Whisky's First Growths

“Scotch has long had a bit of a crush on Bordeaux and we keep borrowing Bordeaux’s language to promote it,” said Isabel Graham-Yooll founder of whisky consultancy Wisgy. I was surprised therefore that nobody has produced a ranking of the ‘first growths’ of distilleries in imitation of the famous 1855 Classification. Until now…

Just as with Bordeaux, I have based it on something you can’t argue with: how much people are prepared to pay on the secondary market. I looked at data from the last ten years provided by Whisky Auction and the Whisky Intelligence report from Noble & Co. for which distilleries were consistently the most valuable and picked out a top ten.

This threw up a few unexpected results, as we shall see, but what wasn’t a surprise was the top dog: Macallan. According to Noble & Co, of the ten most valuable bottles sold in 2024/25, nine were from Macallan, headed up by a 60-Year-Old Lalique for £47,000.

The big news was the missing Glenlivet. Despite its rich history and occasional ultra-rare release like Gordon & MacPhail’s 85-year-old bottling, on the whole Glenlivet does not trouble collectors. Another prominent name that wasn’t there was Talisker from Skye, the malt loved by Robert Louis Stevenson. Nor was Lagavulin, the beast of Islay. You just don’t see very old Lagavulin that often. One island distillery that does make the cut is the great Highland Park on Orkney.

Controversially, I have taken the unilateral decision not to include the three ghost distilleries Port Ellen, Brora, and Rosebank. Because of the downturn in the 1980s, they were closed but as the remaining, and fast-depleting, whisky matured, it became highly prized. All three have now been refurbished and production resumed, but as yet none of the new spirit has matured long enough. To be a first growth, you have to be releasing new whisky. I don’t make the rules. Oh hang on, I do make the rules!

Despite Port Ellen being disqualified, Islay gets a very strong showing with Laphroaig, Ardbeg, and Bowmore all included. The Black Bowmore in particular is amongst the most sought-after single malts in the world. I remember tasting one in 2000 when it was £80 a bottle. It’s now worth up to £8,000, with the mighty 50-year-old version selling for more than £80,000.

Whilst Glenlivet doesn’t make the cut, its rival the world’s bestselling single malt Glenfiddich does, just, as does its sister distillery Balvenie. Their near neighbour, the family-owned Glenfarclas, is also in with its unrivalled collection of vintage releases dating back to 1953. If you love a sherry bomb, there’s Dalmore in the Highlands, which ages its whisky in Matusalem oloroso casks from González Byass. The Dalmore 62-year-old single malt sold for £125,000 in 2011, a record at the time.

Finally there’s Springbank, which has been owned by the Mitchell family since it opened in 1828. Whereas other distilleries get the column inches with special releases in crystal decanters, celebrity endorsements and handbound leather books, this Campbeltown distillery just gets on with making the most sought-after whisky in Scotland. Rare releases sell out in seconds and there’s a buoyant secondary market. The taste is like nothing else: thick and oily with a distinct seaside tang to it.

So those are the ten first growths of Scotch whisky: Macallan, Bowmore, Dalmore, Laphroaig, Glenfarclas, Ardbeg, Springbank, Highland Park, Balvenie, and Glenfiddich. The great thing about my classification is that, unlike those stuffy Bordelais, it’s open to change. Who are the challengers looking to break into the first rank? That’s one for another post.

Henry Jeffreys is the author of “Vines in a Cold Climate: The People Behind the English Wine Revolution”