Give a Great Bottle of Whisky: Our 2025 Holiday Choices

Gifting a bottle seems easy enough, but finding the right bottle for a whisky lover is where the difficulty lies. You could play it safe by buying a bottle of their usual pour, but that isn't very exciting. Alternatively, you could surprise them with something completely new—but then you run the risk of buying something they won't like.

A great way to start is to focus on flavors. The best approach is to look for whiskies with profiles your giftee likes—focusing on familiar foods like chocolate and barbecue, beverages like coffee or wine, or certain things like cigars—that you know will hit the spot. To cut out the work for you, we've assembled a list of 26 high-scoring whiskies that will please your whisky lover's palate and put a big smile on their face.

Dessert Lovers

For whisky lovers with a sweet tooth, there are plenty of options to choose from, including well-aged bourbons, inventive blends, light-bodied Irish whiskeys, and beyond. The following three options excel at delivering sweet dessert-like notes without coming off as cloying.

94 points - Booker's “Barry's Batch” 7 year old Bourbon (Batch 2025-01), 62.85%, $100

The first Booker’s batch for 2025 checks all the boxes for dessert lovers: a wealth of complex sweet flavors delivered in a high-proof package with surprising finesse.
Creamsicle, dark chocolate, maple syrup, and caramel candies

93 points - Compass Box Brûlée Royale Blended Malt Scotch, 49%, $160

A blend of single malts from Ardbeg, Benrinnes, Speyburn, and Clynelish, this scotch was purpose-built to taste like a haute crème brûlée—and it succeeds!
Vanilla pastry filling, ripe peach, crème brûlée, and vanilla

93 points - Kentucky Peerless Double Oak Bourbon, 54.35%. $85

Leaning on a double-barrel maturation, this Kentucky bourbon has a syrupy texture and plenty of sweet notes that dessert lovers will fall head over heels for.
Warm apple pie, raisin cake, gingerbread, and chocolate

Breakfast Foodies

The very best breakfast foods—from buttermilk pancakes to Belgian waffles and French toast—are staples that can be eaten any time of the day. These whiskeys possess some delicious notes that remind us of our favorite breakfast classics.

93 points - Sweetens Cove Kennessee Blended Bourbon, 55.35%, $59

This blend of Kentucky and Tennessee bourbons was finished using toasted sugar maplewood.
Blueberry pancakes, cinnamon babka, PB&J sandwich, and strawberry milkshake

92 points - Dingle Irish Single Malt, 46.3%, $100

The flagship single malt from Dingle Distillery was aged in a mix of bourbon, oloroso, and PX casks and married through a solera system.
Honey on wheat toast, cinnamon breakfast cereal, hazelnut, and toffee

92 points - Garrison Brothers Ladybird Infused Bourbon. 57%, $180

A high-proof Texas bourbon infused with honey for 8-9 months and finished for 3 years in XO cognac casks.
Cinnamon-sugar toast, banana bread, maple syrup over waffles, and vanilla frosting

Spice Lovers

If your whiskey lover is a fan of spicy cuisine, then rye’s signature spicy profile seems like a very natural choice. To make the match perfect, try one of these high-proof options.

93 points - Michter's Limited Release US*1 Barrel Strength Rye (2025 Release) 54.9%, $120
This year's batch was impressive, with a notably enticing nose and rich flavors throughout.
Barrel char, black pepper spice, raisins, and rye grain

92 points - Sazerac 100 Proof Rye, 50%, $30

An amped-up version of Buffalo Trace's flagship rye, it's a great choice for aspiring home mixologists, but it also holds its own neat or on the rocks.
Brown sugar, dried herbs, cloves, and mint.

Barbecue Enthusiasts

Many drinkers associate barbecue with bourbon, likely because many great sauces and marinades use it as a main ingredient, but other styles fit, too. Magical things happen when distillers marry peated malt and sherry casks, with many of these whiskies carrying familiar smoky and savory notes reminiscent of standing by an open grill.

95 points - McCarthy’s 6 year old Oloroso Finished American Single Malt, 56%, $120

A breathtaking single malt from Oregon, distilled from peated malt and finished in oloroso sherry casks.
Smoked meat, barbeque, apple, and charcoal smoke.

93 points - Kilchoman 10 year old Loch Gorm Islay Single Malt (2025 Release), 46%, $110

The latest version of this popular annual release now bears an age statement. Distilled from peated malt and aged in a mix of first and second-fill oloroso casks.
Brisket bark, raspberry sauce, chile flakes, and smoke.

Coffee Drinkers

Whether you're talking about rich black coffees and espressos, or lighter Café au Lait and lattes, there's a lot to love about coffee. The following drams—tapping interesting grains and casks—have a smattering of earthy coffee-like notes that are sure to please.

95 points - New Riff Bottled in Bond Balboa Rye (2025 Release), 50%, $55

This fantastic whiskey from our 2025 Top 20 list was distilled from Balboa, an heirloom rye variety that dates back to the 1940s.
Leather, coconut cake, coffee ice cream, and dry spices

94 points - Glenmorangie Signet Highland Single Malt, 46%, $100

A wild departure from the distillery's typically fruity house style, this includes heavily kilned chocolate malt, yielding an interesting array of delicious earthy notes.
Tobacco, bitter chocolate, warm peach tart, and dark roast

92 points - Virginia Distillery Co. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Cask Finished Bottled in Bond American Single Malt, 50%, $50

Part of Virginia Distillery Co.'s ongoing The Brewer's Coalition series, this single malt was finished in barrels that once held Goose Island Bourbon County stout.
Candied walnuts, chocolate-covered espresso beans, salted caramel, and pumpkin spice

Wine Lovers

Wine and whisky often tout similar levels of complexity, but sometimes they can also share a lot of the same notes—especially when one is aged or finished in a barrel that previously held the other. We picked out three delicious tipples that prominently feature wine casks and are rich with notes that will likely appeal to a wine lover’s palate.

95 points - Glenglassaugh Sandend Highland Single Malt, 50.5%, $70

Aged in a mix of bourbon, sherry, and manzanilla casks, our 2023 Whisky of the Year is a delicate coastal dram that's sure to appease fans of light-bodied white wines.
Minerality, citrus, baked peach, apricot, and honey

94 points - Aberfeldy 15 year old Bolgheri Red Wine Cask Finished Highland Single Malt, 46%, $85

This well-balanced Highland beauty was finished for 2 years in Italian Bolgheri red wine casks sourced from Tuscany.
Blackberry, black cherry, plum pudding, and licorice

Cigar Smokers

Whisky and cigars are one of the all-time best pairings. In fact, some distillers even make whiskies designed to pair with cigars. While not all of these “cigar whiskies” seem fully up to the task, we think the following options are worth their salt.

92 points - Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend Bourbon, 56.8%, $200

Widely regarded as the world's first cigar-focused bourbon, this was finished in armagnac, sherry, and cognac casks.
Red berries, whipped cream, pepper, and tobacco

91 points - Dalmore Cigar Malt Reserve Highlands Single Malt, 44%, $180

Created by master blender Richard Paterson to pair with Partagas cigars, this single malt was matured in bourbon, oloroso, and cabernet sauvignon casks.
Ripe cherries, sultanas, bitter chocolate, and brittle toffee

Peat Heads

Peated whisky remains one of the most popular styles, with legions of devoted fans. There are plenty of smoky single malts to pick from, but the following options are veritable standard bearers for the category—showing just how complex and nuanced peated whisky can be.

95 points - Octomore 5 year old 16.3 Edition Islay Single Malt, 61.6%, $280

The final member of this year's Octomore trio was distilled entirely from Islay-grown Concerto malted barley that has a peat content of 189.5 PPM.
Sweet barbecue, fig, black pepper, and ashy smoke

94 points - Ardbeg Smokiverse Islay Single Malt, 48.3%, $125

This year’s Ardbeg Day release was made with "high-gravity" mashing, a process that uses less water and more grains to intensify flavor. The result was a light and easy-to-drink sipper that melds smoke and sweetness.
Vanilla cream, fresh apples, sweet peat, and grilled meats

94 points - Torabhaig Legacy Series Sound of Sleat Islands Single Malt, 46%, $60

This Isle of Skye-based distillery made its Top 20 debut this year with a peated single malt aged in bourbon and virgin oak barrels. It was distilled from Concerto and Laureate malted barley with a peat content of 78 phenol parts per million.
Peach, apricot, dried seaweed, and seashells.

Chocoholics

Chocolate is one of the most beloved and versatile flavors, covering the spectrum from creamy and sweet profiles reminiscent of milkshakes to the sharper and more bitter cacaos. It’s also a fairly common note in whisky, and here we outlined three great examples.

95 points - Bernheim Original Barrel Proof Wheat Whiskey (Batch A225), 62.7%, $67

The first of two annual batches for this high-proof Heaven Hill wheat whiskey was a stunner.
Dark chocolate, vanilla soft serve, Rolo candies, and cinnamon spice.

93 points - Glendronach Ode to the Dark Highland Single Malt, 50.8%, $97

Glendronach always leans very heavily into sherry, and this new release from the Master’s Anthology series—aged entirely in PX casks—is no exception.
Dark chocolate, cinnamon, baked red berries, and butterscotch

92 points - Jim Beam Black 7 year old Bourbon, 45%, $25

The new-and-improved version of the classic Jim Beam Black, now 6 months older and with a slightly higher proof.
Vanilla-chocolate ice cream, fudge, pecans, and orange

Adventurous Palates

For those who love eating or drinking new things outside their comfort zone, it’s probably best to go with a world whisky. These are some high-quality examples with interesting flavor profiles that are sure to broaden their palates.

95 points - Rampur Barrel Blush Indian Single Malt, 45%, $100

Our No. 8 Whisky of 2025 was aged in bourbon barrels and finished in Australian shiraz casks.
Rose petals, caramel doughnut glaze, fondant-covered sponge cake, and spiced plum

94 points - Starward 3 year old 100 Proof Australian Single Malt, 50%, $65

Created exclusively for the U.S., this high-strength single malt was aged in Australian wine casks sourced from local vineyards within a few hours of the distillery.
Moroccan mint tea, lemon-poppyseed muffin, black pepper, and marshmallow

93 points - Kavalan Cask Strength Vinho Barrique Taiwanese Single Malt, 57.1%, $250

This high-proof expression was aged in Taiwan's subtropical climate, maturing in shaved, toasted, and recharred American oak wine casks.
Passion fruit, new leather, damson jam, and muscovado sugar