Edrington’s leading blended Scotch whisky brand, The Famous Grouse, is being sold to William Grant & Sons for an undisclosed amount. The deal, which still… Read More ..read more

Campari Group has acquired a 14.6% stake in the owner of Scotland’s Bunnahabhain, Deanston, and Tobermory distilleries for $92 million. The Italian company bought the… Read More ..read more

Craft distillers are not immune to the problems facing the larger spirits industry, as a new report from the American Craft Spirits Association and Park… Read More ..read more

25 years after a group of friends decided to get into the whisky business during an apres-ski hot tub party, Sweden’s Mackmyra Distillery has filed… Read More ..read more

Pernod Ricard, the number-two spirits company, is creating a new unit to manage its North American Whiskey brands and production. Veteran Pernod Ricard executive Richard Black will head up the new company, to be called North American Distillers. The company will exist within Pernod Ricard much as the Chivas Brothers and Irish Distillers units operate, with responsibility for both production and marketing of the Pernod Ricard North American portfolio. Until now, Jefferson’s Bourbon, Smooth Ambler, Rabbit Hole, Skrewball, and TX Whiskey had operated independently of each other within Pernod Rica ..read more

The Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2024, including the recipient of the Parker Beam Lifetime Achievement Award. New Riff Distilling founder Ken Lewis is this year’s honoree, not only for establishing New Riff ten years ago, but for his longtime ownership of The Party Source liquor megastore in Newport, Kentucky. Lewis was at the forefront of pushing for legislative changes to allow Sunday liquor sales in Kentucky, along with allowing credit card sales as well. The inductees also include 93-year-old Elmer Lucille Allen, the first Black chemist at Brown-Forman and a tra ..read more

After more than a decade of work, plans are now in place to revive the long-closed Dallas Dhu Distillery in Speyside. The distillery has been operated as a museum by Historic Environment Scotland for the last three decades after it closed in 1983, and the traditional distilling equipment remains intact to this day. Aceo Distillers Company Limited has been selected to oversee the restoration of Dallas Dhu, which will begin with reviving the distillery’s bonded warehouses, and eventually reintroduce traditional whisky production while retaining the distillery’s status as a historic site. “The Ac ..read more

Despite a 2.7% decline in sales during 2023, Diageo’s Johnnie Walker brand continued to lead by a wide margin among Scotch Whisky brands, according to the new Spirits Business Brand Champions report. With 22.1 million 9-liter cases sold worldwide, Johnnie Walker outpaced its nearest competitor, Ballantine’s, by nearly a 3-to-1 ratio. Chivas Regal, Grant’s, and Bacardi’s William Lawson blend round out the top five best-selling Scotch brands, while Glenfiddich continues to lead the single malt Scotch category with a 6.2% increase in sales to 1.7 million cases. The figures show the continued stre ..read more

Campari has completed work on an upgraded visitors center at the Wild Turkey Distillery campus in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, and named it in honor of longtime master distiller Jimmy Russell. The move comes as Russell celebrates his 70th year at the distillery, after coming on board as an apprentice in 1954. The Jimmy Russell Wild Turkey Experience features an outdoor pavilion and bar suitable for events and special occasions, along with two new tasting rooms and the Generations lounge, which honors the three generations of Russells working at Wild Turkey. “For our family, this isn’t just a place ..read more

After a career spanning 63 years in the Scotch whisky industry, longtime Glen Grant master distiller Dennis Malcolm OBE will retire at the end of next month. He will be succeeded by veteran Glen Grant distillery director Greig Stables effective July 1. Malcolm began his career at age 16 as an apprentice cooper at Glen Grant, where both his father and grandfather worked, and where he was born on the distillery grounds. He worked his way up to become Glen Grant’s distillery manager before leaving to manage several other distilleries around Scotland, but returned in 2006 when Campari acquired the ..read more