Jeffrey st. Whisky & Cigars
Five drams for GBP 35, including a flight of independent bottlings from releases of under 800 bottles. Forbes' whisky columnist calls the tastings well-run.21
Why go
Felipe Schrieberg, who writes whisky for Forbes, puts this shop in Edinburgh's top rank alongside Royal Mile Whiskies and Cadenhead's. He describes a curated, boutique feel
, a strong whisky selection, high-quality cigars and pipe tobacco, and tastings that are well-run and feature some phenomenal selections
.1
The tastings are the thing to book. The shop's own menu lists five, each pouring five drams.2 What is Scotch, The Whisky Regions and The Independents are GBP 35 each. Islay, Peat and Smoke is GBP 45. Whisky Regions Deluxe is GBP 55 and pours older expressions from the Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside, Islay, Campbeltown and Islands.
The Independents is the one that shows the buying. It pours five whiskies from independent bottlers, and the shop notes that some of those releases run to fewer than 800 bottles.
The cigars sit next to the whisky, which is the whole premise of the shop and the reason the hygiene register carries it under whisky and tobacco.
Order this / avoid
- Order: The Independents at GBP 35 if you want to see what the buyer is doing, or Whisky Regions Deluxe at GBP 55 for older bottlings across all six regions.
- Avoid: turning up on spec for a tasting. The shop runs a booking calendar, and it publishes no opening hours anywhere reachable.
What locals & experts say
- Felipe Schrieberg, Forbes whisky columnist, in his Edinburgh guide:
Just next to the Waverley train station you'll also find Jeffrey St. Whisky and Tobacco, which offers a curated, boutique feel. Alongside a strong selection of whisky, it also stocks high-quality cigars and pipe tobacco. They host regular tastings too, which are well-run and feature some phenomenal selections.
1 - No Edinburgh city publication has written about it. The List, The Skinny, the Edinburgh Evening News, the Scotsman's food pages and Time Out Edinburgh return nothing. The coverage that exists is whisky trade press, which is the beat this business actually sits on.
Good to know
- Hours: none published anywhere reachable, including the shop's own site. Unknown here, and a guess would be worse.
- Getting there: 12-14 Jeffrey Street, below the Royal Mile, and Forbes places it just next to Waverley station.
- Booking: the tastings run off a calendar on the shop's site.
- The linked bar: Forbes reports Cask & Vine on the Royal Mile as
a new bar linked with Jeffrey St. Whisky and Tobacco
, with an impressive whisky selection, nibbles and an olive oil tasting. That is a separate premises.1 - Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, but inspected 4 June 2015, FHRSID 769494. Eleven years old, far past the eighteen-month bound used here, so it is reported as unusable and not as a current rating.3
- Registered name: the hygiene register lists it as Jeffrey Street Whisky and Tobacco, and so does Forbes. The shopfront name is the odd one out.
Verdict
should-visit — Forbes' whisky columnist puts this whisky and cigar shop by Waverley in the same paragraph as Royal Mile Whiskies and Cadenhead's. Felipe Schrieberg says it offers "a curated, boutique feel", says it stocks high-quality cigars and pipe tobacco alongside the whisky, and rates the tastings: well-run, with some phenomenal selections. The tastings are the reason to book instead of browse. Five drams runs GBP 35 for What is Scotch, The Whisky Regions or The Independents, the last of which pours independent bottlings where some releases are under 800 bottles. Whisky Regions Deluxe is GBP 55 for older expressions across all six regions, and Islay, Peat and Smoke is GBP 45. The shop also runs Cask & Vine on the Royal Mile. Two things to know before you go: the hygiene inspection on file is from June 2015 and is eleven years old, and nobody publishes the opening hours.