Featured Distilleries
Aberargie Distillery
Aberargie is a farm-based single malt distillery near Perth in Perthshire, Scotland. Built by the Morrison family on their 300-acre farm at Aberargie, it began production in autumn 2017 as a barley-to...
Aberfeldy Distillery
The original John Dewer was born on a croft near Aberfeldy in 1806 and started work in the wine trade by 22. Thereafter the family began blending whisky and eventually founded their own distillery at ...
Aberlour Distillery
Aberlour derives its name from the pretty Speyside village of Aberlour, or Charlestown of Aberlour, as it is more formally but far less commonly known. The current Aberlour distillery was originally f...
Whisky has killed more men than bullets, but most men would rather be full of whisky than bullets
--Winston Churchill
News
Bowmore and Laphroaig Merge Operations
Suntory Global Spirits has announced operational changes at its Islay distilleries Bowmore and Laphroaig, merging production teams across both sites while retaining separate management structures to p...
Karen Gillan Becomes the Face of Compass Box Hedonism 2026
Karen Gillan has been revealed as The Muse for Compass Box Hedonism 2026, the latest limited annual release from the Scotch whiskymaker. The Inverness-born actor and filmmaker appears in a new artwork...
View Karen Gillan Becomes the Face of Compass Box Hedonism 2026
Glendronach distillery expansion blocked after SSEN objection
Aberdeenshire Council has refused planning permission for two new whisky warehouses and associated infrastructure at the Glendronach Distillery near Forgue, Huntly. The Benriach Distillery Company sai...
View Glendronach distillery expansion blocked after SSEN objection
Latest Articles
What is a mash filter?
Published 26/06/2026
Start here if you are comparing equipment choices. For the milling side of the story, read Porteus & Boby malt mills. For the wider sequence, see Whisky production and Mashing. First: a mash filter is not distillation A mash filter belongs to the mashing stage of whisky production. It sits between milling and fermentation: Milling - malt is turned into grist Mashing - hot water converts starches and dissolves sugars Mash filter or mash tun - sweet wort is separated from the solids Fermentation Distillation So if someone talks about a mash filter, they are talking about wort separation, not about the stills.
What is a mash filter?
Slàinte Mhath - Pronunciation, Definition & Meaning
Published 19/11/2025
The Scottish Gaelic language (Gàidhlig) is one of the Celtic languages. Today it’s used mainly in the Hebrides, parts of the Highlands, and pockets of Glasgow. It’s closely related to Irish (Gaeilge) and Manx (Gaelg). Along with English and Scots, Gaelic is one of the official languages of Scotland. Spend any time around Scotch whisky and you’ll hear the toast Slàinte mhath sooner or later. In everyday British life, the old Gaelic term was largely replaced by a cheerful cheers. However, the traditional Scottish cheers continues to enjoy great popularity at Burns Nights, tastings, distillery tours and other whisky events - and reliably ensures twisted tongues.
Slàinte Mhath - Pronunciation, Definition & Meaning
Spirit caramel (E150a) in whisky
Published 18/11/2025
Most Scotch, and many Irish whiskies, are coloured with E150a (often called spirit caramel or plain caramel). This isn’t limited to blends-plenty of single malts use it too-making caramel colour one of the most debated topics among whisky fans alongside No Age Statement releases and chill-filtration. Within the caramel-colour family (E150a-d), E150a is Class I “plain caramel”-produced by heating sugars without ammonia or sulfites. Why are whiskies coloured? Whiskies are generally coloured for 2 reasons, for normalisation between batches and for marketing reasons. The former is known as colouring for normalisation and while not especially popular among hardcore whisky fans it is not intended to be deceptive. However whiskies are also coloured for cosmetic reasons, in part because darker whiskies are percieved as as older.
Spirit caramel (E150a) in whiskyUisge Beatha
What Is a Whisky Bonder?
A whisky bonder is a merchant or independent specialist who sources new-make or young spirit from distilleries, matures it in their own casks, and blends and bottles proprietary expressions. Historica...
How Geographic Indications Protect Scotch Whisky
Whisky benefits from Geographical Indication (GI) protection because a GI legally restricts the use of the term “Scotch whisky” to spirit that is produced, distilled, and matured in Scotland according...
Why Whisky Comes in Glass Bottles
Whisky is packaged in glass because glass is chemically inert and suitable for long-term storage of high-proof alcohol without leaching, corrosion, or flavour alteration. High-strength spirits can rea...
More Distilleries
West Cork
The West Cork Distillers were founded in 2008 by three friends with the intention of reproducing the true Irish whiskey character through West Cork, distilling the best spirits in the world and then a...
Willowbank
The distillery with fivenames! Sometimes known as Willowbank, Wilson’s, Dunedin, Lammerlaw and more recently Milford. Distillation began in 1969 when the farm distillery was know as Willowbank Distill...
Royal Oak
Royal Oak distillery began its life as Walsh whisky distillery in 2013 with Italian drinks company Illva Saronno making a major investment to help fund the €25 million ($34.1 million USD) construction...