit. At this point, I have no personal experience.
Location: Netherlands
US shipping?: Yes (usually).
My experience: Ordered a couple of things from them, and both times the experience was quite positive.
Selection Rating: 4.5 stars
Strengths: Good general selection and very solid on rarities.
Pros: Great customer service, and reliable shipping in my limited experience; really good place to look for rare bottlings, too.
Cons: Costly and slow shipping.
Notes: Dutch-based Must Have Malts is an online-exclusive shop. They have a formidable selection of malts (and bourbons, too!), including many rarities, at mostly very competitive prices. The customer service is excellent, with prompt responses to questions relating to shipping and other concerns. Shipping is expensive and slow, so if you buy from them, you probably want it to be a bottle you can’t find elsewhere, and if you need it right away, they might not be the best choice.
Location: UK (Scotland)
US shipping?: Yes.
My experience: I’ve ordered from them, and they were extremely prompt with secure shipping. Scotland to New Mexico took…I don’t know, 2-3 days? Pretty impressive.
Selection Rating: 4.5 stars
Strengths: A stunning selection of independent bottlings from a range of well-known and lesser known bottlers: Gordon and Macphail and Signatory, of course, but a range of offerings from Alistair Walker, James Eadie, Golden Cask, Hart Bros and Hunter Laing, as well.
Pros: Great selection of independent bottlings and reasonably priced shipping.
Cons: Generally weak on bottlings from new distilleries, and such rarities as they have are outrageously expensive.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes.
My experience: Positive. They started shipping to the US again a little over a year again, which is great news for American whisky lovers!
Selection Rating: 4 stars
Strengths: Good all-around selection, and they also offer 3cl samples of most of their offerings.
Pros: Generally excellent selection and a wide variety of samples available.
Cons: They’re getting a little thin on the lost distilleries front, although that can be said of many retailers at this point.
Location: UK (Scotland)
US shipping?: Yes.
My experience: Positive.
Selection Rating: 3 stars
Strengths: Solid selection overall, with some good indies and exclusives, and representation from a few distilleries that are hard to find elsewhere.
Pros: Solid selection and exclusives. The last couple of years they’ve offered specials on US shipping around Black Friday which makes buying very tempting (enough so that I’ve bought quite a bit from them during those sales the last couple of years!)
Cons: Expensive shipping normally, and some gaps in the selection. The shipping is also very slow, although very secure.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 3.5 stars
Strengths: Outstanding for rare bottles and bottles from closed distilleries. If you’re in the market for something more workaday, don’t bother.
Pros: Really strong selection of rare malts at reasonable prices.
Cons: Really only there for rarities, so not a great place to look if you’re just in the market for more workaday bottlings.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: Ordered from them recently, and likely will again. Very, very fast, very secure, and very reasonably priced shipping.
Selection Rating: 4.0 stars
Strengths: Current proprietary bottlings and indie bottlings.
Pros: A good selection of current official bottlings, and select current indie offerings at reasonable prices–including some very reasonably priced shipping.
Cons: There are some noticeable lacunae in their selection of indie bottlers, and they have little to offer in the way of rare bottlings.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: Positive. I ordered a few bottles from them last year and things mostly went smoothly, although a tad slowly.
Selection Rating: 4 stars
Strengths: They have a formidable selection of malts in both official, and a fairly wide selection of indie bottlings, and a decent selection of rarities, albeit commanding premium prices.
Pros: Really strong, wide-ranging selection.
Cons: Their website is a touch hard to use, and their shipping prices–at least to the US–are on the steep side.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: I’ve purchased from their affiliated auction, but never their shop. Timely, secure, but rather pricey shipping from the auction, so I’d expect something similar with the retail side.
Selection Rating: 4 stars
Strengths: Generally good selection, especially strong on indie bottlings from lesser-known distilleries.
Pros: Strong selection of indie bottlings, often with a very wide range from more obscure distilleries; also, they don’t charge VAT for those of us in the US.
Cons: A touch pricey on shipping, but nothing too terrible; also, not the best place to shop if you’re looking to replace your more run-of-the-mill official bottlings.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 3.5 stars
Strengths: Indie bottlings and shop exclusives.
Pros: Generally solid selection.
Cons: Spotty coverage of official bottlings and some weird holes in their inventory; shipping is on the pricey-ish side.
Location: Netherlands
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 4 stars
Strengths: Great general selection covering most Scottish distilleries with a good mixture of indie and distillery bottlings.
Pros: Really excellent selection including a nice mix of rarities and more ordinary bottlings.
Cons: The website is a tad clunky, and the shipping is a little bit on the pricey side.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 3 stars
Strengths: A decent variety of interesting indies.
Pros: Solid selection.
Cons: Website is hard to navigate, and there are plenty of holes in the selection.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 2.5 stars
Strengths: Some rarities.
Pros: Decent selection.
Cons: Difficult to use website, and lots of holes in the selection.
Location: UK (Scotland)
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 2 stars
Strengths: Decent selection of indies.
Pros: Reasonable shipping and fair selection of indie bottlings.
Cons: Overall selection is thin.
Location: United Kingdom
US shipping?: Yes
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 3 stars
Strengths: Rarities from existing distilleries.
Pros: Decent to good selection of rare and old bottlings from distilleries still currently in production.
Cons: Not a good place to look for current bottlings, and the shipping is a bit pricey.
Location: Netherlands
US shipping?: Yes, but at the moment, it’s insanely expensive.
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 3.5 stars
Strengths: General selection–they have a pretty wide range of both official and indie bottlings from a wide range of distilleries, and there are rarities sprinkled into the mix, as well.
Pros: Very good selection.
Cons: Horrifyingly high shipping costs.
Location: Netherlands
US shipping?: Yes, ish. It sounds complicated.
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 3 stars
Strengths: Well…rare whisky.
Pros: Good selection of rare and rare-ish whiskies, including a fair selection from closed distilleries.
Cons: Uh…complex? shipping arrangements, selection gets really thin outside those rarities.
Location: Singapore
US shipping?: Not as of this writing…
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 2.5 stars
Strengths: Rarities from cult distilleries like Ardbeg.
Pros: Impressive selection from certain collector friendly distilleries like Macallan, Ardbeg, Glendronach.
Cons: They don’t currently ship to the US and the selection gets pretty thin outside the cult stuff.
Location: Netherlands
US shipping?: Yes, ish.
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 2.5 stars
Strengths: Rarities
Pros: Some interesting rarities, and at least something from most distilleries.
Cons: You have to contact them about shipping, as rates aren’t posted on the site; the site itself is hard to navigate, and the selection has some random gaps.
Location: Netherlands
US shipping?: Probably?
My experience: None
Selection Rating: 2.5 stars
Strengths: Rarities
Pros: Solid selection of rare whiskies, including stuff from closed distilleries.
Cons: They pretty much don’t bother with anything beyond rarities, so don’t bother looking to restock your Talisker 10, here (unless you crave a bottle from the 90s). They’re a little non-specific about whether or not they ship to the US.
Whisky Considered 