Scotland's distillery boom

Over the last few years the total number of distilleries in Scotland has seen a significant increase, with lots of new whisky and gin distilleries starting up. At the latest count there are now 131 whisky distilleries (up from 90 in 2010) and 50 gin distilleries operating in Scotland, with even more scheduled to open in 2018 and beyond. Britain is experiencing a major resurgence in gin drinking, with sales of gin in Britain forecast to overtake sales of whisky by 2020.

Lindores Abbey distillery

Many of the new whisky distilleries are also producing gin, in order to make them economically viable, as gin can be sold more quickly than whisky once it's made, because it doesn't need to be matured for years in the same way as whisky before it can be sold.

Most of these new distilleries are small scale craft type operations, with quite a few set up by enthusiasts or farmers looking to diversify, although some large scale whisky distilleries have also been set up by the major producers. Some of the new small whisky distilleries have also incorporated a visitor centre right from the start of their operation, so visitors are able to see the production process, although not as yet taste the product.

I intend to visit as many of these new distilleries as I can in 2018, to check them out in order to assess whether they would be of interest to my tour clients. I'm pretty sure that it would be interesting for visitors, especially whisky enthusiasts, to compare an established distillery with one of the newer ones.