By Jayson Byles, forager & chef · Updated August 2026
Whisky writers have reached for the sea for a century — “brine,” “iodine,” “a walk along the tideline” — because coastal-matured Scotch genuinely carries the shore in the glass. Pairing whisky with seaweed simply completes the thought: the sea’s own umami set against malt, smoke and cask sweetness. It works the way oysters and stout work — two flavours from the same weather.
Why does seaweed pair so well with whisky?
Three reasons. Umami: seaweeds — sugar kelp especially — are dense with the glutamates that make a sip taste rounder and longer; a nibble of dulse before a dram does for whisky what a sliver of parmesan does for red wine. Salt: a touch of shore salt sharpens sweetness and tames alcohol burn, which is why salted-caramel logic applies to a sherried malt. Smoke: dried and toasted seaweeds echo peat’s own maritime char — meet a coastal malt with pepper dulse and the glass suddenly has a landscape.
Which whiskies work best?
Start coastal: Lowland and east-coast malts with clean orchard-fruit sweetness make the seaweed do the talking, while peated island drams double down on the smoke. At our tastings we pour Kingsbarns single malts — distilled minutes up the coast road from the shores we harvest — because pairing Fife seaweed with Fife whisky is the point: one place, expressed twice.
The Coastal Dram — the masterclass
The Coastal Dram is our indoor seaweed & whisky masterclass: five Scottish seaweeds, five Kingsbarns drams, guided by forager and chef Jayson Byles — all year round, no wellies required. Standard tickets £120; a VIP ticket (£170) adds a bottle to take home. It launches soon — read more and register interest, and be first on the list.