'It's an exciting time' - reaction as whisky tariffs cut by Donald Trump
There's been widespread optimism across Scotland as the 10% tariff on whisky was lifted on June 24.
First Minister, John Swinney has said there will be a “significant benefit” for Scottish producers as US tariffs on imports of Scotch whisky and lifted.
When the the tariffs were introduced between May and October of 2025, sales dropped off.
However, Donald Trump’s administration imposed a new 10% tariff on UK imports for other goods
The Annandale Distillery is one of Scotland's oldest working distilleries: "We're really excited that this has finally come the return to zero for zero conversion with the US," Lee Medd said.
"The money we're saving on this really will allow us to reinvest in not just here at the distillery, but our bottling hall, and ultimately create more products and more jobs here in the region.
"It means we can get our whisky over there. It's at a fair cost for our US audience. And again, we can get barrels from Kentucky and from the US over here to to produce our single cast single malt Scotch whisky."The US president announced in April that he would remove the whisky tariff, following the state visit by the King and Queen.
The industry body also welcomed the removal of tariffs.
Ian Duddy, international director at the Scotch Whisky Association, said: “The return of tariff-free trade for Scotch whisky in the US is welcome news for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
“As Scotch whisky’s most valuable global market, worth £933 million in 2025, the removal of tariffs provides greater confidence to invest, grow exports, and support jobs and communities across Scotland and the US.
“On behalf of the Scotch whisky industry, we are grateful to everyone who worked to make this happen, including His Majesty The King during his recent state visit.”
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‘Good day for Scotland’: US lifts tariffs on Scotch
“This is a good day for Scotland,” said the country’s first minister, as the US officially returned to tariff-free trading for Scotch whisky.
US president Donald Trump announced Scotch whisky would be exempt from tariffs following King Charles III’s state visit in April this year.
The tariff was officially removed today (24 July).
Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, said: “The result is a ‘zero-for-zero’ tariff regime that is a win for Scotland and a win for the United States.
“It benefits businesses and workers on both sides of the Atlantic and not just among whisky producers but also the businesses and communities that support the sector across Scotland.
“This is a good day for Scotland.”
Export volumes of Scotch to the US fell by 15% between May and December 2025, following the introduction of a 10% tariff in April that year. By value, exports decreased by 7% during this period.
The US is Scotch whisky’s most valuable market and was worth £933 million (US$1.24bn) in 2025, according to the Scotch Whisky Association.
The trade body is among industry parties that have welcomed the development.
Ian Duddy, international director of the Scotch Whisky Association, commented: “The removal of tariffs provides greater confidence to invest, grow exports, and support jobs and communities across Scotland and the US.
“From Kentucky to Speyside, this will not only benefit the Scotch and US whisky sectors, but our wider supply chains of cooperages, farmers, hospitality and retail.
“This outcome is testament to the strength of the enduring relationship between the UK and the US. On behalf of the Scotch whisky industry, we are grateful to everyone who worked to make this happen, including His Majesty The King during his recent state visit.
“We look forward to building on this positive momentum and working with partners on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure Scotch whisky continues to thrive.”
Progress needed for other spirits categories
Pernod Ricard, owner of Scotch brands including The Glenlivet and Chivas Brothers, also celebrated the return to tariff-free trading.
Nodjame Fouad, CEO of Pernod Ricard’s aged spirits and Champagne division, noted: “This move will improve access for American consumers to iconic Scotch whiskies such as The Glenlivet, while supporting businesses at home, and strengthening the longstanding trading relationship between the UK and US spirits industries.
“We now hope to see further progress made towards the removal of tariffs affecting other spirits and wine categories – including Irish whiskey, Champagne and Cognac – to deliver benefits for consumers, producers and hospitality businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”
This sentiment was echoed on the other side of the Pond, with trade body the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (Discus) also encouraging the removal of tariffs for other spirits made in the EU.
Chris Swonger, president and CEO of Discus, added: “Lifting this tariff provides much-needed relief for US hospitality businesses and demonstrates the benefits of fair, reciprocal trade. It is a meaningful step toward restoring the zero-for-zero tariff framework that fuelled growth, investment and job creation throughout the spirits sector for decades.
“We look forward to working with the administration to build on this progress by extending tariff relief to other imported spirits, particularly those from the European Union, which would help reduce costs for restaurants, bars and other hospitality businesses across the country.”
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Spirits industry responds to US lifting tariffs on Scotch
The US has officially returned to tariff-free trading for Scotch whisky in a move that has been met by much goodwill among the sector.
US President Donald Trump had originally imposed a 10% levy on Scotch whisky in April 2025 which had been due to increase earlier this year to 25% for single malts.
However, the decision to make sure Scotch whisky would be exempt from tariffs, which came into force as of today (24 July) was made by Trump following King Charles III’s state visit in April this year.
The Scottish government and the spirits industry has welcomed the lifting of tariffs on Scotch whisky exports to the US, which could also see Bourbon and American whiskey arriving in the UK tariff-free.
The tariff removal follows a challenging period for Scotch whisky exports. According to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), shipments to the US fell sharply after a 10% tariff was introduced in April 2025.
In fact, the SWA had noted that export volumes declined by 15% between May and December 2025, with the US still staying as the industry’s most valuable overseas market despite the downturn.
Win-win
Scotland’s first minister John Swinney said: “The result is a ‘zero-for-zero’ tariff regime that is a win for Scotland and a win for the United States. It benefits businesses and workers on both sides of the Atlantic and not just among whisky producers but also the businesses and communities that support the sector across Scotland. This is a good day for Scotland.”
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Distilled Spirits Council president and CEO Chris Swonger said: “We thank President Trump for delivering on his commitment to remove the tariff on Scotch and other UK whiskies and for recognising the longstanding heritage, craftsmanship and distilling traditions that unite the United States and United Kingdom.”
‘Much-needed relief’
Swonger pointed out that “lifting this tariff provides much-needed relief for US hospitality businesses and demonstrates the benefits of fair, reciprocal trade” and added that “it is a meaningful step toward restoring the zero-for-zero tariff framework that fuelled growth, investment and job creation throughout the spirits sector for decades”.
Highlighting the positive impact this will have on the Scotch whisky industry, through improved access to American consumers while supporting businesses at home, Nodjame Fouad, CEO of Pernod Ricard’s aged spirits and Champagne division, said: “The return to tariff-free trade for Scotch whisky between the UK and US – the world’s most valuable Scotch whisky market – is very welcome news for our industry.
A long-standing trading relationship
Fouad explained: “This move will improve access for American consumers to iconic Scotch whiskies such as The Glenlivet, while supporting businesses at home, and strengthening the long-standing trading relationship between the UK and US spirits industries.”
Swonger said that the Distilled Spirits Council now looks forward to working with the administration “to build on this progress by extending tariff relief to other imported spirits, particularly those from the European Union, which would help reduce costs for restaurants, bars and other hospitality businesses across the country”.
Fouad also added: “We now hope to see further progress made towards the removal of tariffs affecting other spirits and wine categories – including Irish Whiskey, Champagne and Cognac – to deliver benefits for consumers, producers and hospitality businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”
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The US has removed the tariff imposed by President Donald Trump on imports of scotch whisky into the country, following the visit of the King and Queen of the UK earlier this year.
The decision removes the levy of 10% on scotch from today (24 July), implementing what the Scottish Government has described as a “zero-for-zero tariff regime”. Scottish First Minister John Swinney last night praised the “remarkable contribution of the King and a ‘Team Scotland’ approach that saw the Scotch Whisky Association and the Scottish Government work hand in hand”.
In late April, the president announced in a post on his Truth Social platform (below) that King Charles and Queen Camilla, who had been on a visit to the US, had “got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!” He did not specify at the time, however, when the levy would be lifted.
Commenting on the news, the CEO of Pernod Ricard’s aged spirits & champagne division, Nodjame Fouad, said: “The return to tariff-free trade for scotch whisky between the UK and US – the world’s most valuable scotch whisky market – is very welcome news for our industry.
“This move will improve access for American consumers to … scotch … while supporting businesses at home, and strengthening the long-standing trading relationship between the UK and US spirits industries.”
Fouad also urged the removal of tariffs affecting other spirits and wine categories – including Irish whiskey, champagne and cognac.
Last year, the US market for scotch was worth GBP933m (US$1.25bn), according to figures from the Scotch Whisky Association.
Today’s change marks the second legislative shift in as many weeks for scotch exports. Last week, the UK-India free trade agreement took effect, resulting in the rate of duty reduced markedly on exports of UK spirits, including scotch, to India.
From today (24 July) a ‘zero for zero’ tariff regime has come into effect for scotch whisky entering the US.
The implementation of the tariff removal follows the initial decision by the US government to lift scotch tariffs in April, after King Charles’ encouragement during his state visit to the US. It will be a boost for the sector as, according to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), in 2025 the US market was worth £933 million for exporting distillers.
The carve out decision comes amid a renewal of other US tariffs on its trading partners. The previous levy expired today with an identical arrangement being reinforced. This means a 10% tariff on all UK goods exported to the US – including all other spirit and wine categories.
Despite the decision accounting for only part of exported UK and EU spirits and wine to the US, Pernod Ricard is encouraged by the development. CEO of the French drinks giant’s aged spirits and champagne division Nodjame Fouad reflected on the news.
“The return to tariff-free trade for scotch whisky between the UK and US – the world's most valuable scotch whisky market – is very welcome news for our industry,” she said.
“This move will improve access for American consumers to iconic scotch whiskies such as The Glenlivet, while supporting businesses at home, and strengthening the long-standing trading relationship between the UK and US spirits industries.”
Fouad is keen for the carve out to be extended to other drinks categories Pernod produces.
She added: “We now hope to see further progress made towards the removal of tariffs affecting other spirits and wine categories – including Irish whiskey, champagne and cognac – to deliver benefits for consumers, producers and hospitality businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Scottish first minister John Swinney believes the exemption announcement represents a “good day for Scotland”.
He said: “The result is a ‘zero-for-zero’ tariff regime that is a win for Scotland and a win for the United States. It benefits businesses and workers on both sides of the Atlantic and not just among whisky producers but also the businesses and communities that support the sector across Scotland.”
Ian Duddy, international director at the SWA, added: “From Kentucky to Speyside, this will not only benefit the Scotch and US whisky sectors, but our wider supply chains of cooperages, farmers, hospitality and retail.”
Moray MSP Laura Mitchell welcomes removal of Scotch whisky tariffs by US president Donald Trump
The removal of US tariffs on Scotch whisky will come as a boost to distillers and the supply chain in Speyside, Moray’s MSP has said.
Changes were announced by US President Donald Trump after months of work by the Scotch Whisky Association and First Minister John Swinney.
Moray MSP Laura Mitchell said: “The removal of US tariffs on Scotch whisky is incredibly welcome news for distillers here in Speyside, particularly given the challenging headwinds the industry has faced in recent months.
“These changes come following a huge 'Team Scotland' effort led by the Scotch Whisky Association and supported by the First Minister John Swinney, that successfully persuaded President Trump to dump these damaging tariffs.
"The United States is one of Scotch whisky's most important export markets so this new tariff regime will hopefully give distillers greater confidence to invest and grow here in Speyside.”
The restoration of tariff-free trade on Scotch whisky exports to the United States, has been welcomed as an important milestone by the Scotch Whisky Association.
Ian Duddy, international director at the Scotch Whisky Association, said: "The return of tariff-free trade for Scotch whisky in the US is welcome news for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
“As Scotch whisky's most valuable global market, worth £933 million in 2025, the removal of tariffs provides greater confidence to invest, grow exports and support jobs and communities across Scotland and the US.
“From Kentucky to Speyside, this will not only benefit the Scotch and US whisky sectors, but our wider supply chains of cooperages, farmers, hospitality and retail.
"This outcome is testament to the strength of the enduring relationship between the UK and the US.
“On behalf of the Scotch whisky industry, we are grateful to everyone who worked to make this happen, including His Majesty The King during his recent State Visit.
“We look forward to building on this positive momentum and working with partners on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure Scotch whisky continues to thrive.”
Historic tariff-free Scotch whisky shipment bound for United States
Boost for whisky producers as tariffs removed for shipments bound for US
- First shipment of Scotch whisky departing for the US under newly implemented zero-tariff agreement, following deal reached after King’s visit
- Boost for whisky producers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as tariffs removed on one of Britain’s biggest exports which supports over 65,000 jobs
- World-first whisky shipment without physical paperwork shows how UK’s cutting-edge Trade Strategy is helping businesses export quicker, cheaper and easier
The first shipment of tariff-free Scotch whisky will depart the UK in the next 48 hours, after the President confirmed tariffs would be removed from UK whisky during His Majesty The King’s state visit to the US in April.
Whisky distilleries from Aberdeenshire to County Antrim to the Brecon Beacons will immediately benefit as the removal of US tariffs comes into force today (July 24) in a huge boost to one of Britain’s biggest and most iconic exports.
The whisky industry supports 41,000 jobs in Scotland and a further 25,000 jobs across the UK according to the Scotch Whisky Association.
Farmers, packaging manufacturers, and logistics operators across the nation now have immediate and easy access to one of the UK’s most important overseas markets.
Despite a new round of global tariffs announced by the US today, our landmark Economic Prosperity Deal remains in place, which means an improvement to our trading terms with zero tariffs on both whisky and medical technology.
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:
This government is about creating good growth in every postcode and backing business in every part of the UK to support jobs and boost living standards.
This historic shipment demonstrates why trade deals with our largest economic partners matter. We will create more breathing space for business – whether that’s cutting unnecessary paperwork for exporters, or cutting bills for pubs.
To toast the win, a high-value air freight of premium Scotch whisky distilled in Aberdeenshire will depart in the next 48 hours from Manchester to Philadelphia – the first such freight to the US to enjoy no import taxes.
In another world-first, the shipment, worth £60,000, has used exclusively digital trade processes rather than paper-based documentation which cuts down shipping costs and loading times, with the UK continuing to pave the way for digital trade globally.
Smaller businesses are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of the shift to digital trade.
For many small businesses, complex paperwork can be a barrier to entering new markets, but digital systems level the playing field, enabling smaller regional exporters to compete internationally, reach new customers and grow more quickly.
Arranged by digital trade company LogChain, the shipment of Skene Whisky brings together the best of British heritage, innovation and exporting ambition.
UK whisky exports were worth £5.4 billion in 2025, while whisky exports to the US alone were worth £1 billion - and this latest win will allow the sector across the UK to continue to thrive.
Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Alexander said:
The UK Government is delivering for Scotland with a shipment from Aberdeenshire being among the first to enter the US without tariffs.
This is a very welcome day for the Scotch whisky industry. As the largest value market for whisky, the US is one of the most important for the sector. This trade milestone between the US and UK shows the bonds the countries have and the benefits from working closely in partnership.
I’m sure many in Scotland and the US will be raising a dram today to celebrate the ending of tariffs on one of our most beloved and respected Scottish products.
The Atlantic Proof Scotch being transported is a rare, limited-edition premium Scotch whisky, commemorating a bold new chapter in the UK-US trading relationship.
Matured in American oak casks, the spirit reflects the deep economic and cultural ties between the United Kingdom and the United States.
As part of the celebration, a limited number of commemorative bottles will be presented to representatives of the UK and US governments in recognition of the role played in strengthening transatlantic trade ties, including Secretary of State Jonathan Reynolds and UK Deputy Trade Commissioner for North America Alan Gogbashian.
The shipment also shines a spotlight on Manchester and Liverpool’s growing role as major hubs for exports to North America and leaders in digital trade innovation as the cities help connect businesses across the UK with international markets while supporting jobs and investment throughout the North West and beyond.
Andrew McKeown, CEO of LogChain, said:
Atlantic Proof is policy and diplomacy in action. It turns a tariff win into a real shipment, showing how exporters can move goods faster, cheaper, and with less friction when trade policy and digital trade infrastructure work together.
For LogChain, this is exactly why Liverpool is our global HQ: the city region has the history, ambition, and capability to help lead the next era of global trade.
Andrew Skene, owner of Skene Whisky, said:
Atlantic Proof is a celebration of Scotch whisky, but it is also a practical step forward for exporters. For whisky producers, access to the US market matters, and anything that reduces paperwork, delays, and friction helps us focus on what we do best: making great whisky and getting it to customers around the world.
Cllr Paula Basnet, Liverpool City Region Cabinet Member for Economic Growth and Regeneration, said:
Liverpool City Region helped build the world’s trading economy – now we’re helping to reinvent it for the digital age. Atlantic Proof shows how innovation can remove barriers to trade and open up new opportunities for businesses.
We’re proud that LogChain has chosen to locate its global headquarters here, recognising the unique strengths of our city region’s maritime heritage, world-class logistics expertise and growing reputation as a centre for digital innovation.
“This project demonstrates how places like Liverpool City Region can combine tradition and technology to create new opportunities for businesses, jobs and investment.”
Notes to Editors
Whisky exports figures: UK overseas trade in goods statistics: May 2026 - GOV.UK
Whisky job figures: Scotch Whisky Economic Impact Report
Product: Premium limited-edition Scotch whisky (“Atlantic Proof”)
Digital trade platform: LogChain
Bottling strength: 100 Proof / 50% ABV
Maturation: American oak casks
SWINNEY: “A win for Scotland and a win for the United States”
First Minister John Swinney has welcomed the lifting of US tariffs on Scotch whisky and the creation of a ‘zero-for-zero’ tariff regime from today.
The exemption announced by President Trump following the King’s State Visit in April, was confirmed by US Authorities today and come into force today (Friday).
Scotland exports more whisky to the United States than to any other country.
The First Minister said: “The end of US tariffs on Scotch whisky has now been confirmed by the US Authorities and from, tomorrow, will be whisky will be tariff free.
“This follows the remarkable contribution of the King and a ‘Team Scotland’ approach that saw the Scotch Whisky Association and the Scottish Government work hand in hand.
“We were able to partner with the bourbon industry in the United States, raise the issue with President Trump in the Oval Office, and get this issue on his agenda.
“The result is a ‘zero-for-zero’ tariff regime that is a win for Scotland and a win for the United States. It benefits businesses and workers on both sides of the Atlantic and not just among whisky producers but also the businesses and communities that support the sector across Scotland.
“This is a good day for Scotland.”
International Director at the Scotch Whisky Association Ian Duddy said: “The return of tariff-free trade for Scotch Whisky in the US is welcome news for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
“As Scotch Whisky’s most valuable global market, worth £933 million in 2025, the removal of tariffs provides greater confidence to invest, grow exports, and support jobs and communities across Scotland and the US.
“From Kentucky to Speyside, this will not only benefit the Scotch and US whisky sectors, but our wider supply chains of cooperages, farmers, hospitality and retail.
“This outcome is testament to the strength of the enduring relationship between the UK and the US. On behalf of the Scotch Whisky industry, we are grateful to everyone who worked to make this happen, including His Majesty The King during his recent State Visit.
“We look forward to building on this positive momentum and working with partners on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure Scotch Whisky continues to thrive.”
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Scotch whisky levy lifted as Trump imposes new wave of US tariffs
- Published
The Scottish government has welcomed the lifting of tariffs on Scotch whisky exports to the United States.
The move comes as President Donald Trump hit hundreds of international trading partners with a new wave of levies.
The deal will also see US bourbon and casks arriving in the UK tariff-free. Scotland's first minister John Swinney said it was a "win on both sides of the Atlantic".
Trump agreed that he would lift the tariffs after King Charles and Queen Camilla's state visit to the US in April.
The US had originally imposed a 10% levy on Scotch whisky in April 2025. This had been due to increase earlier this year to 25% for single malts.
Scotland exports more whisky to the US than any other country.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said it had cost the industry about £150m, with the US market worth about £933m in 2025.
Emily Weaver Rhodes, SWA deputy director, told BBC Radio Scotland that the removal of tariffs showed the positive relationship between the US and UK.
She said: "There are really strong grounds and good evidence for why this is important not just for the UK, but for the US economy and that is delivering on the president's ambition to create jobs.
"I think on both sides of the Atlantic we are raising a dram to celebrate."
The deal will also see Kentucky bourbon barrels – which are used to age Scotch whisky – come to the UK without tariffs.
First Minister John Swinney said: "This a win for Scotland and a win for the United States."
"It benefits businesses and workers on both sides of the Atlantic, and not just among whisky producers, but also the businesses and communities that support the sector across Scotland."
Trump's announcement in April that he would drop whisky tariffs had sparked a row over who was able to claim credit for changing his mind.
Swinney said he had raised the issue with President Trump during a previous meeting in the Oval Office.
But political opponents accused him of taking credit for the deal over King Charles.
The first minister said it had come courtesy of the "remarkable contribution of the King" and a "Team Scotland" approach.
He added: "We were able to partner with the bourbon industry in the United States, raise the issue with President Trump in the Oval Office, and get this issue on his agenda."
- Published10 hours ago
Big win for Scotch whisky as US tariffs are lifted
Whisky products will have zero tariffs in the US from today
As a result of engagement led by the UK Government, distilleries and whisky drinkers on both sides of the Atlantic will be raising a glass to celebrate a landmark day for the beloved product as US tariffs are lifted.
From today [24 July], whisky from the UK will now have zero tariffs following the agreement that was reached during His Majesty The King’s visit in April.
Whisky distilleries across the country are set to benefit from the deal we secured from boosted trading with what is the largest market by value – in 2025, whisky exports to the US alone were worth £1 billion, almost 20% of all whisky exported from the UK.
To mark the long-awaited milestone, Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Alexander visited Pernod Ricard’s Strathclyde Distillery in the heart of Glasgow.
Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Alexander said:
This is a day of celebration for Scotland’s whisky industry. The removal of tariffs by the US is a significant measure that will open up opportunities for growth and prominence for this already beloved Scottish product in US towns and cities.
The action taken by President Trump demonstrates the partnership our two countries have and the close working in trade that supports economic growth both here in the UK and in the United States.
This is the second action this month which has opened up the world even more to our whisky exports, with the India Free Trade Agreement, which came into force earlier in July, seeing tariffs reduced from 150% to 40% over the next ten years.
Businesses have also benefitted from recent deals with China, the Gulf Co-operation Council, the EU, and the US, as the UK Government delivers for Scotland and continues to use the strength and reach of the UK to support economic growth in Scotland.
I join all those raising a dram today for the efforts to reach this point and look forward to seeing our whisky industry flourish.
The whisky industry supports 41,000 jobs in Scotland and a further 25,000 jobs across the UK, according to the Scotch Whisky Association.
The removal of tariffs by the US is the latest big win for the industry this month, with the India FTA coming into force and reducing whisky tariffs from 150% to 75% immediately, then to 40% over ten years.
Nodjame Fouad, CEO of Pernod Ricard’s Aged Spirits and Champagne division, said:
We were delighted to welcome Secretary of State Douglas Alexander to the Strathclyde Distillery, to showcase our innovative energy efficiency technology and thank the UK Government for securing reduced tariffs with India and the US.
Popular blended Scotch whiskies exported overseas, such as Ballantine’s and Chivas Regal, use grain whisky distilled at Strathclyde in the very heart of Glasgow. Trade deals can be explained in millions of dollars - but it’s when you visit a working distillery like this that you can see how improved market access can help secure economic growth in Scotland and across the UK at large.
Ian Duddy, International Director at the Scotch Whisky Association, said:
The return of tariff-free trade for Scotch Whisky in the US is welcome news for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. As Scotch Whisky’s most valuable global market, worth £933 million in 2025, the removal of tariffs provides greater confidence to invest, grow exports, and support jobs and communities across Scotland and the US. From Kentucky to Speyside, this will not only benefit the Scotch and US whisky sectors, but our wider supply chains of cooperages, farmers, hospitality and retail.
This outcome is testament to the strength of the enduring relationship between the UK and the US. On behalf of the Scotch Whisky industry, we are grateful to everyone who worked to make this happen, including His Majesty The King during his recent State Visit. We look forward to building on this positive momentum and working with partners on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure Scotch Whisky continues to thrive.
Despite a new round of global tariffs announced by the US today, our landmark Economic Prosperity Deal remains in place, and we see an improvement to our trading terms with zero tariffs on both whisky and medical technology.
The changes to whisky tariff arrangements with the US is the latest in a series of deals the UK Government has achieved to support businesses and economic growth. Alongside the India Free Trade Agreement, deals with the Gulf Co-operation Council and the European Union have all shown the importance of working with global partners to grow the UK’s economy and trade partnerships.
Whisky Advocate / Whisky Magazine（經 Google News）｜原題：Willem by Willem: Inside Laphroaig's collaboration with Willem Dafoe - Whisky Magazine
荷蘭演員 Willem Dafoe 與艾雷島威士忌廠 Laphroaig 推出聯名酒款 Willem by Willem。這款 14 年份、53.7% ABV 的威士忌是真正的液體合作成果，而非單純代言。首席調酒師 Sarah Dowling 與 Dafoe 共同進行為期一年的品評與調配過程，從 20 款試驗酒中最終選定帶有 Oloroso 桶風味的版本。Laphroaig 刻意不提供官方品酒筆記，改以空白頁面邀請消費者自行探索風味，強調每個人的品嚐體驗都同等有效。該酒款已正式發售。
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Collaborations work best when they involve two distinct individuals whose very uniqueness in the world is the reason why they pair so well together. Back in the early 1980s, many may have assumed that the musical styles of Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson would be too wildly different to each other. But as “Say Say Say” proved, these collaborations work because of this individuality, not in spite of it. What’s the point in a collaboration if the two individuals are almost carbon copies of each other, both with the same skill sets?
It is this sharing of clear individuality that elevates the partnership between Academy Award-nominated actor Willem Dafoe and Laphroaig Distillery — a creative alliance and collaboration that has now culminated in the release of new whisky Willem by Willem. The synergy between the actor and the distillery relies heavily on their distinctive reputations. Laphroaig is famous for its medicinal, heavily peated profile. Whisky lovers know when a Laphroaig is sat in front of them even without being told outright.
Dafoe, meanwhile, is celebrated for choosing intense, complex roles that defy easy categorisation. He may play both a vampire hunter in Nosferatu and a monster himself in Shadow of the Vampire, but each comes with that confident, quirky trademark.
Dafoe, like Laphroaig, is a highly acclaimed, instantly recognisable pillar of his industry. Despite four Oscar nominations dating back to 1987, Dafoe has yet to receive the coveted award, but this has catapulted his status to recent years as one of the world’s most overdue actors. It’s surely only a matter of time before the Wisconsin-born actor holds the golden statue in his hands, but in the meantime, a bottle of Laphroaig is a more-than-worthy replacement.
The Dafoe-Laphroaig collaboration launched in September 2025 with the ‘Unphorgettable’ campaign, which included a short film titled ‘The Taste’, directed by Tim Pope. The short followed Dafoe’s attempt to find the words to describe Laphroaig’s whisky, drawing on personal experience. He also reads descriptions of the whisky submitted by the Friends of Laphroaig, connecting the campaign to its original intended vision.
“The first time I ever travelled overseas, I went to Scotland,” said Dafoe, back at the beginning of this partnership. “I was a kid, and the first thing I thought when my feet touched down on the ground was, something feels familiar here. I feel at home. The land spoke to me, and it must be genetic because my grandmother was from Glasgow. ‘The Taste’ depicts that sort of familiarity that’s found when exploring Laphroaig. It’s the flavours and how they come together.”
What began as a global creative and marketing campaign has transformed into a hands-on liquid collaboration. Senior whisky blender Sarah Dowling first joined Laphroaig in February 2024. Working with the wider blending team in Springburn, she’s responsible for assessing casks as they mature, maintaining the character of Laphroaig releases, and looking for continuously innovation. If Dafoe is the face of this collaboration, Dowling is the whisky genius behind it, with the most impressive whisky knowledge that becomes apparent even just a few minutes into conversation. “I’ve been a fan of Willem’s for years,” says Dowling, “so when I think of Willem and I think of his movies, he’s always bold, he’s always curious, always impossible to define. I think that’s quite similar to how Laphroaig turns up in the world.”
The production of Willem by Willem was not a stereotypical celebrity endorsement, where their name and face is simply put on the box. Instead, it involved an immersive, year-long journey through the warehouse and blending lab. Dowling witnessed this dedication firsthand. “I got to attend the shoot when he filmed The Taste,” says Dowling. “I got to just appreciate him, in his creative zone, his uncompromising dedication to his craft.”
This creative dedication directly influenced the blending process. The team at Laphroaig, including Dowling and master blender Calum Fraser, spent months preparing for the joint tasting session, meticulously narrowing down the possibilities. “We had done around 20 pilot blends before we met with him and then narrowed it down to six that told a story we wanted to tell,” Dowling explains. “They were all great and we were playing with different levels of smoke, different finishes, different ages.”
When it came time to evaluate the final six options, the standard vocabulary of the whisky industry was intentionally set aside. Instead, the focus shifted toward how the liquid interacted with the senses on a visceral, deeper level.
“Willem and I selected the whisky together. We didn’t really focus on tasting notes when we were working together. We focused on the experience, and what samples made him the most curious and what taste did he resonate most with.”
During the selection process, one specific profile immediately stood out to the actor. Dowling recalls the moment the choice became clear. “Willem then chose his favourite... that was oloroso, the one that really spoke to him the most. He was talking about how it felt in his face and talking about it at that level of emotion.”
Following the initial selection, Dowling returned to the Islay blending lab to scale the expression, carefully monitoring its development while keeping Dafoe regularly involved throughout the maturation.
“What I loved about the journey was I met him quite a few times at different things throughout the year, and I was always talking — so this is the base spirit sample and he was loving trying that. And then a couple of months, in the cask and then at a few more months. So it really did feel like a collaboration.”
The resulting bottling is a 14-year-old age statement and presented at a robust cask strength of 53.7% ABV. Rather than publishing an official set of descriptors, Laphroaig has launched Willem by Willem with a blank tasting note page. For Dowling, this allows consumers to taste the whisky without any preconceptions. “Everyone’s tasting notes are valid, right? Because your tasting notes are how you experience the world and what your lived experience to this point is. If you’re the blender in the room, and you say lemon, everyone’s going to smell lemon. So just create a nice environment that people feel like nothing’s out there... And then almost go on a journey together with it.”
Now available, Willem by Willem serves as an invitation to explore flavour without preconceived boundaries. The combination of one of Islay’s most historic spirits with the creative curiosity of one of Hollywood’s truly iconic actors was already going to be a winning collaboration before the work had even been done. Perhaps when Dafoe finally — eventually — wins the Academy Award he deserves, everyone shall raise a glass of Laphroaig in celebration.
Willem by Willem tasting notes
Nose: Dried fruits, walnuts, hazelnut, tobacco smoke, leather, jasmine green tea, lemon zest.
Palate: Sultanas, sticky toffee pudding, cherry, mint, lavender, peat. Rich, velvet mouthfeel.
Finish: Medium-length finish with raisins and floral notes.
Whisky Advocate / Whisky Magazine（經 Google News）｜原題：America’s spirit, America’s story: Heaven Hill’s bet on bourbon - Whisky Magazine
Heaven Hill 是美國最大的獨立家族威士忌蒸餾廠，擁有 Evan Williams、Elijah Craig 等歷史悠久的品牌。1935 年由 Shapira 五兄弟創立，迄今仍由家族經營。該廠是唯一生產美國所有主要威士忌風格的傳統蒸餾廠，特別是 Bottled-in-Bond 威士忌的領導者。Heaven Hill 擁有全球第二大的老化威士忌庫存（超過 210 萬桶），2025 年 9 月投資約 2 億美元在波本威士忌之都巴茲鎮開設新蒸餾廠 Heaven Hill Springs，標誌著該廠近 30 年來首度回到故鄉。
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The story of bourbon is, in many ways, the story of America itself — and the two have grown up together. As the young republic pushed westward, so did its distillers, and bourbon’s founding figures belong to the nation’s earliest chapters. Evan Williams is said to have opened Kentucky's first licensed distillery in 1783; Elijah Craig, the Baptist minister remembered as the Father of Bourbon, is credited with the charred-oak barrel that gives the spirit so much of its colour and character. Today, both names live on as whiskeys distilled by Heaven Hill.
Custodian of Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, and a roll-call of historic American whiskey brands, Heaven Hill is the only heritage distiller producing every major style of American whiskey and the pre-eminent champion of Bottled-in-Bond. Based in Bardstown — the Kentucky town known as the Bourbon Capital of the World — this family-owned distiller’s commitment to heritage and the traditional craft of whiskey-making makes it a living archive of bourbon's history. As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, one thing should be clear to all whiskey drinkers: you can’t tell the story of America without bourbon, and you can’t tell the story of bourbon without Heaven Hill.
Five brothers, one bet
Heaven Hill's own story begins in 1935, when the five Shapira brothers took a considerable gamble. The sons of an immigrant retailer, they knew commerce rather than distilling, yet in the depths of the Depression they backed a fledgling Kentucky distillery, filling their first barrel on 13 December 1935. Rather than rush their new whiskey to market, the family waited. Four years later, in 1939, the Shapiras released Old Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond — a whiskey that swiftly became the best-selling bourbon in the state. Today, the Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond 7 Years Old remains the company’s flagship namesake whiskey.
More than 90 years on, patience and foresight have become hallmarks of the business. Heaven Hill remains owned and operated by the Shapiras — making it the largest independent, family-owned producer of American whiskey. Max Shapira, a son of one of the five founding brothers, led the company for 51 years, before becoming executive chairman in 2022 when the third generation took the reins. Today, Max’s daughter Kate Latts and her husband Allan Latts lead the business as co-presidents. Family ownership is a rare thing in an industry of global conglomerates, and this legacy shapes everything from the company’s long view on maturation to the willingness to preserve historic brands that otherwise might have been relegated to the history books.
Caretakers of the craft
If longevity is one measure of the distiller and its brands, range is another. Heaven Hill is the only heritage distiller to make every major style of American whiskey, working across five signature mashbills, plus American single malt. That breadth includes a genuine claim to being the leading authority on wheat, from the revived Old Fitzgerald to the modern favourite Larceny, both wheated bourbons, and the pioneering Bernheim Original Wheat Whiskey, which in 2005 became the first genuinely new style of American whiskey created since Prohibition.
Then there is the yeast. On 7 November 1996, a fire destroyed the original Old Heaven Hill Springs Distillery and seven rickhouses, taking some 92,000 barrels with them. Yet the distillery's proprietary yeast strain — handed down through generations of Beam family master distillers — survived in a refrigerator. It means the spirit maturing in Kentucky today was created with the same living culture used in the 1930s, offering an unbroken thread of flavour running back to the company’s founding.
Maturation is its own discipline, and few practise it on Heaven Hill's scale. The company holds the second-largest inventory of ageing American whiskey in the world — more than 2.1 million barrels — resting across more than 60 rickhouses on six distinct campuses. The tasting team selects and marries barrels from different floors and sites to hold each brand's character true.
From mash bill expertise to maturation, Heaven Hill champions grain-to-glass stewardship in the fullest sense, a commitment now enshrined in the distiller’s range of Heaven Hill Grain to Glass whiskeys, created in partnership with family-owned farms.
The bond that defines them
No element speaks to Heaven Hill’s stewardship of bourbon heritage more clearly than its commitment to Bottled-in-Bond. The designation dates to the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 — one of America's earliest consumer-protection laws — and its terms remain exacting: the product of a single distilling season and a single distillery, aged at least four years in a federally supervised bonded warehouse, and bottled at 100 proof, or 50% ABV. Heaven Hill produces more Bottled-in-Bond whiskey than any other distiller, from the Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond that started it all (now a seven-year-old expression) to the Henry McKenna Single Barrel 10 Years Old, Rittenhouse Rye, Mellow Corn, and the recently released Old Fitzgerald 7 Years Old Bottled-in-Bond — all carrying a distinctly American guarantee of quality into the distiller’s tenth decade.
Distilling the next chapter
History, though, is only half the story. In September 2025, Heaven Hill opened the Heaven Hill Springs Distillery in Bardstown — a roughly $200 million investment that returned distilling to the company's hometown for the first time in nearly 30 years, since the fire that could so easily have ended everything. Engineered under the watchful eye of master distiller Conor O’Driscoll and built to scale toward 450,000 barrels a year, the new distillery is the embodiment of the company’s commitment to the past, present, and future of bourbon. Built to work in tandem with its Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, Heaven Hill Springs has its gaze set on the distiller’s future growth but remains rooted in the company’s heritage, with stills engineered to replicate the character of Bernheim's spirit. It embraces modern technology and sustainability but uses the same heritage yeast and signature mashbills.
As America marks its 250th, Heaven Hill is marking the year in the glass — with the Rittenhouse United States 250th Anniversary rye, plus officially licensed Evan Williams America250 bottlings — and on screen, in partnership with Whisky Magazine. An exclusive three-part video series will trace the Shapira family’s custodianship of bourbon’s heritage; recount the tale of the fateful fire and the distiller’s long road back to Bardstown; and delve into the detail of its whiskey-making craft.
The Whisky Magazine × Heaven Hill video series launches this September. Discover more at heavenhilldistillery.com.
Whisky Advocate / Whisky Magazine（經 Google News）｜原題：“For this special year we wanted to create something extraordinary" — Old Pulteney at 200 - Whisky Magazine
蘇格蘭最北端的Old Pulteney酒廠迎來200週年里程碑，推出三款紀念版單一麥芽：50 Years Old（僅200瓶）、30 Years Old（每年1,000瓶）與10年份Distillery Exclusive。其中50 Years Old是該廠歷來最年長的裝瓶，由新任威士忌製造大師Sarah Burgess主導調配。Pulteney以「北方的Manzanilla」聞名，此次紀念版強調其獨特的海岸特性與傳統工藝。酒廠近年設施翻新並推出新行銷活動「Character Runs Deep」，生產未因市場困難而減少。
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There was a time not too many years ago, when Scotland’s northernmost mainland county of Caithness boasted just one whisky distillery, namely Pulteney, located in the historic fishing port of Wick. However, the overall increase in new whisky-making ventures during the past couple of decades means that Pulteney has now been joined by four competitors.
While greater variety of whiskies from the Far North is to be welcomed, what the relative newcomers cannot offer is a 50-year-old single malt, while Pulteney, currently celebrating its 200th anniversary, is able to provide such a rarity.
The distillery’s 200th birthday is being marked with three new single malt releases, one of which is the 50 Years Old, the oldest ever bottling from Pulteney, along with a 30 Years Old and a 10-year-old Distillery Exclusive.
Key to their creation is Sarah Burgess, who became master of whisky creation for International Beverage last summer. Prior to her appointment, Burgess held senior roles with Diageo, the Macallan, and latterly the Lakes Distillery.
“For this special year we wanted to create something extraordinary,” she says, “not only to mark the milestone, but as a true celebration of the distillery and the maritime thread that weaves through all Old Pulteney whiskies. I often think casks of whisky are like people, each behaving in an individual way and changing over time.
“One of my first assignments in the company was to create the 10-year-old 200th anniversary Distillery Exclusive bottling and I also got to make a 30 and a 50-year-old. It’s been a phenomenal experience for me early on in my career with International Beverage.
“For these new expressions, my job was to select casks that honour the different moments in the distillery’s 200-year history, whilst bringing them together in whiskies that reflect everything Old Pulteney represents.”
When it came to developing the Distillery Exclusive, Burgess explains, “Old Pulteney has been called ‘the manzanilla of the north’, so for this bottling I took some manzanilla sherry casks that had been filled with Pulteney, but I felt they were not sufficiently indicative of the distillery style, so I added one first-fill sherry cask and one refill sherry cask. That softened the whole thing and made it more complex and fully representative of Pulteney. It’s 90 per cent manzanilla and 10 per cent oloroso-seasoned casks.”
The 30-year-old expression comprises whisky matured in American oak casks, then ‘refined’ in European oak casks. Long-serving distillery manager Malcolm Waring deserves much of the credit for the quality of the spirit itself. When it comes to new make, he declares, “I want it to be big, beefy, powerful, aromatic, and even vegetal. Complex, oily, and even slightly coastal.
“I made the spirit that has gone into the 30 Years Old as a shift operator, and I actually filled the casks as well a few days later. Refill American oak casks from warehouse no.4. It’s something that’s been part of me since day one!”
Waring adds, “Reaching 200 years is a truly significant milestone for Old Pulteney and a proud moment for everyone connected to our distillery, both past and present. For two centuries, the distillery has remained deeply rooted in its coastal home of Wick, with its location and maritime climate playing an integral role in shaping the distinctive character of our whisky. Few whiskies are so entwined with the place where they’re made as Old Pulteney.”
As might be expected, both the 30- and 50-year-old bottlings are beautifully presented, but with a pleasing degree of restraint. Designed by Lewis Moberly, Glencairn Crystal created bespoke decanters and Moran’s Wood Components handcrafted the outer casings.
Burgess explains, “The 30 Years Old is about elevating the range, and will be an ongoing expression with a release of 1,000 bottles, while the 50 Years Old is really to celebrate the anniversary specifically, and there are just 200 bottles. For that I chose four casks — a combination of American oak and European oak refill casks. Four times 50 equals 200, as in the anniversary! It’s a whisky of deep, coastal character.”
According to Waring, “We’re quite fortunate to have a supply of aged stock, considering that the principal role of the malt for so long was to go into blends. The work really starts in the warehouses. You have to know them. There are not only differences between the effects of racked and dunnage warehouses, but within individual warehouses. We fill 95 per cent American oak, and our oldest casks on site date from 1970.”
Prior to the new 50-year-old expression, the oldest whiskies released by Pulteney were single bottlings for the 2023 and 2025 Distillers One of One charity auctions, respectively the 45-year-old Bow Wave and the 47-year-old Polaris.
Unlike many of its competitors in the current challenging conditions for whisky trading, production at Pulteney has not been cut back. The distillery works five days per week, making 1.3 million lpa this year. Waring and his team are trialling malt produced from 300 tonnes of Diablo barley, grown locally at Watten Mains farm and filled into a variety of cask types for potential future stand-alone bottlings.
Along with the new 30- and 50-year-old single malts and Distillery Exclusive bottling, Pulteney Distillery boasts totally revamped visitor facilities, which opened to the public recently, and a menu of tour experiences, while a
new marketing campaign has just been launched.
According to the Old Pulteney team, the “‘Character Runs Deep’ campaign signals a new era for Old Pulteney whilst staying true to the brand’s roots. The campaign recognises the strong character, tough conditions, and time-honoured industrial craftsmanship that have defined the Maritime Malt since 1826.”
All in all, there seem many positives for Pulteney Distillery to take into the next 200 years of its story as the canny veteran of the Caithness distilling scene.
Whisky Advocate / Whisky Magazine（經 Google News）｜原題：Assessing the landscape of Kentucky bourbon in 2026 - Whisky Magazine
肯塔基波本產業面臨挑戰：美國關稅、進口物料成本波動及加拿大貿易問題持續困擾業界，2024-2025年美國蒸餾廠減少逾20%。儘管如此，肯塔基波本步道2025年吸引270萬訪客，觀光產業表現強勁。業界正調整庫存，包括Jim Beam、Bardstown Bourbon Company等減產，但也有亮點：Heaven Hill Springs蒸餾廠重啟、Four Roses易主回歸美資（首次自1943年後）、肯塔基波本步道新增11個據點、私人桶選購合法化等。肯塔基蒸餾者協會主席表示樂觀預期未來數年能穩定局面。
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The distilled spirits industry in the United States has had another challenging year. The government shutdown tested the industry’s resolve by delaying Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) approvals while the on-again, off-again tariffs made doing business nearly impossible as the costs for materials like bottles and corks coming from overseas could vary wildly on any given day. Meanwhile, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States reported that the US lost more than 20 per cent of its distilled spirits plants between 2024 and 2025, though there was only a one per cent decrease in both volume and sales of American whiskeys during that time. Kentucky has not been immune to those market challenges, yet the Kentucky Bourbon Trail reported 2.7 million visitors in 2025 — a sure sign that Kentucky bourbon is not slowing down any time soon.
“We still have distilleries that are making the adjustments they need to realign inventory,” says Kentucky Distillers’ Association president Eric Gregory. “You’ve heard the Jim Bean announcement last year, and you’ve got a few more distilleries that have scaled back production like BBC [Bardstown Bourbon Company] and Green River. We still remain hopeful that we can get the Canada problem resolved. That would be a great shot of adrenaline for the industry to be able to resume sales there. In the meantime, people remain cautiously optimistic and cautiously anxious at the same time as to what it’s going to look like in the next couple of years... It seems to be the general consensus to give us a couple of years, this year and next year, to really right the ship again or realign inventories and hopefully get some of the trade and other things settled. At that point, we can start to talk about more of a stable prediction on what the future looks like.”
Despite sluggish sales, there have still been numerous positive developments in the Kentucky bourbon industry over the last year.
Heaven Hill Springs Distillery officially opened last September and has been producing whiskey, bringing a portion of Heaven Hill’s distillation back to Bardstown after the devastating distillery fire of 1996. Jackson Purchase Distillery became a Heritage Member of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association and began releasing an aged whiskey under its own brand name. Pursuit Spirits opened its visitor experience on Louisville’s Whiskey Row along with Trial + Error, a cocktail speakeasy in the basement. Buffalo Trace opened the John G Carlisle Cafe at the distillery, a much-needed lunch spot for visitors, and also rolled out its 9 millionth barrel since Prohibition in September 2025.
Koetter completed its first seven-storey K-Rax rickhouse at Whiskey House of Kentucky, a completely new design with improved safety features compared to more traditional styles. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail added more than 11 new stops for 2026: WhistlePig locations in both Louisville and Brandenberg; Uncle Boojie; J Mattingly 1845; Dark Arts Whiskey House; LF Heritage Distilling; Left Bank Distilling; Chicken Cock in Louisville; the Green River tasting room in Louisville; the General George Stillhouse; and the Purple Toad Winery and Distillery. The Bourbon Women Association celebrated 15 years in 2026, marked by bringing together numerous women distillers and blenders to create a collaborative blend at Whiskey Thief. Kirin sold Four Roses to Gallo in California, bringing the storied brand back under American ownership for the first time since 1943 when Canadian-owned Seagram’s bought it, and the brand has released its oldest whiskey ever at 21 years old. The Blending House opened in Shelbyville, Kentucky as home to both the Spirits Group and Koetter’s prototype K-Rax warehouses. Autumn Nethery was named VP of operations at Jeptha Creed Distillery and Lisa Wicker was named director of distilling at Whiskey Thief Distilling. OH Ingram Distillery is now open to visitors, boasting the world’s only floating barge rickhouse on the river. Potter Jane announced its first aged whiskey, a sourced and vatted product they called “Big Vat Liar” after their promises to never source.
But in addition to the cutbacks at Green River and Bardstown Bourbon Company, there have been numerous scale-backs across the Commonwealth. Barrel Craft Spirits sold its newer facility and moved all its production back to the original facility. Jim Beam paused production at its Clermont distillery and is currently doing all production at its Boston Facility, the Booker Noe Plant. And Brown-Forman shuttered its cooperage after decades of operation.
But there’s still good news when it comes to tourism, which seems to have been largely unaffected by the economic downturn.
“Tourism is insulated from the production issues that are going on and the trade issues that are going on,” Gregory says. “I mean, we have not slowed down one iota of promoting the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the distilleries are all doing really cool things, especially with these new satellite tasting rooms. With the economy, a lot of people are scaling back on big travel plans, including international travel plans, and they’re staying close to home. Well, that helps us because we’re within a six-hour drive of most of the nation’s population. We have started to see tourists picking up from New York City and California and all places in between.”
A lot of those visitors are coming for festivals like the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, Bourbon & Beyond, the Bourbon Classic, and Bourbon on the Banks. New for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival this year is verified face-value ticket reselling, making buying and selling tickets to the event safer for everyone involved with no inflated secondary prices.
This year’s Kentucky Bourbon Festival marks the 35th edition, taking place between 10–13 September. As well as more than 60 distilleries being represented this year, there are also a number of events and experiences dedicated to education, cocktails, and cooking with bourbon.
Another major update to the Commonwealth’s repertoire is retail private barrel selections that are available to folks without any sort of store or bar affiliation. Kentucky Artisan, Whiskey Thief, Angel’s Envy, Buzzard’s Roost, and more are offering full barrels and sometimes even smaller barrels to fit various budgets.
“We’ve been talking for the past 10 years that we thought private barrel selections were going to be the future of tourism experiences,” Gregory explains. “I had gotten a call from the ABC during Covid saying that our private barrel selections were basically illegal, even though we’ve been doing them for 50 years. The term they used was ‘not grounded in statutory authority’, which meant there wasn’t a law. There wasn’t a law that allowed it, but there wasn’t a law that denied it. Kentucky alcohol law is written backwards. If it’s not expressly allowed, it’s prohibited. They were looking out for the best interest of the distilleries. So we changed a lot of laws on that, not only to legalise private barrel selections, but you can now start offering them through your gift shops and not having to go through the three-tier system for a portion of them.”
And that’s what keeps visitors coming back to Kentucky. Distilleries are always working to add new experiences and spaces for bourbon enthusiasts. Private barrels are just the tip of the iceberg.
“The distillers are constantly reinventing themselves to continue to attract new visitors and repeat visitors,” Gregory says. “I think Walter Zausch has really done a fantastic job, not only at his distillery in Frankfort, growing his own corn, and offering thieving from a barrel — he was the first one to do that and now that’s really caught on big. The Whiskey Thief tasting room in Louisville is unlike any other one. It stays open later at night. It features jazz nights. He’s really setting the bar for tourism in Louisville right now. On top of that, you’ve got distilleries that are doing more behind-the-scenes tours and exclusive tou
‘Good day for Scotland’: US lifts tariffs on Scotch
“This is a good day for Scotland,” said the country’s first minister, as the US officially returned to tariff-free trading for Scotch whisky.
US president Donald Trump announced Scotch whisky would be exempt from tariffs following King Charles III’s state visit in April this year.
The tariff was officially removed today (24 July).
Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, said: “The result is a ‘zero-for-zero’ tariff regime that is a win for Scotland and a win for the United States.
“It benefits businesses and workers on both sides of the Atlantic and not just among whisky producers but also the businesses and communities that support the sector across Scotland.
“This is a good day for Scotland.”
Export volumes of Scotch to the US fell by 15% between May and December 2025, following the introduction of a 10% tariff in April that year. By value, exports decreased by 7% during this period.
The US is Scotch whisky’s most valuable market and was worth £933 million (US$1.24bn) in 2025, according to the Scotch Whisky Association.
The trade body is among industry parties that have welcomed the development.
Ian Duddy, international director of the Scotch Whisky Association, commented: “The removal of tariffs provides greater confidence to invest, grow exports, and support jobs and communities across Scotland and the US.
“From Kentucky to Speyside, this will not only benefit the Scotch and US whisky sectors, but our wider supply chains of cooperages, farmers, hospitality and retail.
“This outcome is testament to the strength of the enduring relationship between the UK and the US. On behalf of the Scotch whisky industry, we are grateful to everyone who worked to make this happen, including His Majesty The King during his recent state visit.
“We look forward to building on this positive momentum and working with partners on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure Scotch whisky continues to thrive.”
Progress needed for other spirits categories
Pernod Ricard, owner of Scotch brands including The Glenlivet and Chivas Brothers, also celebrated the return to tariff-free trading.
Nodjame Fouad, CEO of Pernod Ricard’s aged spirits and Champagne division, noted: “This move will improve access for American consumers to iconic Scotch whiskies such as The Glenlivet, while supporting businesses at home, and strengthening the longstanding trading relationship between the UK and US spirits industries.
“We now hope to see further progress made towards the removal of tariffs affecting other spirits and wine categories – including Irish whiskey, Champagne and Cognac – to deliver benefits for consumers, producers and hospitality businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”
This sentiment was echoed on the other side of the Pond, with trade body the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (Discus) also encouraging the removal of tariffs for other spirits made in the EU.
Chris Swonger, president and CEO of Discus, added: “Lifting this tariff provides much-needed relief for US hospitality businesses and demonstrates the benefits of fair, reciprocal trade. It is a meaningful step toward restoring the zero-for-zero tariff framework that fuelled growth, investment and job creation throughout the spirits sector for decades.
“We look forward to working with the administration to build on this progress by extending tariff relief to other imported spirits, particularly those from the European Union, which would help reduce costs for restaurants, bars and other hospitality businesses across the country.”
Related news
UK government launches Scotch whisky inquiry
SCOTTISH First Minister John Swinney welcomed the lifting US tariffs on imports of Scottish whisky as a “significant benefit” today.
The 10 per cent levy began in April 2025 as part of a wave of tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, but after lobbying from UK and Scottish governments as well as US bourbon producers, who supply casks to Scottish distillers, it was agreed to lift the tax from Friday.
Welcoming the move, Mr Swinney told BBC Radio 4: “From today, there are no tariffs on Scotch whisky going to the United States, which is a significant benefit for the Scotch whisky industry.
“The industry was being harmed by the existence of tariffs from the United States.”
The Scotch Whisky Association’s Ian Duddy added: “As Scotch whisky’s most valuable global market, worth £933 million in 2025, the removal of tariffs provides greater confidence to invest, grow exports, and support jobs and communities across Scotland and the US.
“From Kentucky to Speyside, this will not only benefit the Scotch and US whisky sectors, but our wider supply chains of co-operages, farmers, hospitality and retail.”
Whisky Advocate / Whisky Magazine（經 Google News）｜原題：Succession plan: What happens after a master distiller leaves? - Whisky Magazine
Highland Park 新任首席威士忌製作大師 Marc Watson 接棒前任大師 Gordon Motion（27年資歷），引發威士忌產業對職位交接的深思。文章探討威士忌傳承的本質：不是單純的交棒，而是對累積決策、房屋風格與品質標準的守護。Watson 強調威士忌製作是團隊工作，他的角色是「園丁」——傾聽過去、保護核心系列的一致性，同時在新品開發中展現個人判斷。這種平衡的接棒方式，體現了威士忌產業如何在尊重傳統與創新之間找到出路。
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Scotch whisky is very good at pretending that nothing really changes. The warehouses sit where they always sat. The spirit still runs. The casks keep breathing quietly in the dark. Age statements, house styles, and familiar labels all give the impression of something close to permanence.
But people do leave. And in an era where distilleries have become increasingly comfortable putting a face, a title, and a personality at the centre of their story, that leaving matters. The master distiller, master blender, or master whisky maker is no longer only an internal guardian of quality. They are often a public reassurance. The person on the stage. The signature on the limited edition. The one drinkers trust, or think they trust, to keep the distillery itself intact.
Whisky does not turn on a press release. The casks in the warehouse do not know that a job title has changed hands. Releases planned years earlier still move towards bottling. New make laid down by one person may be assessed by another and finally selected by someone else entirely.
What changes is judgement. What changes is responsibility. What changes is the person now standing between
the inherited past and the not-yet-visible future.
At Highland Park, Marc Watson has recently stepped into one of the more interesting succession stories in Scotch. His predecessor, Gordon Motion, spent 27 years as master whisky maker for the Orkney distillery, helping to shape its modern identity through landmark releases including Highland Park 56 Year Old, the distillery’s first cask strength expressions, and countless decisions that most drinkers will never know about, but may well have tasted.
Watson came into the role with serious whisky-making credentials of his own, after work across brewing, distilling, blending, and new distillery development, including the Famous Grouse and Holyrood. But he does not talk like a man who thinks a new title makes a whisky suddenly his.
“Whisky of Highland Park’s age and quality doesn’t just belong to one moment or one person,” he says. “It’s cumulative. You’re always both the inheritor and the custodian.”
That word “cumulative” feels important. Succession in whisky is not a clean handover of a finished thing. It is a handover of work still in motion. The person arriving inherits casks, systems, wood policies, stock plans, habits, house style, internal memory, and consumer expectation. They also inherit decisions whose logic may have been formed years before they arrived.
Watson describes the job as emotional, not in a sentimental sense, but because the timescale makes it impossible to think only about yourself. “You’re making choices on behalf of the future,” he says. The whisky he works with today was laid down by others. The spirit he helps shape now will become somebody else’s inheritance.
That makes the manner of the handover matter. Watson had already worked near Motion during his time with the Famous Grouse before spending six months focused directly on Highland Park. There were files, records, stock notes, and what he describes, with affection, as an almost comically large handover spreadsheet. But the more valuable inheritance was less easily documented. It was watching how Motion thought.
Motion passed on “standards and patience and consistency and creativity all in the right measure”. He also left Watson with one sentence that still seems to sit at the centre of his decision-making: “If it’s not right, it doesn’t go in.”
Simple, yes. But perhaps that is why it matters. In whisky, where the pressures of stock, schedule, volume, and commercial expectation are always present somewhere, the inherited right to say no is not a small thing. “If you have to put the brakes on, if you have to go and find something else, if you’re not happy with it, it doesn’t go,” Watson says.
This is the less romantic side of succession, and probably the more important one. It is not only wisdom passed down in poetic phrases over drams. It is the practical discipline of slowing something down, rejecting a cask, protecting natural colour, defending flavour, and knowing when consistency is not boring but essential.
At the same time, Watson is careful to resist the idea that a distillery is ever the work of one person. That may be how the public story is often told, but it is not how whisky is made. He talks about the people malting barley, running the stills, managing production, planning stock, and assessing thousands of samples.
“No distillery is ultimately the work of one person alone,” he says. “The whisky in the glass is a result of a team and a process and a philosophy.”
This complicates the Succession-style fantasy of one powerful figure leaving the throne and another taking it. The title matters. The palate matters. The judgement matters. But the whisky is held up by something larger: accumulated craft, repeated decisions, and the quiet competence of people who may never appear in the
launch photography.
Still, the successor has to act. They cannot just admire the past. Watson talks about Highland Park as something rooted in Orkney: heathered peat, floor maltings, sherry-seasoned casks, natural colour, balance, texture, complexity, and a sense of place that is more than branding. His job is not to make Highland Park into something else, but nor is it simply to preserve it in amber.
“Style’s not accidental here,” he says. That may be one of the most useful ways to think about what a successor inherits. A house style is not merely a flavour profile. It is a chain of decisions, made deliberately and then remade, protected and adjusted, over time. The difficult part is knowing which parts can flex and which must not.
Watson draws a distinction between the core range and new product development. With the 12- and 18-year-old whiskies, his ideal is almost invisibility. “Ideally, people wouldn’t notice the difference between my 12-year-old and Gordon’s 12-year-old,” he says. That is not a lack of ambition. It is the ambition appropriate to that part of the job.
Elsewhere, there is more room to move. New releases allow him to explore the stocks, excite drinkers, and begin to show something of his own judgement. Even then, he is not looking for disruption for its own sake. Asked how he might leave his own mark without turning it into a thumbprint, he talks first about listening.
When asked whether he feels more like an author, an editor, or a custodian, Watson reaches for a different image altogether. “I see myself as a gardener,” he says. It is a lovely metaphor, and better than the grander language whisky can sometimes employ. A gardener does not invent the soil or the weather, and cannot hurry the old trees. But they are not passive either. They tend, prune, protect, experiment, and plant for a future they may not fully see.
For Watson, one personal contribution may be texture. Asked what he would hope Motion recognised as his work in a Highland Park five or ten years from now, he does not talk about revolution, a new era, or a dramatic stylistic turn. He says he would love Motion to taste it and think: “You really nailed the texture on that.”
Texture, Watson says, is too often overlooked. In Highland Park terms, he is interested in sweetness, syrup, unctuousness, heather honey, the way smoke, fruit, and cask influence gather in the mouth. It is a revealing answer. His authorship, at least as he describes it now, is not about shouting over the past. It is about finding one more way for the whisky to become itself.
Dr Rachel Barrie offers a very different kind of succession story. As master blender for Brown-Forman’s Scotch single malt distilleries — Benriach, the Glendronach and Glenglassaugh — she joined in 2017 after Brown-Forman acquired the BenRiach Distillery Company. The predecessor in that public story was Billy Walker, one of Scotch whisky’s most-respected modern figures, who had helped build the reputations of those distilleries before moving on to his next chapter at the Gle
In New York City, keeping tabs on the bars and restaurants that close is something akin to an endurance sport. Blink and you’ll miss the last night at one or the next. Some closures come with fanfare, like the looming shuttering of Donohue’s Steak House, a 76-year-old institution on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that’s everything you imagine a 1950s-era chop house might look like. (Dark-wood panelled walls; a menu of broiled fish, steak, baked meatloaf, and broiled fish on a chalkboard; a checkerboard-pattern floor; disorienting Renaissance-style font on all signage, etc.) Strangers still strike up conversation with strangers. A New York Times article — an obituary, of sorts — referred to it as “a museum of what bars used to be”.
That phrase is perfect. Most major American cities have a landmarks commission of one sort or another. New York’s is pretty strict. You can hardly change a doorknob on a historic building without getting approval first. I know that growth and evolution are the nature of a city, and living in one requires that you accommodate change. Often that’s for good. After all, nobody would tolerate a 150-year-old sewer system or a century-old subway system that constantly breaks down...oh, wait. Never mind.
But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how there are never efforts to preserve a business as you would a historical artifact. In the early 2000s, I lived in South Boston. It’s the area that’s as much a featured character in Good Will Hunting as Matt Damon’s Will Hunting. See also: The Departed, Black Mass, and The Town. In case you need reminding, Southie, as it’s affectionately known, is a historically Irish enclave where it feels like every local has a family member who went to the prom with notorious gangster Whitey Bulger’s sister. I came to that conclusion after years of hanging out in the neighbourhood’s many joints — lowkey places that take cues from old-timey Irish-countryside gathering spots, but are very much an American interpretation of them. They’re far more divey, thanks to a dependable patina of light grime that’s less gross than charming in an odd sort of way. Maybe it’s the remnants of evaporation of the decades of tears shed in the space — tears of joy as well as sadness. To scrub them clean would be to betray the institution’s identity. Tolerating the grit is part of the
nostalgic fascination.
And then, these watering holes started closing. Trendy Tequila bars and “contemporary American” farm-to-table restaurants opened, one by one. Shiny, boxy condo buildings went up. They tower over the lovingly worn triple-decker homes that remain — places where generations of babies took their first steps and countless holiday dinners were prepared. It felt as if the soul of the neighbourhood vanished. And nobody even held a proper funeral. At least those movies remain as an historical record. But as much as I mourn for each bar — for the people who lose their jobs and the locals who lose their favourite spot to escape their troubles for a minute — what I really grieve is the permanent loss of a style, of a genre of bar that we can never get back. You can’t create a dive. “Dive” is a judgement a customer makes, not a category. You can’t hire the bartender who calls everyone “hon” and tells stories of the circus-sideshow-calibre characters she served when she was a young barmaid and there was a punk club next door where the organic market now stands.
I know, I know — everything changes, nothing gold can stay, the only thing certain in life is death, yadda yadda. But what I love about this species of bar is that while so many people — especially journalists like myself who make a living spotting trends — are always on the lookout for what’s new and cool, old bars and restaurants are escapist retreats that feel designed for looking back, for feeding a nostalgia for the past, even for a time we never knew first hand, but only read or watched movies about. And watching Good Will Hunting is certainly not the same as pulling up a stool at a bar where the jukebox takes coins, the deceased live on in faded photos on the wall, and the bar wears the stains of spilt whisky.
In 1900, in Bonn, Germany, medical journals reported a survey of seven to eight-year-olds. Twenty-three per cent of children habitually drank liquor, and 8 per cent were given a breakfast shot of a “glass of spirits every morning by their parents so they might become strong”. It may seem alarming, by modern standards, that every day began with a fortifying morning dram. A habit dating back to the Late Renaissance.
After the Black Death pandemic killed almost half of Europe, strong liquor, especially compounded medical spirits, was increasingly desired as a daily preventive panacea or fortifying tonic, often supplemented with top-ups throughout the day. In 15th-century Germany, spirits were perceived as the universal ‘wonder drug’. Physician Michael von Schrick, in 1477, recommended half a spoonful of spirits every morning to prevent illness; his book was reprinted 14 times by 1500.
As urbanity and industrialisation drew populations together, poor sanitation and inadequate nutrition brought high mortality rates, along with recurring disease epidemics of smallpox, typhus, and cholera, which only encouraged the imbibing of preventative and curative nostrums. Compounding spirits with herbs, flavourings, and sweeteners became one of Europe’s principal medicines before the transition into recreational drinks.
Gaelic whisky first appeared as medicinal potions. Scottish King James IV, alchemist and “learned in the Arts of Medicine”, from 1494, sourced aqua vitae (malt spirit) from Lindores and Tungland abbeys, and from apothecaries in Dundee, Inverness, and Edinburgh to formulate elixirs and the illusory philosopher’s stone. Across the channel, Edmond Campion wrote in 1571 that inhabitants and newcomers in Ireland suffered from fevers, pains, and dysentery, “for remedy that they drank aqua vitae” (compounded uisge). In Britain and the colonies, whether in tropical climes or regions with pronounced seasonality, dread of illness drove consumption of distilled spirits. Other liquors were also increasing in strength, with higher-proof fortified wines (port and sherry), and the traditional home-brewed small beer (low alcohol) becoming commercially stronger (potent ales, porters, and IPAs).
The prevailing miasma theory maintained that putrid air spread disease by corrupting one’s humours. In Britain, it manifested as miasmic weather and smog in industrial cities and towns. In London in 1722, Frenchman de Saussure noted spirits were “necessary due to dampness of the atmosphere”. In Scotland, Charles Dickens wrote of the Scottish whisky toddy habit, “whisky at early morning, whisky at noon, whisky at eve.” In Barbados, Richard Ligon reported in 1649 that owners and their slaves needed a morning rum “comforter and refreshment” to prevent exhaustion. Six years earlier, the British Navy in the West Indies began issuing a morning shot of rum to sailors, while Mississippi boatmen drank proof whisky at breakfast, to relieve river stomach complaints. In colonial North America, by 1830, whisky was deemed “absolutely indispensable to man and boy” from morning till afternoon.
Western medicine was based on Galen’s doctrine of four cardinal humours, which upheld that alcohol restored balance, heat, and moisture to the body, counteracting excessive phlegm and black bile, to stabilise melancholy. At Edinburgh University, Dr John Brown, under his aggressive approach, prescribed strong, regular alcoholic drinks for immediate stimulatory effects in curing illnesses.
The 20th century delivered major advances in modern medicine, displacing unscientific methods and alcohol as therapeutic goods. Before whisky fell off its remedial pedestal, it had one last stand during US Prohibition, when doctors prescribed more than 145 million prescriptions of ‘Medicinal Spirits’. By the 1930s, alcohol was designated a drug; another morning drug, purine alkaloid, had superseded it. The depressant ethanol was displaced by a stimulating caffeine dose in the morning coffee, with espresso shots serving as the pick-me-up to seize the day. Carpe diem.
Whisky Advocate / Whisky Magazine（經 Google News）｜原題：News Notes: New Tariffs in U.S. Canada Trade Fight, The Latest On Uncle Nearest & More - Whisky Advocate｜僅標題
The Spirits Business｜原題：Port of Leith Distillery debuts canned Old Fashioned
愛丁堡Port of Leith Distillery旗下裝瓶廠Leith Bond推出Velvet Old Fashioned罐裝調酒，以該廠Table Whisky單一穀物蘇格蘭威士忌為基酒，混合Pedro Ximénez雪莉酒與少量鹽水調製。酒精濃度32% ABV，100毫升罐裝，建議零售價£6.50（約US$8.50）。此款新品可倒在冰上享用或直接從罐中飲用，是Port of Leith Distillery持續拓展RTD（即飲）產品線的最新動作。
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Port of Leith Distillery debuts canned Old Fashioned
Edinburgh’s Port of Leith Distillery has launched the Velvet Old Fashioned, a ready-to-serve (RTS) cocktail containing Table Whisky single grain Scotch.
The new RTS Old Fashioned from Leith Bond – Port of Leith Distillery’s blending and bottling arm – is available starting today (24 June) at the distillery shop and through selected retailers.
In addition to the bottler’s own single grain Table Whisky, the Velvet Old Fashioned contains sweet Pedro Ximénez Sherry and a small amount of saline.
It is presented at 32% ABV in 100ml cans with an RRP of £6.50 (US$8.50).
According to the brand, the Velvet Old Fashioned can be ‘poured over ice with an orange peel expressed over the top for the full experience or enjoyed straight from the can.’
Vaibhav Sood, head of whisky at Port of Leith Distillery, said: “The Old Fashioned is one of whisky’s great cocktails, and we wanted to bring it into the Table Whisky world without losing any of its character.
“Pairing our single grain with Pedro Ximénez sherry gives it this rich toffee, gingerbread and dark chocolate depth, with a finish that goes on for ages.
“Whether you’re pouring it properly over ice or cracking one open straight from the can, it’s ready when you are.”
The new release closely follows the launch of 100ml cans of Leith Bond’s Table Whisky earlier this month.
Table Whisky, which is also available in a 700ml bottle, is distilled in Edinburgh and matured in a combination of new oak and Sherry casks.
Hinting at potential future releases, Leith Bond has described Table Whisky as ‘the same whisky at the heart of every can and bottle in the range’.
Port of Leith Distillery opened to the public in October 2023. The site is set up to produce single malt whisky, the first casks of which should now be approaching the legal minimum age of three years.
The ready-to-drink (RTD) category continues to outperform spirits as a whole around the world, with spirits-based options leading growth.
NIQ reporting released in June showed sales of RTDs – which includes RTS canned and bottled cocktails, spirits and mixers in cans and hard seltzers – reached £704 million (US$937.6m) in the UK off-trade last year.
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Port of Leith Distillery launches Table Whisky cans
Bulleit creates Bourbon-rye blend
The newest core expression from Bulleit Frontier Whiskey is named ‘87 and marries both Bourbon and rye whiskeys.
The whiskey is named after the year Bulleit was founded, 1987, which the brand says was when it ‘first set out to do things differently’.
The release will join Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit 95 Rye in the brand’s core line-up and brings together the qualities of both spirits in one bottle.
Each whiskey component was developed specifically for its role in the blend. The Bourbon was distilled, barrelled, and aged in Shelbyville, Kentucky.
Meanwhile, the rye was distilled and aged in Indiana before heading to Shelbyville.
Both the Bourbon and rye elements are aged for a minimum of four years, finished separately in their original barrels with toasted American oak and French oak staves for four to six weeks, then blended together and bottled in Shelbyville.
“If I were to visualise it, it’s like a cake,” said whiskey R&D manager Phil Gelineau. “The Bourbon is your delicious sponge; the rye is like chocolate shavings on top; and the staves are the buttercream that brings it all together.”
The bottle features a blue label, a first for the brand, cut on its familiar slant.
“‘87 brings together everything that makes Bulleit great,” added Jenika Newsum, senior brand manager. “Bourbon and rye whiskey are at the heart of our brand since its founding and guide our philosophy to do things differently. Now, ’87 unites them in one special bottle, balancing our signature Bourbon sweetness with our rye spice in a bottle.”
As part of the product launch, Bulleit is taking the new whiskey on a sampling tour at events in 15 cities including New Orleans, Austin, New York, Los Angeles and Louisville. Each stop will feature Bulleit ‘87 paired with local foods.
Bulleit ‘87 is bottled at 45% ABV, with a suggested retail price of US$29.99 for a 750ml bottle, in line with the brand’s Bourbon and rye. It will be available at select retail stores in the US from September.
Last month, the American whiskey brand released its oldest rye, a 20-year-old.
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Sláinte whiskey eyes Ireland launch and RTDs
Backed by American actor Liev Schreiber, Sláinte Irish Whiskey has nationwide expansion in the US and more markets in sight, including Ireland, the brand’s co-founder tells us.
Sláinte Irish Whiskey was launched by Schreiber and UK native Richard Davies in 2022.
While Schreiber is known for his acting credits, Davies is the drinks veteran, having begun in the industry in 1995, serving as director of the Merlot Brasserie Group, helping a friend launch the Cheltenham Gin brand, and creating his own rum, Neptune, which he has since exited.
He will also launch a new gin brand, Posh Gin, in spring 2027, which he says has “tremendous potential and an immediate ability to stand out on the shelf”.
On choosing Irish whiskey as a project, and with a specific focus in the US, he notes that it was “once the number one brown spirit consumed in the US, not Bourbon.”
“Prohibition then happened, and obviously the shipping of Irish whiskey stopped, but the American consumers still wanted it and what the US producers did was produce substandard American whiskey during Prohibition and label it as ‘Irish whiskey’ to sell,” Davies tells The Spirits Business.
“The American palate got used to Irish whiskey being a substandard product and it wasn’t even Irish whiskey they were drinking.”
Davies says he’s always had a fascination with Ireland too; from its welcoming hospitality to his own family heritage with his grandmother from the country. He also notes that, in a previous life, he was a horse breeder, which frequently took him to Ireland.
“When I owned my bars and restaurants, it gave me the luxury of being able to breed racehorses, so I used to travel over to Ireland, go to Punchestown, and just experience horse racing there,” he recalls.
“On my first trip out there, I heard the amazing phrase ‘sláinte’ – what a bloody brilliant word – but I didn’t really understand the whole depth of the meaning.”
Regarding the brand’s name, he says: “Obviously on the surface it means ‘cheers’, but it means more than that; it’s wishing somebody the best, and a toast with people shouldn’t be a flippant thing, especially since Covid. It ties into our industry and what we are trying to achieve. The ultimate moment that any producer is trying to get is that ‘cheers’ moment.
“It’s the culmination of absolutely everything: the production, the juice, the bottle, the marketing, the sales team, the distribution and the consumer.”
US launch: ‘steady wins the race’ approach
After he left Neptune, Davies began planning Sláinte with Schreiber during Covid, which he says gave the pair a lot of time to map things out, designing the brand, building the infrastructure of the company, dealing with trademarks and more. “Covid did me a massive favour in that regard,” he says.
When travel restrictions eased, he moved to the US with Sláinte launching online in 2022. “It’s still a relatively young brand,” he says. “We are currently in seven states and we’ve approached this in a very cautious and creative way.”
He feels a lot of new brand owners “get hung up on this false glory of being in 10 or more states”, noting “it’s just false flattery” and many fail by “just going out there with a scattergun approach” and the immediate aim of being a national brand.
“You don’t have to launch in 20, 30, 40 states, you need to really strategically target where you go,” he says. Davies notes the team opted for a more targeted, or “steady wins the race” approach. “It’s a very robust, extremely focused model, and we went for strategic states where it’s not a California pay-to-play.”
After an initial online launch in September 2022, Sláinte landed in seven states in February 2023: Texas, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, California and Massachusetts.
Davies adds that the brand will launch in two more US states towards the end of the year, though does not identify which. “We’re very solid in our seven states at this moment in time,” he says. “More states are more expensive. We’re laser-focused on where we are, and it’s working well. Our growth is exponential every year, which is fantastic.”
Regarding distribution, he’s seen both sides of the coin in the UK and US, but sees the latter as “almost a four-tier system”, where “it’s the producer, the distributor, the retailer, and the consumer, so it’s pretty flawed.”
“What we do is we tend to stay away from the big boys,” he says, noting that they are “more interested in their top 20 brands.”
Park Street is both an importer and distributor for Sláinte in Texas, Florida, New York, and California. Alongside this, the brand also partners with Green Light Distribution in Texas and Florida, Martignetti Companies in Massachusetts, and Allied Beverage Group in New Jersey.
“We’ve gone with small- to mid-size distributors, who may not have an Irish whiskey and tend to work very closely with those guys. It’s about relationships. The ethos with us is we just like to go with the smaller hungry distributors, who you can actually work with. That’s extremely important.”
With Sláinte, Davies says: “It’s a small internal team and it’s just to stay focused and get those crucial accounts, the ABCs, the Total Wines, and just really help them sell our product.”
Davies says the company has raised approximately US$6 million to date in investments. “This has enabled us to accelerate both production and market penetration. We still have approximately US$5 million available within the current raise as we continue to scale.”
The brand has delivered strong year-on-year growth since its first shelf presence, with case volumes up 125% in 2024, compared with 2023, according to Davies. The brand then grew volumes by 25% in 2025.
The aim is to hit 50,000 cases, which he says “should be achievable in 2028”.
Targeting the cruise market
Davies believes new brands need to look outside the norm for growth, highlighting Sláinte’s partnership with cruise liner Princess Cruises as an example. “Princess doesn’t normally take on startup brands and I still consider us to be a startup, so having them as a key partner is a privilege,” he says.
The brand is poured on 17 of the Princess’s ships and is part of its Love Line Premium Liquors collection, available at all on-board bars, on the rocks, neat or in five signature cocktails such as a Sláinte Frozen Irish.
“A cruise ship contract is absolutely huge,” Davies says. “It’s a guaranteed volume too, so you can really plan off the back of that.
We started our Princess Cruises contract nearly two years ago (in August 2024) and that’s now a circa guaranteed amount of cases per year.”
“It’s surprising how many passengers go through those ships,” he continues. “It’s focused our online presence in the US as well, where if somebody enjoys Sláinte on the ships, but may not have it in their specific state, you can just go online and order through our e-commerce partners, so we’re finding the e-commerce sales are really starting to bounce very nicely.”
Building brands for third parties
Davies says Sláinte’s success saw him contacted by other brand owners who sought out his help. “Weirdly enough, launching Sláinte Irish Whiskey actually created another arm to our company.”
This led to the launch of Sláinte Brands International. “It’s a full design, creative and sales agency that I own,” Davies says. “I slot other brands into our network like an incubator. Relationships are formed, we have a great sales and marketing team, and it’s just about helping other brands.
“We’re about to help launch a mezcal. The US is a tough market to crack.”
“What I love is it just stretches that creativity I have,” Davies says of Sláinte Brands International. “We either build brands for third parties from the ground up, or these third-party established brands come to us and go: ‘look, we’re struggling, we’re in New York and we’ve got low sales, can you help? And I’m like: 100%.”
John Paul DeJoria is also a partner in Sláinte Brands International, who is perha
Boann creates Irish whiskey for M&S
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has partnered with Boann Distillery in Ireland to launch its own-label Irish whiskey brand, Stillness.
The whiskey was created following two years of close collaboration between M&S product developers and Boann’s team. There were multiple visits to Boann’s distillery in Lagavooren, on the outskirts of Drogheda, which involved on-site blending and tasting sessions until the final blend was agreed.
Stillness was made exclusively for M&S customers, and is now available in the grocer’s locations across Ireland and the UK.
Boann Distillery also supplies M&S’ Irish Cream Liqueur.
Family-run and based in the Boyne Valley, with two sites in County Meath and Tipperary that now employ more than 90 people, Boann was founded by the Cooney family, whose experience in the Irish drinks industry is said to span more than 60 years.
Peter Cooney, export sales director at Boann Distillery, said: “Working with M&S has pushed us in the best possible way. They’re meticulous, they’re demanding in all the right ways, and we absolutely love working with them.
“To see Stillness Irish Whiskey on M&S shelves after two years of development is an absolute honour.”
The River Boyne inspired the brand’s name and takes after the ‘stillness’ of an Irish winter solstice on the morning of 31 December 1967.
Boann distiller Gary Ring said it was “when Professor O’Kelly sat alone and silent in the inner chamber of Newgrange and made a discovery for the ages. The first person to witness the Newgrange winter solstice phenomenon in thousands of years”.
“The ‘stillness’ of the older-than-time deep eddy pools of the magical Boyne River. That held the Salmon of Knowledge for eons until captured by Finegas the Poet and Irish warrior hero Fionn MacCumhaill,” he continued.
“The ‘stillness’ of the mighty copper pot stills of Boann Distillery. On a dawn Solstice Sunrise just before they are charged into life, to create one of the World’s great single pot still whiskeys. Stillness, the one-time-only, sacred moment, just before discovery.”
The whiskey is a triple-cask blend bottled at 40% ABV and presented in a 700ml bottle.
Its tasting notes feature gentle vanilla and honeyed sweetness, balanced by soft oak and a warming finish. It is designed for both easy sipping and mixing.
Eddie Murphy, country director for M&S Ireland and Northern Ireland, added: “Stillness is a delicious addition to our spirits range and a real showcase of what Irish producers do best. Boann is a family business with deep roots in County Meath, and the great quality and craft that goes into every bottle really comes through.
“We’re proud to bring our customers a whiskey they can trust for both great taste and great value.”
In other Irish whiskey news, the country’s producers are being invited to submit their thoughts on the category’s geographical indication (GI).
In February last year, Boann made its debut in the US.
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Whisky Advocate / Whisky Magazine（經 Google News）｜原題：Opinion: Why whisky works as your summer companion - Whisky Magazine
Whisky Magazine 編輯打破威士忌只是冬日飲品的迷思，主張威士忌同樣適合夏天享用。他強調威士忌的多樣性——許多款式果香豐富，可調製成清爽雞尾酒，也能與冰淇淋等甜點完美搭配，匹配風味特徵即可找到最佳配對。本期雜誌並刊載波本威士忌特集、Laphroaig 與影星 Willem Dafoe 的合作故事，及培養業界新血的教育者專訪，鼓勵讀者在炎炎夏日也能盡情品飲威士忌。
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Show of hands — who spends the entire first half of the year complaining about the rain, only to then complain about the incessant heatwaves throughout the summer? Well, not me. I LOVE the rain and I HATE the heat. My disdain for the 30-plus-degrees heat is consistent, as is my adoration for cosy, rainy nights. If it wasn’t for the air conditioning unit in the office, I would be extremely grumpy from June to August. I long for the days of walking to work with an umbrella and six layers on.
The heat also changes our consumption habits. I no longer pour my wife a steaming hot mug of coffee in the morning, but instead a small glass of iced coffee. Warm apple crumble with custard is replaced by strawberries and cream. A warming dram of whisky instead becomes…
Hold that thought. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve been told that whisky is not a summer drink. Whether it’s a seasoned whisky connoisseur or a complete newbie, I’ve had conversations across all spectrums telling me that gin and rum is for the hot months, and that whisky takes a back seat. I had believed that, but over the last couple of years, I’ve suddenly realised that’s nothing more than a myth (sorry, Chris, for stepping on your mythbusting toes).
Whisky is so incredibly versatile. The perception is that whisky is a warm drink to nurse beside the fire and heat you up when you’re cold. But it doesn’t have to only be that. The selling point for the summer gin drinkers is that it’s refreshing, can be fruity, served with ice in a cocktail, and easy to sip. Guess what? There are thousands of fruity whiskies out there, and no matter what anybody tells you, whisky is great in a cocktail. Fittingly, inside these pages are a number of bourbon cocktail recipes, so if you’re looking for a place to start with refreshments and have a bourbon lying around at home, you’re in luck.
I also hold firm in my belief that no other spirit pairs as well with food as whisky does. In the summer sun, sitting in your garden with a bowl of vanilla ice cream, why not find a whisky to pair with it? I admit sometimes it can be really difficult to figure out what pairs well with what when it comes to food, but here’s a really quick, simplified tip: go for a flavour explosion and match the food with the notes of your favourite whisky. It’s not the most nuanced way to pair, but if you’re stuck for ideas, it’s incredible how reliably well that works. Since the summer months have me eating sweeter, more dessert-like treats, once again I’d look to bourbon for this. Going back to that bowl of vanilla ice cream, doubling down on the vanilla flavour profile with a bourbon will have you appreciating your choices.
Maggie Kimberl has written a brilliant feature analysing the current state of the Kentucky bourbon industry, so this should help keep you informed if you’re looking to broaden your bourbon horizons.
It’s not only bourbon in this issue. Inside these pages, you’ll also learn about a variety of industry leaders, whether it be brands, owners, or educators. Laphroaig has long been one of the standout brands on Islay, and I was lucky enough to have an incredible chat with senior whisky blender Sarah Dowling about the distillery’s collaboration with Willem Dafoe — an industry leader in his own right as one of Hollywood’s
most acclaimed actors of the past 30 years. Peter Ranscombe has interviewed Heriot-Watt’s Professor Dawn Maskell, who is training up the whisky industry’s next generation. I think we can all agree the teachers we’ve had in our lives have been some of the most outstanding leaders we remember.
My hope is now you’ll see me as some kind of leader of the “it’s okay to drink whisky in the summer” movement. If any of your friends or family tell you otherwise, make sure they know that the editor of Whisky Magazine said it’s acceptable. But don’t get me wrong — while whisky on the rocks with a side of ice cream is certainly making the heatwaves tolerable, I’m counting down the months until the rain is pouring down again, and I no longer require a hand fan everywhere I go.