Numerous visitor experiences across Scotland have seen multimiliion pound investments in recent years, transforming the whiskey tour for a new generation
When John Laurie used to hear the words ‘whisky’ and ‘tourism’ uttered in the same breath, it conjured images of perfunctory distillery tours with a swift exit through a gift shop laden with predictable trinkets. “It was all shortbread tins, bagpipers and tartan,” he says.The Glenturret
But when The Glenturret was put up for sale in 2018, Laurie spied an opportunity. Aware of a bubbling demand for a more evolved, higher-end experience, he took advantage of a buyout in 2019 by Swiss luxury goods company the Lalique Group. “There’s been this big shift from a time where distilleries were operational plants that maybe had a visitor centre plonked on top, if there even was one, to now, where they’re being designed around the visitor experience,” says Blair Bowman, a prominent, Edinburgh-based whisky writer, consultant and broker.
“There’s a lot more interaction than there used to be,” Bowman tells me, from his home in Edinburgh. “It used to be a bit boring — you’d watch a little video, go on your tour and get your whisky at the end, and that was about it.”Photograph by Abel, Getty ImagesBowman likens the trade today to a distilled version of a pilgrimage, where devotees from all over the world pay homage to whisky in what’s also, quite conveniently, one of the most beautiful regions of Europe.
Anecdotal evidence since the great reopening suggests the investment is paying off, as visitors flock once more to Scotland. A lot of the money is being focused on broadening the market to appeal to younger would-be whisky drinkers, and create a generational, as well as geographical, gateway to the distilleries.
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