The easiest way to enjoy whisky at home is, after all, the highball. Fill a well-chilled glass with ice, balance the whisky with sparkling water, and even a heavy spirit becomes a glass you can keep by your side all through a meal.
The catch is choosing the bottle. It feels wasteful to mix an expensive single malt into soda every time, while a too-bland whisky just disappears under the fizz. A whisky for highballs needs to be less about being "a good spirit" and more about being "a spirit that won't lose to the bubbles." A bottle that's easy on the wallet, with a clear aroma, and whose flavor backbone survives even as the ice melts is the one you want.
The seven bottles below were chosen by that standard. We'll widen the field in order — from the Japanese-style standard that's great to start with, to a Scotch good for everyday drinking, the sweetness of bourbon, a richer high-proof glass, and finally a smoky taste.
What makes a good highball whisky
First, the aroma has to survive even when diluted 1:3 or more with sparkling water. Second, it should have aromas that lock in with cold fizz — like citrus, honey, vanilla, or spice. Third, the price has to be realistic enough that your hand doesn't shake when you make a glass or two.
If you're choosing fast, here's the rundown
- If it's your first time Suntory Kakubin
- For a refreshing pour Suntory Toki
- For value bourbon Jim Beam White
- For a smooth Scotch Dewar's White Label
- For a balanced daily Ballantine's Finest
- For a rich glass Nikka From the Barrel
- For a smoky taste Laphroaig 10
Suntory Kakubin
Suntory Whisky Kakubin · Japan
This is the first bottle that comes to mind when talking about highballs. When you picture the Japanese "kaku-hai," it usually overlaps with the image of this whisky. Its aroma is tidy rather than flashy. Subtle honey, light citrus, and a clean grain character don't jut out when mixed with sparkling water but pull together coolly.
Its strength lies in being a reference point. Master the highball made with Kakubin first, and it becomes easy afterward to compare whether other whiskies are fresher, heavier, or sweeter. If you're just starting out with highballs, this bottle is the safest place to begin.
Try this: Chill the glass, the whisky, and the sparkling water all together. Rather than adding a lot of lemon juice, give the peel a slight twist to add just the aroma for a clean finish.
Suntory Toki
Suntory Whisky Toki · Japan
It leans a little brighter and crisper than Kakubin. Refreshing impressions of green apple, grapefruit peel, and herbs come to the front, and a light spiciness like ginger and pepper lingers at the finish. Even with a generous pour of sparkling water, the outline of its aroma doesn't blur easily.
It suits a first glass on a hot day, a glass alongside greasy food, or anyone who says, "I love the aroma of whisky but don't want it heavy." It's a good pick when you want to feel that clean image characteristic of Japanese whisky in a highball.
Try this: Lemon is good, but I recommend grapefruit peel. Overlapping with Toki's crisp aroma makes it feel more dimensional.
Jim Beam White
Jim Beam White Label · USA
It's not only Scotch that makes a highball. A bourbon highball feels far friendlier and more refreshing thanks to the sweetness from corn, vanilla, and a light oak aroma. Jim Beam White has those strengths clearly, and with its low price it makes a great everyday base.
Mixed with soda, the vanilla sweetness comes forward, and the rough edge of the alcohol grows much lighter. It's a representative bottle that comes across more easily in a highball than when drunk neat.
Try this: Adding lime crisply ties up the bourbon's sweetness. Mixing in a little ginger ale instead of sparkling water works well too.
Dewar's White Label
Dewar's White Label · Scotland
Dewar's White Label is a whisky where, made into a highball, the word "unremarkable" turns into a strength. It has the rounded sweetness of honey, heather, and grain, and its texture is so smooth that it doesn't clash with sparkling water.
It has a low chance of failure when you pour a glass for a friend or drink it slowly with food. It isn't a bottle of very strong character, but for that very reason it's broadly useful in a highball.
Try this: Its aroma is delicate, so start at about 1:3. Make it too dilute and even its strength — that smooth sweetness — can fade away.
Ballantine's Finest
Ballantine's Finest · Scotland
It's one of the most familiar Scotches in Korea. Vanilla, ripe apple, and faint honey are blended in balance, leaving few rough edges. Made into a highball, it keeps a whisky-like aroma while greatly reducing the heaviness.
If Kakubin and Toki are the standard for Japanese-style highballs, Ballantine's Finest is closer to a daily Scotch you keep one bottle of at home and use freely. With its accessible price, your hand reaches for it often as "the bottle you keep making."
Try this: Fill the glass with ice to keep it cold. Ballantine's light sweetness stays clean right to the end.
Nikka From the Barrel
Nikka From the Barrel · Japan
Once you've gotten used to light, crisp highballs, it's worth crossing over to the richer side at least once. Nikka From the Barrel is high in proof and dense in aroma. Caramel, dried fruit, and spice are packed in tightly, so even diluted with sparkling water its core doesn't easily collapse.
Given the price, it suits a day when you think "today I want a slightly deeper highball" rather than a bottle you reach for casually every day. Because the aroma unfolds even with a generous pour of soda, the satisfaction of a single glass is great.
Try this: Since it's high in proof, diluting generously to 1:4 is fine. Factoring in the time for the ice to melt, the balance actually becomes more comfortable.
Laphroaig 10 Year Old
Laphroaig 10 Year Old · Islay, Scotland
Last is a bottle that clearly splits opinion. Laphroaig is famous for its distinctive aromas of strong peat smoke, sea breeze, and what feels like iodine. Many find it daunting drunk straight, but made into a highball it surprisingly opens a path.
The fizz slightly loosens the density of the smoke, and the cold temperature lifts up the briny minerality and sweetness. Pair it with smoked food, fried dishes, or oily snacks and it becomes a fairly convincing smoky highball. That said, rather than picking it as your first bottle, it's a choice for after you've developed a taste.
Try this: Its aroma is strong, so even pouring just two-thirds of your usual whisky amount is plenty. Add lemon peel and the smoke and acidity lock together beautifully.
Five ways to make a proper highball
- Everything cold. Chill the glass, the whisky, and the sparkling water in advance. Temperature is half the flavor.
- Ice to the brim. Pack the glass full of ice so it melts less and stays cold to the last.
- The ratio is 1:3 to 1:4. Three or four parts sparkling water to one part whisky. Adjust to the whisky's character.
- Sparkling water down the wall. Pour carefully down the glass wall rather than straight onto the ice, and fewer bubbles escape.
- Stir just once. Stir at length and the fizz drops out. One light up-and-down pass is enough.
A highball isn't a drink for hiding an expensive spirit; it's a way of stretching out a whisky's strengths cold. Start with a bottle whose reference point is clear, like Kakubin or Toki, then widen your taste afterward — the sweetness of bourbon, the smoothness of Scotch, the density of Nikka, the smoke of Laphroaig. With just one glass and some sparkling water, the world of whisky opens far more easily than you'd think.
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