FROM THE BARLIST JOURNAL
Distilleries & Producers
In the early 1800s, the Livet valley already had a whisky reputation before it had legal certainty. Small Highland stills operated through geography, local protection, taxation pressure, and rural necessity. Whisky from the Glenlivet area was known beyond the valley, but much of the system that produced it remained outside formal law. The turning point […]
June 6, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
Few Scotch whisky distilleries have experienced a history as uncertain as Ardbeg Distillery. Today, Ardbeg stands among the most recognisable names in heavily peated whisky, celebrated for expressions such as Ardbeg 10 Years Old, Ardbeg Uigeadail, and Ardbeg Corryvreckan. Yet the distillery’s modern success was far from inevitable. Between the early 1980s and the late […]
June 1, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
Before Speyside became a defined whisky region, distillation across the area existed in fragments. It was local, often unlicensed, and tied closely to farm life. At Cardow, near Archiestown in Moray, whisky production began in 1811, when John and Helen Cumming started distilling on their land. By the time Cardhu Distillery was formally established in […]
May 31, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
A distillery in Raisio does not begin with history. It begins with decisions. Founded in 2021, Turku Distillery Ltd. stands just outside Turku in southwest Finland, in a region better known for agriculture and industry than for spirits. There is no inherited lineage of stills or warehouses here, no long arc of distillation to draw […]
May 29, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
There is a point on the Tasman Peninsula where the land gives way almost entirely to the ocean. At 43 degrees south, the air has travelled uninterrupted across the Southern Ocean before reaching the coast. It is here that McHenry Distillery was established in 2010 by Bill and Alison McHenry, creating what is widely regarded […]
May 27, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
Whisky has long evolved gradually, shaped by production methods, ownership, and long-term decision-making. Over the past decade, a quieter structural shift has emerged as female founders in the whisky distillation and modern distillery model. Women now hold leadership roles in roughly 20 to 30 per cent of US craft distilleries, with growing influence in new […]
April 14, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
Long before a spirit carries a name, an age statement, or a cask history, it exists as water moving through rock. In the Livet Valley in Speyside, that movement defines the beginning of one of Scotch whisky’s most consistent production systems. The Glenlivet distillery primarily uses water from Josie’s Well for its whisky production. While Speyside Glenlivet was […]
April 13, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
Ron Zacapa is not simply a rum produced by a distillery. It is the outcome of a carefully engineered system built across decades, shaped by industrial consolidation, agricultural design, and a deliberate approach to blending that redefined how premium rum could be understood. At the center of this system stands Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala, a […]
April 12, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
Behind the fermenters at Hampden Estate, the ground holds part of the distillery’s production logic. Open dunder pits sit exposed to heat and time, filled with the residue of previous distillations. This material is not discarded. It is allowed to decompose, acidify, and evolve before being reintroduced into new fermentations. In most modern distilleries, each […]
April 10, 2026
