Royal Mile Whiskies
The shop bottles its own single casks and sells them in 5cl as well as 70cl, so a 17 year old Orkney costs a few pounds to try before it costs a lot to own.
Why go
The counter sits on the High Street opposite St Giles' Cathedral and stocks from the core ranges out to single-cask oddities.1 Two own-label programmes run alongside that: RMW Exclusive, which is a full single cask bottled for this shop, and RMW Small Batch.3 Both come in miniatures as well as bottles, which is the part worth knowing, because it turns an expensive decision into a cheap one. Felipe Schrieberg, who covers whisky for Forbes, rates the staff above the stock list.1
Order this / avoid
- Buy: an RMW Exclusive. The shop picks the cask and puts its own name on it, so the bottle exists here and nowhere else.3
- Buy: the 5cl Small Batch miniatures if you are working out what you like. A 2008 Orkney at 17 years old and a 2015 Glen Elgin at 11 both sit on that shelf.3
- Ask about: the Highland Park whisky vinegar, aged in the distillery's own casks. Tom Kitchin says you buy it here, and the shop's own catalogue did not turn it up when we looked on 12 August 2026, so ask at the counter before making the trip for it.2
- Avoid: treating one shop as the whole street. Cadenhead's, a few hundred metres down the Canongate, sells only its own bottlings, so the two answer different questions.1
What locals & experts say
- Felipe Schrieberg, Forbes (June 2025): he puts it first among the city's whisky shops.
This well-established shop is friendly, well-stocked, and staffed by people who really know their stuff. You'll find everything from core range classics to single cask oddities, and it's a reliable place for gifts, tasting sets, and unique bottlings you may not find anywhere else.
1 - Tom Kitchin, chef-patron of The Kitchin (The Relisher, August 2026): his shop for the Scottish product he says almost nobody knows about.
The one I've tasted comes from Highland Park, aged in their whisky casks. You can buy it at Royal Mile Whiskies.
2
Good to know
- Booking: walk in.
- Getting there: 379-381 High Street, across from St Giles' Cathedral, in the busiest stretch of the Royal Mile.1
- Not only Scotch: the shop's own-label programme runs to American whiskey too, with a Sazerac Rye bottled as an RMW Exclusive.3
- Hours: the shop publishes them on its own site. Check before a late run, since the Royal Mile shops close earlier than the bars around them.
- Hygiene: the Food Hygiene Information Scheme records a Pass from an inspection on 18 July 2011 and nothing since. Fifteen years is old enough that it says little either way about the premises today.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: Not one of my saves. The case for it is a whisky writer and a starred chef naming the same counter.
Verdict
could-visit — A whisky shop on the High Street opposite St Giles' Cathedral that bottles under its own label, with RMW Exclusive single casks and RMW Small Batch releases sold in 5cl as well as full bottles, so you can taste a 17 year old Orkney before buying one. Felipe Schrieberg, who writes whisky for Forbes, rates it the best known of the city's shops and rates the staff, which is what separates a bottle shop from a shelf. Tom Kitchin sends people here for a Highland Park whisky vinegar, a claim the shop's own catalogue did not confirm. It is a shop rather than a room to spend an evening in, which is what holds the rung.