The Whisky Trail — Local services in City of Edinburgh

I wish I read the reviews before going into this place. If you want to just browse bottles then please by all means but DO NOT BUY. I've been in many whiskey shops and bars, met many nice people who are just happy to share their experience and facination of whiskey with a potential customer...not here though.

Bought a bottle I was told was unique to the shop from an undisclosed distillery, a rather nice 12 year old sherry cask. What I thought was a mid-high price of £65 was reasonable given the uniqueness of the bottle, turned out to be worth £45 directly from the bottlers company itself. This rip off is not why I'm given this place a bad review, whiskey stores tend to market their bottles slightly higher but definitely not by this margin.

The bad review comes from my attempt to refund the bottle as what was a nice day turned into one of verbal berating, insults and the opinion of a staff member who seemed really offended that I didn't appreciate the extra cost for the bottle. He proceeded to tell me how I had no idea what I was talking about and kept pushing bottles in my face asking whether I could read the labels. I would also like to point out I never engaged a conversation with this staff member to begin with, he interrupted when he heard me talking to the manager I bought the bottle from. I even apologised for not knowing the brand of bottler but the staff member continued to berate me regardless as I tried to leave.

There are many good whiskey bars in Edinburgh for you to try and even the Scotch Whiskey Experience has a good store with bottles at the accurate retail price, plus very friendly staff.

Do...

To the young man who verbally attacked me in a very unpleasant way on Saturday:

Hello – perhaps you were the owner, maybe just an employee – either way, you were extremely rude to me. Yes, I understand not everyone appreciates the world of influencers, and yes, like in any industry, there are bad examples. Still, you asked me how I got into whisky and what my current relationship to it is. But to then respond by insulting me, telling me you don’t like me and that I’m clueless (after barely exchanging greetings) says less about the industry or Instagram, and more about a mindset where some believe they know better about someone else's taste than the person themselves.

It also shows a lack of respect toward your own customers – denying them the competence to have their own sense of taste. Trying to ridicule me during the tasting of your own whisky – which, by the way, was actually very good – tells me one thing: you don’t seem to like people. I don’t judge you, but I do feel sorry for every great dram available in your shop, because this way, the world’s most beautiful drink becomes part of one of the most unpleasant customer experiences I’ve ever had.

I hope whatever has made you this bitter will eventually pass, and that one day you'll realize how rude you were to someone who simply wanted to have a friendly exchange about whisky.

Best...

TLDR: Don't shop here if you live in the UK, but maybe worthwhile if you live oversea!

Sadly we fell into the tourist trap of not checking Google reviews before walking in this store... While at the store, we found the staff to be very helpful and decent knowledge wise. We named our fav. Islay distilleries, and they were able to recommend a few independent bottlers that we've never heard of in the US. And we are pretty experienced whisky drinkers (10+yrs). On the staff's recommendation, we bought 2 bottles.

Upon returning home, I saw the terrible Google reviews and quickly checked online prices: Peat's Beast Cask Strength Whisky (£85, best online price £58.50) Bunnahabhain 8 Year Old (£48, best online price £26.4)

Given that both online shops are UK based and shipping to USA will cost a lot more, and Peat's Beast is not even available in the USA, I'd say these are fair prices factoring shipping & VAT refund. ALSO the store is on Royale Mile - so obviously expect some price markup to pay for rent!

I'd recommend popping in for research purpose, get some recommendations but SHOP AROUND. If you are based in the UK, JUST BUY ONLINE! But if you live abroad, am short on time AND can only stop in 1 whisky store on a mad dash,...