Whisky Advent Calendars 2026: How Far Master of Malt Is Pushing It

Eighteen whisky advent calendars from one retailer, and it's still only October. Master of Malt put them up for pre-order in mid-September, months before anyone's thinking about Christmas trees. The range now runs from a £99.95 entry box to an £8,499.95 cabinet with two Riedel glasses and a drawer of tasting notes. I can't remember a year when they pushed this hard, or this early.

The obvious question is whether all that choice is worth having, or whether it's just more ways to spend the same money. So I've been through the range, worked out what each pour costs, and decided where I'd actually part with cash.

There's a Whisky Centurion angle too. If you're working through a list, as I am with the hundred, a calendar is a ridiculous shortcut: 25 whiskies in 25 days, a quarter of the way there before Christmas. It only works if the drams are new to you, though, which is why the single cask and indie bottler boxes are the safest bets. Even if you know the distilleries, you won't have had those particular casks.

Who's selling these

Master of Malt (through its Drinks by the Dram brand) has more or less owned this category since it invented the spirit advent calendar in 2012, and this year it's taken that as licence to go wild. Alongside the themed boxes there are three brand-led calendars (That Boutique-y, GlenAllachie and a new Highland Park), three 12-dram minis, and the Old & Rare collections at the top. Nobody else comes close on range. The Whisky Exchange's Perfect Measure calendars and Hard To Find Whisky both have smaller, well-chosen line-ups, but Master of Malt is where the story is this year, so that's where I'm spending my time.

The entry tier: £99.95, and still the smart default

The standard Whisky Advent Calendar has held at £99.95 while its siblings have crept up. That's exactly £4 a pour, and for it you get Hibiki Harmony, Yamazaki Distiller's Reserve, Laphroaig Lore and Auchentoshan 18. That's a ridiculous amount of whisky for the money. If you're buying for someone curious about whisky who hasn't picked a lane, or you just want a sensible dip in, start here.

The £134.95 tier: where the range gets crowded

Scotch, Peated, World, Sherry Cask, Bourbon & American, That Boutique-y and the GlenAllachie exclusive all cost £134.95, roughly £5.40 a dram. More interesting than the odd fiver is that these boxes are nothing like each other once you open the doors. Some are adventurous tours, and others play it safer with big familiar names.

Sherry Cask has the best names of the bunch, from Glenfarclas 15 and Aberlour A'Bunadh to an exclusive Ardmore 19 Year Old. What I like most is that it treats "sherry cask" as a range of styles rather than one flavour. Oloroso, Palo Cortado and Amontillado casks are all in there, so you get to work out which one you actually prefer.

World Whisky is properly global, and better for it. The ones I'd be most excited to open are Prakaan, a single malt from Thailand, and Puni from the Italian Alps, neither of which you're likely to stumble across in a UK bar. If you want a calendar that takes you somewhere new each morning (or evening!), this is it.

Scotch is solid rather than spectacular. Aberfeldy 16 and Chivas 18 are good picks, but it's a tour of familiar names rather than a box of surprises.

Peated has real character, and it isn't just an Islay tour: alongside Lagavulin 16 there's Paul John Bold from India.

Bourbon & American has good craft names like Angel's Envy and Uncle Nearest, but Bulleit turns up three times. If you want the widest spread for your money, it's the one I'd think twice about.

That Boutique-y Whisky Company (24 drams, about £5.62 each) is the most eclectic box in the tier. Eleven of the 24 come from outside Scotland, from Denmark to a Canadian corn whisky, and the Scottish side includes an Arran 27 Year Old. It's the box most likely to surprise you.

The GlenAllachie exclusive is led by the 21 Year Old Cask Strength and a 20 Year Old Ruby Port exclusive. It's one for people who already rate GlenAllachie, but the distillery's range of cask finishes gives it more variety than you'd expect from one stable. It ships on 21 October with limited stock.

The premium tier: £174.95 to £249.95

This is where the extra money starts buying noticeably better whisky.

Highland Park is the newcomer, at £174.95 (£7 a dram), shipping from 12 October. The clever bit is the top end: it includes a 21 Year Old and a 25 Year Old from the 2023 releases. On Master of Malt's prices today those bottles are £215 and £540, which works out at roughly £9.20 and £23 for a 30ml dram. Just those two doors are worth more than £32 of the price. It's a box for people who already love Highland Park, but three different 18 Year Olds side by side would make a pretty good tasting night on their own.

Premium (£199.95, £8 a dram) earns its price, with Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Midleton Very Rare and Octomore 16.1 among the highlights and no real filler. Barley Magazine reckoned last year's box held the best part of £500 worth of whisky. It's the one I'd buy for someone who enjoys whisky but would never treat themselves to a bottle of Blue Label or Octomore, which is exactly what a calendar is good for.

Single Cask (£199.95) is my pick of the whole range. These are proper single casks rather than a tour of familiar names, including a Tobermory 28 Year Old and exclusive casks from GlenAllachie, Westland and Penderyn that you won't find bottled anywhere else. If the person you're buying for is past the beginner stage, I'd choose this over anything in the £134.95 tier.

Japanese (£199.95) has real range, from grain to single malt to blends, with Miyagikyo and Yoichi both in from the Nikka side. With Japanese bottle prices where they are, tasting 25 of them for £199.95 is one of the more sensible ways to explore the category without committing to a full bottle of anything.

Favourites (£249.95, £10 a dram) is the priciest per dram of the 25-dram boxes, but two Octomores in one calendar, plus Highland Park 18 and Laphroaig 18, is a decent argument for it. It's a snapshot of what Master of Malt's team rated this year, so it suits someone who wants the headline bottles without having to choose a style.

The stratosphere: Old & Rare and beyond

At £799.95 for Old & Rare and £8,499.95 for Very Old & Rare, we've left value behind entirely. But the bottles deserve a mention, because this is where the real rarity lives.

Old & Rare (24 drams, about £33 each) runs from Glenfarclas 30 and Balvenie 25 up to collector pieces like a Laphroaig 33 Year Old and a Master of Malt exclusive Macallan 24 Year Old single cask.

Very Old & Rare is the closed-distillery box: a Port Ellen 41 Year Old, a Rosebank 30 Year Old, a Dalmore 45 Year Old from 1966 and a North British 60 Year Old. It's down from £9,995 last year, though the cabinet isn't in stock yet. At about £354 a dram, it only makes sense as a curated tasting event and a handsome object, not as 24 pours of whisky. The cabinet is hand-made from black oak and walnut by furniture maker Simon Jewell. Nobody stumbles into an £8,499.95 advent calendar by accident.

The format itself deserves some credit, too. Whiskies like these have a habit of ending up on a shelf rather than in a glass, kept as trophies and never opened, which seems a waste given that drinking it is the whole point. A pre-poured, wax-sealed 30ml dram removes the excuse. There's no agonising over whether tonight's the night to crack open a Port Ellen, because it's already measured out and waiting behind a door. If anything's going to get genuinely rare whisky out of the cupboard and into a glass, it's probably this.

Before you buy

The more limited calendars (Single Cask, Japanese, Old & Rare and the GlenAllachie exclusive) are the ones that tend to sell out. If one of those has caught your eye, I wouldn't leave it much past early November. Single Cask, Highland Park and GlenAllachie are still on pre-order, shipping between 12 and 21 October.

And then there's the real problem with advent calendars: they end. Twenty-five evenings of opening a little door to find a dram waiting behind it, and then nothing until next December. If Master of Malt is this keen on the format, I'd happily volunteer for a summer edition. Or an Easter one. Or, frankly, one a month.

Happy counting down, and sláinte!