Edinburgh Whisky Tasting and Storytelling in a Historic Pub

Tucked behind a horseshoe bar and brass fixtures, the Waverley Bar has been part of Edinburgh's story since 1891. Its upstairs parlour, your private room for this two-hour tasting, once hosted early performances by Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty during Edinburgh's folk music heyday. With over 300 whiskies lining the shelves downstairs, this pub is as much a piece of the city's cultural history as it is a place to drink.

A local whisky expert guides you through four single malt Scotch whiskies sourced from different whisky-producing regions of Scotland, from the light, floral character of Lowland malts to the bold, peaty drams of the Islands. Each pour comes with context: the distillery behind it, the region it's from, and the people and traditions tied to its production. It's a tasting built around storytelling rather than just sampling.

Set in a private room away from the main bar, this whisky tasting experience runs for two hours and moves at an unhurried pace. Rather than rushing through drams, you'll get a genuine introduction to Scotland's national drink and the folk culture that shaped this corner of Edinburgh.

You'll head upstairs to the Waverley Bar's private parlour, the same small room where Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty played in the early days of Edinburgh's folk scene. Your whisky expert opens the session with a bit of background on the pub itself before moving into the tasting, working through four single malts one at a time.

Each whisky is introduced with its own story, covering the distillery, the region it comes from, and the traditions behind how it's made. Over the two hours, you move from the lighter, floral malts of the Lowlands through to the bolder, peatier styles from the Islands, with plenty of time for questions and conversation between pours. It's an intimate, unhurried format rather than a quick tasting flight.