People ask me this one a lot. They know they like smoky whisky, or they had something rich and sweet at a mate's place, and they want to know what to buy next. The label mostly tells you where a whisky was made and how old it is, which helps less than you'd think. So this is how I sort whisky by flavour, with the bottles I'd point you to in each style.
The short answer
Smoky: a peated whisky. Laphroaig 10 or Ardbeg 10 are a good place to start.
Fruity: an unpeated whisky matured mostly in ex-bourbon casks, like Glencadam 10 or Arran 10.
Sweet and rich: a sherry cask whisky. Tamdhu 12 or GlenAllachie 12, or Aberlour A'bunadh if you like it strong.
Sweet like vanilla and caramel: a bourbon, or a Scotch from ex-bourbon casks.
Not sure yet: something balanced that sits in the middle, like Balblair 15 or Glenglassaugh 12.
Regions, casks and peat
Whisky region maps look nice on a wall but they don't tell you much about what's in the bottle any more. Speyside distilleries make peated whisky. Islay makes some delicate fruity stuff. The two things that tell you the most about flavour are the cask and the peat.
Most Scotch is matured in casks that held something else first. Ex-bourbon casks (American oak) tend to give vanilla, honey, orchard fruit and a bit of citrus. Ex-sherry casks give dried fruit, Christmas cake, nuts and warming spice. Then there's peat, which is where the smoke comes from. The barley gets dried over burning peat and picks up that smoky, medicinal flavour (people tend to have strong opinions on it either way). Unpeated whisky can still taste a bit toasty from the cask, but proper smoke nearly always means peat.
If you like smoky
There are a couple of different kinds of smoky, so it's worth knowing which one you're after.
Smoke with salt and seaweed comes from peat plus ex-bourbon casks. Laphroaig 10, Ardbeg 10 and Lagavulin 8 are the classics here. If you want it as smoky as you can get, I'd go Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength. In New Zealand it's about NZ$200 cheaper than an Octomore. I still like the Octomore a bit more, maybe 10% more, but you're paying about double.
Smoke with sherry is where it gets big and rich. Ardbeg Uigeadail is the classic. Kilchoman Loch Gorm is one I absolutely love, and Lagg Corriecravie from Arran is another, 55% and heavy on the sherry casks, and I can get it for a lot less than the Uigeadail here.
If you're not sure about smoke yet, start gentle. Kilkerran 12 from Campbeltown is lightly peated, a bit oily and salty. Hakushu Distiller's Reserve from Japan is fresh and green with just a wisp of smoke, nothing that feels like chewing on a cigar.
If you like fruity
This is unpeated whisky from mostly ex-bourbon casks, so apples, pears, citrus, honey and vanilla. On my Flavour Map it's the light, summery corner.
Glencadam 10 is the one I tell people about the most. It's light and fruity and also just so complex and tasty. If you can't get it, Deanston 12 or Arran 10. Glenlivet 12 and Glenfiddich 12 are great intro whiskies too, I just don't buy a lot of them these days.
If you like sweet
Worth working out which kind of sweet you mean.
If it's dried fruit, raisins, toffee and Christmas cake, you want sherry casks. Tamdhu 12 is all sherry cask and it's my pick over the Macallan 12. Macallan gets bought as a gift a lot and I reckon Tamdhu does all of that, if not better, for a lot less money. GlenAllachie 12 sits in the same spot, and Aberlour A'bunadh if you want it at cask strength.
If it's vanilla, caramel and honey, that's ex-bourbon cask Scotch or bourbon itself. Bourbon has to be matured in new charred oak, so you get heaps of that vanilla and caramel. I ranked ten of them as a Scotch drinker in this video, and Knob Creek 9 has been in my tasting line-ups.
And if you're happy to go outside Scotland, Morris Muscat from Australia was my World Whisky of the Year in 2025. Rich and dark fruited, almost like dessert.
If you're not sure yet
Start in the middle. Balblair 15 was my Whisky of the Year a few years back and it's a good example of a really well balanced whisky, ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks together, 46%, natural colour and non-chill-filtered. It's just a classic Scotch. Glenglassaugh 12 is my everyday version of that. It's 45% and sits nicely between the fruity and the rich, for a lot less money.
The quickest way to work out what you like
Taste a couple side by side. At the World Whisky tasting cruises in Wellington in August everyone's favourite ended up being different, and the way people worked it out was trying completely different styles next to each other. A fruity one next to a smoky one is a good first pair. If you want to do it properly at home, I've written up a free tasting you can do along with my videos.
The Flavour Map
I got sick of the exceptions, so I made a map based on flavour instead. It's around 100 whiskies from my 2025 Top 100 laid out by how they actually taste, drawn like an old explorer's map. Peat and smoke up north, the clean unpeated stuff down south, fruity ex-bourbon to the west and rich sherry to the east. If you've got one you love, look at what's sitting next to it on the map and that's your next buy.
Have a look at the Flavour Map here. And if you want help putting words to what's in your glass, that's what the Flavour Tree is for.
Videos if you'd rather watch
Top 5 Overrated Whiskies (Buy These Instead!), which is where most of the swaps above come from
I Explain Every Weird Wine Cask Used in Whisky in 20 Minutes
Quick answers
Which whisky should I try if I like smoky drinks?
A peated single malt. Laphroaig 10 or Ardbeg 10 if you want plenty of smoke, Kilkerran 12 or Hakushu Distiller's Reserve if you only want a bit.
What whisky is fruity and easy to drink?
An unpeated single malt from mostly ex-bourbon casks. Glencadam 10, Arran 10, Deanston 12 or Glenlivet 12 are all good places to start.
Which whisky tastes sweet?
Sherry cask whisky if you like dried fruit and toffee, like Tamdhu 12 or GlenAllachie 12. Bourbon or ex-bourbon Scotch if you like vanilla and caramel.
Is there a whisky flavour chart with actual bottles on it?
That's why I made the Whisky Flavour Map. Around 100 whiskies placed by how they taste, so you can find one you like and look at its neighbours.
Slàinte,
Phil
