Tobermory Whiskey Den (at the Pier Cafe)

The Whiskey Den is a snug at the back of the Pier Cafe on Main Street, Tobermory, a small, low-ceilinged room set aside as a dedicated whisky bar within the larger café. The collection runs to several hundred bottles, with the lean predictably toward Scotch single malts and within that toward the western islands: Tobermory and Ledaig from the distillery at the harbour end of the same street, Bowmore, Bunnahabhain and Caol Ila from Islay, Talisker from Skye, and a working selection of the Speyside and Highland mainstays alongside.

The Tobermory distillery itself is two minutes’ walk west along the harbour, the white-painted building at the slipway end of Main Street. It is one of the oldest commercial distilleries on the west coast, founded in 1798, and produces both the unpeated Tobermory single malt and the peated Ledaig. A small range of distillery-exclusive bottlings turns up at the Whiskey Den when they release.

The café front serves daytime food and coffee in the usual range, the Whiskey Den keeps its hours alongside but tends to come into its own in the evenings, when the daytime trade clears and the whisky drinkers settle in. Booking is sensible for evening sittings in the den itself, which is small.

Current bottle list, opening hours and any tasting events at the Pier Cafe Facebook page.