Craft whisky: artisan micro-distillers making Scotch single malts
40 small malt whisky distillers setting up in Scottish towns and cities, as well as outer islands, in trend that mirrors rise of craft beer brewing, with eye to growing market for handcrafted spirits
A new wave of Scottish whisky distilleries are hoping to cash in on the surge in interest in artisan, handcrafted whiskies that has conquered cities across America.
In a deliberate shift from their traditional ties to the Scottish Highlands and Hebridean islands off the country’s west coast, malt whisky distilleries are now opening for the first time in a century in cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh, to target younger, urban audiences and connoisseurs who search out locally produced, artisan spirits.
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Liam Hughes, the co-founder of the Glasgow Distillery, which borrows its name from the city’s last-surviving distillery that closed in 1902, said his company had seen the sudden success of micro-distilling in New York’s Brooklyn borough, which is now home to at least eight craft distilleries.
“It’s all very much about bringing malt whisky back to the city,” he said. “Watching what was happening in the United States and Tasmania, Australia, there was a real upsurge in craft whisky that links backwards to the ‘think local’, ‘think provenance’ trend in food manufacturing.
“People are fed up with major multinational brands and looking for something with some provenance, that can connect with local people. We want to bring metropolitan distilling back to Glasgow.”
“It’s all farm to table, it’s all craft,” he said. “The traceability and provenance of a small distillery [is what customers want]. There’s no growth left in the big, heavily marketed makes.” His distillery will build its provenance by using local Fife-grown barley, partly sourced from his family farms nearby.