The season of spooks is around the corner! Y’know, Halloween! It’s a time to let loose, have some fun and let the ghouls out.

And you can’t have Halloween without pumpkin spices, candy corn and marshmallows and mysterious punch bowls made of God-knows-what, but guess what! We’ve gone one step further, we’ve come up with 3 whiskies that would simply go devilishly well with the festival of horror.

What you need for a spook-tacular Halloween.

Whether you’ve got a night of partying ahead of you dressed as #456 from Squid Game, headed off to see a goosebump-inducing movie, or even just taking it easy because the real terror is Covid, we’ve cracked our skulls to come up with 3 whiskies perfect for the season.

1. Glenrothes Halloween

Fun Fact #1: Halloween actually originated from an ancient Celtic festival that marked the end of harvest? And what were they harvesting? Scottish Barley!

Now that all that barley goes into whiskies, it’s only right that we start with a Scottish distillery that has a long tradition of celebrating Halloween, Glenrothes. 

This could pass off as party decor and it fits nicely in your pocket if you're gonna head out trick 'o treating. (Image Source: Glenrothes)

With a theme like “Ghosts and Guising”, the Speyside distillery has even released a Halloween Edition whisky. The second in the series, this 13 Year Old Glenrothes comes in an icy white frosted bottle with a pumpkin-orange label to fit in with the dress code of the festivities. The whisky itself was matured in both Bourbon and Sherry casks and then finished off with a peated cask to give it a light smoky aroma.

What’s even cooler is that the bottle always comes with a little surprise – each bottle is embedded with a chip that allows you to unlock an exclusive tasting with the crew from Glenrothes. You simply need to hold your phone close to the superstitious number 13 on the label to uncover the surprise. Only 5,000 bottles were ever minted, so look hard and look fast, you might just find one...

2. Ardbeg Blaaack

Fun Fact #2: Halloween is actually the third most celebrated holiday in America.

So much so that Halloween has its own cuisine – pumpkin pie, caramel apples, stewed wine… 

Don't be the black sheep and bring that weak sauce vodka, bring some whiskies your friends will thank you for instead. (Image Source: Ardbeg)

Well you’re never gonna believe this, but there’s a dram that actually tastes remarkably similar. It’s Ardbeg’s Blaaack that was released to celebrate Ardbeg Day. Ardbeg day is a really special day because the distillery celebrates its long heritage with fans worldwide and so even a year ahead of time, devious plans have been drawn up for a special commemorative release – something surely worth celebrating.

This bottling is Ardbeg’s first unearthly foray into using Pinot Noir casks from New Zealand for the cauldron. With a couple of spells and a hairball left behind from Ardbeg’s mascot, Shortie the Jack Russell terrier, Ardbeg has brewed an enchanted potion that you must try.

This sweet, velvety dram is certainly more treat than trick, with a complexity for the ages – candied, earthy, sooty, buttery, oodles of stewed fruit and pumpkin spice, what’s there not to like? Hey, the bottle is even the correct shadowy shade – pitch black.

Read our review of the Ardbeg Blaaack here. 

3. Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake

Fun Fact #3: Skittles is the number one Halloween candy for more than 10 years running!

Let’s face it, Halloween is just an excuse for us to devour ungodly amounts of candy because everyone secretly has a sweet tooth – it’s just not acceptable most days, that’s why we have the holidays. 

Does this not look like candy corn?? Adult candy corn that is. (Image Source: Glenmorangie)

Well, we’re gonna add to that because go hard AND THEN go home right? Glenmorangie has perhaps the most peculiar mascot of any Scotch distillery, nay, any distillery. If you guessed Giraffe, you’d be right. This came as a result of Glenmorangie’s use of unusually tall distillation still – the tallest in Scotland in fact. That matters because it is the reason for Glenmorangie’s characteristic light, yet complex, sweet, floral and citrusy whiskies. 

And Glenmorangie plays right into that reputation with their limited bottling A Tale of Cake.  As you might have conjured in your imagination, this whisky was inspired by cake and how we all have “cake” moments – birthdays, baking with our grandparents, our first over-baked batch of cookies on sleepovers, Halloween. This whisky is so unique because it uses Hungarian Tokaji dessert wine casks to finish off the classic Glenmorangie malt.

Just look at that label and tell me it does not look like a giant candy corn! It’s just as opulently sweet and bursting with flavors of happy. In fact, it fits right in with the Halloween décor - pumpkin pie orange and a flurry of bright rainbow specks makes this the perfect Halloween addition. Perhaps a little too perfect… spooky. 

Read our review of the Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake here.

you when you think you're ready for Halloween vs you when you realise you have a week to hunt these whiskies down

That just about wraps up our 3 Whiskies That You Need To Try This Halloween, we have the frightfully on-theme Glenrothes, with its delightfully creamy baking spice, vanilla and just a whiff of smoke-Halloween special edition, the cauldron of stewed fruit, cinnamon, sooty and earthy Pinot Noir-finished Ardbeg, and lastly the tooth-achingly sweet candy corn of a whisky Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake.

Happy haunting and have a bewitchingly good time!

@111hotpot