I've Traveled the World for Unique Whiskey Experiences. These Hotels and Lodges Have the Best Collections

Few traditions in life make as much sense as sipping a smooth whiskey after a long day on the road. Not only is it perfect for decompressing, but it’s almost guaranteed that your hotel bar has a better selection of bourbon than anything your friend back home can offer—and probably a more welcoming environment, too. 

That’s why, when I travel, I make it a point to check out the whiskey menu at whatever lodge or resort I’m staying at. Generally, the fancier the property, the better the selection. Of course, that doesn’t always hold true. Oftentimes I’ve discovered a phenomenal local whiskey simply by asking the bartender.

In recent years, many higher-end properties have even begun amassing impressive collections of rare and expensive whiskeys to offer as premium tasting experiences. These are the bottles that aficionados like to talk about, but few people actually get the chance to sample—everything from iconic bourbons and Scotches to whispered-about Japanese single malts. Paired with the property’s other top-shelf experiences—say, chasing redfish with a fly rod or riding horses across a Wyoming ranch—there may be no better vacation combination. 

To that end, I’ve rounded up five of the world’s greatest getaways for whiskey lovers that combine outdoor adventures with lush lodgings—and, yes, an excellent selection of spirits for toasting the day’s exploits. A new tradition needs to start someplace, after all.

Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming 

With a collection of historic ranches and lodges for guests, a sustainable farm for its restaurants, 20 miles of exclusive fly-fishing access to the North Platte River, and a 600- acre private ski mountain, this 30,000-acre cattle ranch offers a roster of top-shelf experiences for everyone, whatever your obsession may be. If it’s whiskey, Brush Creek has you covered. The in-house bar, The Spirit Vault, has over 100 different bottles, with a primary focus on rare and vintage American bourbon, including hard-to-find bottles of E.H. Taylor, Weller, and Pappy Van Winkle. Of course, it has plenty of imported selections, too, including bottles from Ireland, Sweden, France, India, Canada, and Japan. The team does its research well in advance of adding something to the collection, creating a list of ideal bottles to acquire, then sourcing many of them through auctions, often waiting months or years for a specific bottle to come up for sale. To explore the ranch’s offerings, guests can book a tasting session in The Spirit Vault, which includes a curated sampling of five different bottles—a bourbon, a rye, an imported whiskey, and two Scotches—offered at four different tiers (from $340 to $2,000). As you sip, the team chronicles the history of each bottle and tasting notes. You can also sample the whiskey menu a la carte, with one-ounce pours ranging from $10 to $2,710 for the ultra-rare Macallan Exceptional 68-Year-Old. Or take a seed-to-glass mixology class with fresh botanicals. 

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Brush Creek even has its own small-batch distillery on property, which produces two different premium whiskeys, a straight rye and blended four-grain bourbon—the latter is a well-balanced combination of vanilla, caramel, and spices, with a long, rich finish.

Camp Wandawega, Wisconsin 

During Prohibition, this lakeside retreat in southern Wisconsin served as a thriving speakeasy, brothel, and gambling hall for Chicagoans looking to let loose. Madame Anna Peck, the gin-slinging proprietor behind it, even served time for running her “bawdy house of ill fame,” as the newspapers of the time dubbed it. Today, Camp Wandawega is a 25-acre resort with a series of lake cottages, log cabins, A-frames, scout tents, and a bunk-house to host guests. It’s brimming with old-school Americana charm and has become a cult favorite among creatives (Wes Anderson filmed here). To mark its centennial this year, Wandawega created its very own bourbon. The whiskey is a blend of four- to six-year-old oak barrel–aged distillate from Indiana and Kentucky, and it’s bottled in the same style of glass pints that federal agents once seized from the property (from a stash hidden in a hollowed-out piano nonetheless). Today, it’s much easier to get your hands on the whiskey. All you need to do is walk into the camp store in the main lodge and purchase it. And while there’s no need to hide the pint, it does stash comfortably in your back pocket for a paddle on Wandawega Lake or a late-night campfire. 

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As of summer 2025, Camp Wandawega is now selling its bourbon at Foxtrot coffeeshops and markets in Chicago, as well as online. 

The Fife Arms, Scotland

As befits a sprawling Highlands estate that feels like a Scottish version of Versailles—if Versailles decided to spare no expense—The Fife Arms occupies a Victorian-era hunting lodge and has over 16,000 works of art, including masterpieces from Picasso. It also houses one of the world’s most impressive rare whisky collections. Bertie’s Whisky Bar features over 500 bottles, with around 85 percent of the offering coming from Scotland. Many of these are from distilleries that no longer exist, such as Pittyvaich, Littlemill, and Caperdonich. Unlike other bars, in which collections tend to be organized by name or region, Bertie’s, which is named for the hedonistic King Edward VII, is organized by flavor profile—fragrant, fruity, rich, and smoky. This means you can peruse the shelves and sample a bottle next to one you know you already like. Tastings can be arranged in the bar, and the team will even set up a sampling in the surrounding hilltops for a truly elevated experience. The Fife Arms also has its own whisky, a smoky blended malt Scotch that was created in collaboration with Alex Bruce, the managing director of Adelphi, one of Scotland’s most acclaimed independent distillers. The barley in the whisky comes from Bruce’s family farms in the town of Fife, and the distilled product is aged in sherry casks, which was a common practice during the Victorian and Edwardian time. It’s fitting—The Fife Arms experience will almost certainly transport you to a more royal era, even if you’re not highborn. 

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The well-educated team at Bertie’s Whisky Bar offers their own tasting tour of nearby distilleries, which often includes Glenlivet (just down the road), and Cardhu, a historic distillery founded in 1811 by whisky smuggler John Cummings and his wife, Helen.

Dromoland Castle, Ireland 

With a thousand years of history backing this 500-acre estate and opulent hotel, Dromoland Castle offers countless experiences on its manicured grounds—from archery and clay shooting to falconry, fly-fishing, and standup paddleboarding on Dromoland Lough. The gardens were designed by André Le Nôtre, the mastermind behind Versailles. Of course, this wouldn’t be Ireland without a whiskey-tasting adventure, and Dromoland’s is second to none. The octagonal-shaped Cocktail Bar has a 31-page menu comprising over 70 bottles with descriptions on the distilling process and maturation of each selection, as well as the history of the distilleries. Rare bottles include Clonakilty 32-Year-Old, Teeling Revival, and The Brollach—one of just 661 bottles produced. Dromoland also has its own estate spirit, a 17-year-old single-malt, single-cask whiskey created in partnership with J.J. Corry, an independent curator in rural West Clare County that specializes in whiskey bonding. Like the castle’s cocktail bar, J.J. Corry Dromoland Castle whiskey has a deep, lush color, with notes of maple syrup, dark chocolate, and a hint of coffee. 

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Guests can learn the art of whiskey bonding, the historic tradition of maturing, blending, and bottling distilled whiskey under strict guidelines that allow it to meet the Irish government’s high standards. The experience is led by J.J. Corry’s CEO Louise McGuane. As part of the experience, guests get to create their own 500ml custom blend during the tour, even learning how to dip their bottle in wax to seal it properly.

The Loutrel, South Carolina 

For outdoor lovers in the Lowcountry, there are few better ways to spend a day in the South than chasing redfish in the morning and sampling whiskey at night. The Loutrel, a 50-room hotel set in Charleston’s French Quarter, is now offering its own Reel & Cask combo for guests, which certainly rivals anything offered on King Street. Choose from tailing redfish in the bay or heading 40 to 50 miles offshore for deeper-water species like grouper. The fishing charters are offered through local company RedFin, which has a roster of excellent guides for any style of fishing, including fly-fishing. Back at the hotel at night, The Loutrel will set you up with its Bourbon & Bites flight with chef-prepared pairings like Woodford Reserve Double Oaked served alongside a charcuterie skewer. Other bites may include local cheeses and dark chocolate truffles to enhance the whiskey’s notes. Included in the flight is the hotel’s own in-house bourbon, Garden Reserve Bourbon Whiskey, which was developed with local craft spirit producer Beyond Distilling and introduced last fall. The Loutrel worked for roughly a year to develop the custom bourbon, a corn-forward mashbill (70 percent) that’s aged in heavily charred white oak barrels for six years, a process that creates a complex profile with distinct notes of caramel, vanilla, and burnt orange. 

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Charleston has nearly a dozen craft distilleries with award-winning spirits, and no visit to the city is complete without a tour of at least one of them. Two of the best are Firefly Distillery, set on a large property that hosts live music, food trucks, and lawn games, and High Wire Distilling, which makes the wildly popular Jimmy Red Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

This article appeared in Men’s Journal’s fall Whiskey Special issue.