As the nation debates whether or not to leave the UK, its most iconic industry is on a bender," declared the FT in January last year.

While the first issue has been resolved, the industry in question - whisky - is still partying hard.

With strong demand forecast, Scottish distilleries are pumping out spirit as never before. Fingers crossed in four or five years' time casks will be disgorged for bottling as fast as they are being filled today.

Unlike gin and vodka, which can be sold almost straight from the still, the time lag makes whisky one of the toughest drinks to break into for a new distiller. Yet these past 12 months have seen an unprecedented number of whisky distilleries in the pipeline from the Borders to Thurso.

One that has progressed further than most is the new distillery on Harris founded by Anderson Bakewell, a tycoon with an "abiding love for the place", says managing director, Simon Erlanger. Building work is well under way at Tarbert, and within months the copper stills will arrive from Italy.

It calls itself a social distillery with everything distilled, matured and bottled on the island to create the maximum employment. "The population of Harris has halved in the last 50 years as the young migrate to the mainland," Erlanger says, "so you've got a fragile economy."

So far the biggest challenge has been finance. In 2012 Erlanger applied for a new development grant and was nervous when he got the message to ring the government office responsible. "It was 4pm on the Friday just before Christmas, so I had a dram then made the call."

The hefty £1.9 million grant was the catalyst for raising the full £10m. It means the first legal distillery on Harris is fast becoming a reality. Two weeks ago it began recruiting, and hopes to provide 20 jobs by the time the stills are fired up next year. Eventually some 300,000 bottles a year of The Hearach single malt will be released, but early birds can secure a cask of the first filling. Visit harrisdistillery.com