I feel somewhat bemused at the number of new distillery projects, either underway or in the planning stages which are taking place right now across the length and breadth of Scotland and, to an extent Ireland as well.

Whisky can be made in almost any country you can think of, so is not the preserve of only the northern hemisphere. And we would do well to heed that fact. Indeed some of the best whisky I have tasted during my long(ish) association with this industry did not come from this part of the world, but from other far flung countries.

Naturally, when something (a distillery investment perhaps ?) looks attractive, people will follow that attraction possibly to end up with next to nothing…Broke comes to mind.

It reminds me of certain other fads throughout history, where it was assumed that fortunes were to be made.

Out of all of the new projects, experience says that only a small percentage will be truly successful, which of course is identical to anything in life. Not everyone or everything is destined to be a “Howling Success” it just does not happen.

If even some of the today’s projects “Get off The Ground”  in the next 12 months or so, and in addition the Big Players’ increase production, it looks like that there could be a lot of whisky hitting 3 & 4 Y/O around about the same time.

That just might be the “Litmus Test” as to the ongoing durability of the industry, or at least part of it.

After all it is not so long ago that none other than the mighty Diageo, were closing down distilleries as fast as they could.

John