NOT STANDING STILL

Few spirits match Scotch whisky’s heritage – distilleries have honed their craft over decades and, in some cases, centuries. Now, new whisky makers are springing up throughout Scotland, with the wee players forging a path that sets them apart from the larger labels.

Inspired by 1990s pioneer Isle of Arran distillery and North America’s craft brewing and craft distilling revolutions in the noughties, British craft distillers started their own movement – but first, they had to campaign for the authorities to issue distillers’ licences for equipment below a capacity of 1,800 litres, a threshold originally implemented in the 19th century to prevent small-batch bootleg production. The first