DramMaster Daily Whisky News — 23 August 2026

By Murray

Scotch Giant Ian Macleod Bets Rs 200 Crore on Indian Single Malt

Ian Macleod, the world's tenth-largest Scotch whisky company and maker of Glengoyne, Tamdhu, and Rosebank, has built its first distillery outside Scotland in Una, Himachal Pradesh. The company has invested approximately Rs 200 crore (around £19 million) in the facility, which has an annual production capacity of 1.5 million litres.

The distillery has been running since March 2024, with more than 2.1 million litres of spirit currently maturing in casks. Its first single malt, named Una Himalayan, is scheduled to launch around August 2027. Production follows Scotch whisky regulations despite India's looser standards, to ensure the whisky qualifies for global export.

Leonard Russell, Managing Director and owner of Ian Macleod, told Firstpost: "I would like our distillery to be the Rolls-Royce of Indian whiskies — the Macallan of single malts of India." The copper stills were made in Scotland, but the distillery is otherwise built in India. Russell described the whisky as "unapologetically Indian."

Murray's take: A Scottish company building a distillery in India to make Indian single malt tells you where the category is headed. Russell's line about wanting Una to be "the Macallan of Indian single malts" is the kind of ambition that either delivers or ages badly. With 2.1 million litres maturing, he's committed. The 2027 launch gives him time to get the liquid right.

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Trump's 50% Tariffs on Canada Take Effect — Whisky in the Crossfire

President Trump's 50% tariffs on roughly $28 billion of Canadian goods took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday, 22 August, after trade talks collapsed. The tariff list includes whisky, vodka, gin, rum, beer, and wine, alongside dairy, honey, and hockey equipment.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade talks, calling the U.S. terms "unfair" and "uneconomic," and announced dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs effective 8 September, targeting steel, dairy, appliances, pulp and paper, and electronics.

Spirits Canada CEO Cal Bricker described the tariffs as an "existential threat" to the country's distilling industry, which exports about $945 million of spirits to the U.S. each year — roughly half of Canada's $2 billion total liquor production. Canadian whisky exports to the U.S. accounted for approximately $311 million in 2025.

Murray's take: A 50% tariff on Canadian whisky raises shelf prices in the U.S. and hands an advantage to every other whisky-producing country. Crown Royal, Pike Creek, and Lot 40 don't have a substitute market the size of the U.S. overnight. The retaliatory tariffs on American spirits entering Canada compound the damage on both sides. Nobody wins a trade war in whisky.

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World's First Community-Owned Distillery Warns of Uncertain Future

GlenWyvis Distillery, near Dingwall in the Highlands, has told its nearly 4,000 community members that "significant new investment" is needed to secure the business's future. The distillery, founded in 2015 as the world's first fully community-owned operation, reported losses of £292,000 for 2025.

A combination of rising production costs, a prolonged downturn across the whisky industry, and long-running legal disputes with its landlord has placed sustained pressure on the business. Production has been paused since the summer maintenance programme, with no restart date confirmed.

The management committee told members: "If new investment cannot be secured, we may need to consider alternative arrangements for the distillery's future." The distillery remains open for sales, with a new Highland Legacy Series whisky release scheduled for early autumn and a refreshed gin launching imminently.

Murray's take: Community ownership is a beautiful idea that still has to pay its bills. GlenWyvis was always going to be vulnerable: a small distillery with no parent company, maturing its first 10-year-old stock while burning cash on legal disputes with its own landlord. The £292,000 loss on a community-funded operation is the kind of number that focuses minds. Whether external investors can be found without losing the community ethos is the real question.

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Irish Whiskey's Revival: From Three Distilleries to Nearly 50

Irish whiskey's resurgence has reached a milestone: almost 50 distilleries now operate across Ireland, up from just three or four two decades ago. In the 1980s, only Midleton in County Cork and Bushmills in Antrim produced all Irish whiskey.

Barry Chandler, a whiskey educator and founder of the Three Drams subscription club, has become one of the category's most visible ambassadors. During Covid lockdowns, his weekly livestreams drew upwards of 4,000 viewers over 63 consecutive weeks, building a global community around Irish whiskey, music, and storytelling.

Chandler is hosting "Stories from Sea to Still" on 29 August aboard the Stena Estrid ferry from Dublin Port, in partnership with Stena Line. The event will combine whiskey tastings with maritime history, reflecting the role of sea trade in shaping Irish whiskey.

"The industry knows if one bad apple spoils the lot, everybody suffers," Chandler said. "There's great camaraderie between distilleries and the larger producers will even help smaller distilleries get up and running."

Murray's take: From two distilleries to nearly 50 in a generation is the fastest rebuild in whisky history. The camaraderie Chandler describes is real. Irish distilleries actively cooperate in a way Scottish distilleries rarely do. Whether the category can sustain 50 producers without quality dilution is the next question. But for now, the revival is the story.

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Loch Lomond Golden Ticket Raises £14,230 for Golf Charity

Loch Lomond Whiskies raised £14,230 for The R&A Foundation through its Golden Ticket campaign at The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale and the AIG Women's Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Golf fans purchased 1,423 tickets at £10 each, with 100% of proceeds donated.

One winner, Andrew from Liverpool, took home one of only 100 bottles worldwide of Loch Lomond 50-Year-Old single malt, valued at £25,000. The whisky was distilled using Loch Lomond's distinctive Straight Neck Stills and matured for half a century in first-fill Bourbon and Oloroso Sherry casks. Each bottle is individually numbered.

Andrew Jack, Group Marketing Director at Loch Lomond Group, said: "Selling 1,423 tickets and raising £14,230 for The R&A Foundation is a fantastic result and demonstrates what can be achieved when we bring together our passion for whisky with our long-standing commitment to golf."

Loch Lomond serves as the official spirit of The Open, the oldest of golf's four major championships, first played in 1860.

Murray's take: £10 a ticket for a shot at a £25,000 bottle works because the maths is honest: 1,423 tickets, one winner, all proceeds to charity. The 50-year-old Loch Lomond is genuinely rare at 100 bottles. The partnership with The Open gives Loch Lomond a visibility platform that most distilleries can't buy. Smart marketing, real whisky, clean charity.

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