On the western peninsula of the Isle of Islay, the Bruichladdich distillery sits on the idyllic shores of Loch Indaal. As the sun reflects off the water on a balmy summer afternoon a number of foreign tourists make their way into the reception to sample single malts and begin a tour of the vibrant distillery.

Simon Coughlin, CEO and founding member of Bruichladdich, sits in his office above the gift shop pondering Britain’s membership of the European Union and worries what the future will hold for the business.

“It was similar when we talked about the independence vote. I felt very strongly that just at the time when this business was motoring in the right direction, the thought of throwing some huge dollop of uncertainty at it, concerned me greatly.”

As a major exporter of whisky, Bruichladdich rely on the EU not only as a market for their goods but as a trading bloc who have implemented agreements with other nations around the world.

Currently the USA is their biggest market and they have significant custom in Canada and Taiwan, amongst others. The EU only accounts for 30% of their exports and the UK domestic market 5%. Therefore, the external trading agreements that the EU has in place with these other nations are hugely important.

“I’m sure being part of it helps our position in terms of negotiating things, you know it’s one negotiation as opposed to 10 or 20 or 30 or 50 individual ones or whatever it is that we’re going to have to make. People are not going to stop trading with the UK if it leaves but it may be harder and it’s going to take time.”

Coughlin, 54, a former wine merchant, admits that leaving the EU “scares me a bit, scares me for this business”. Despite this, he acknowledges that the EU is not perfect yet reaffirms his commitment to it.

“There’s lots of things [in the EU] that we’d like to do better or we think are broken and need fixing,” he admits, “and we should still work to do those things as part of the EU rather than throwing our toys out the pram.”

Although he thinks the UK could eventually prove to be a success out of the EU, his belief is that Bruichladdich will continue to thrive within the union.

“The UK is a very, very strong group of countries that has been very successful in the past and will continue to be successful, but right today, I absolutely vote to stay in.”

The fortune of the whisky industry has significant repercussions for the Islay economy. The Southern Hebridean island has a population of around 3,200 people and the whisky industry is the second largest source of jobs. Bruichladdich alone employ 73 people and at least ten local farmers grow barley for the distillery. As one of 8 distilleries on the island, the importance of the industry is apparent.

With annual exports worth £4 billion, the importance of Scotch whisky to the overall UK economy is equally stark. As the industry only imports around £200 million worth of goods, it contributes significantly to reducing the UK trade deficit.

The importance of the industry to the Scottish economy is underlined by the fact it supports around 36,800 jobs, 7,000 of which are employed in rural communities, including Islay.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), of whom all the distilleries on the island are members, with the exception of Bruichladdich, have firmly stated their commitment to remaining in the EU.

David Williamson, SWA public affairs director, said: “SWA members are clear just how important it is for the UK to remain part of the European Union. The EU’s single market, including its regulation of food and drink, and its single trade policy, are central to Scotch Whisky’s success. The single market lets us trade across the EU simply and easily. The EU's weight and expertise in international trade helps give us fair access to overseas markets through the agreements it is able to negotiate with third countries. And of course the protection of the Scotch Whisky geographical indication is rooted in European law. In all these areas British influence can shape the rules in a way that supports industry jobs and growth.”

One of the Islay distilleries that is a member of the SWA is Kilchoman. Whisky distillation on Islay has been ongoing continuously since the 18th century and the earliest record of a legal distillery dates back to 1779. Kilchoman by contrast only started in 2005.

A six mile drive from Bruichladdich, Kilchoman Distillery is positioned in the heart of the Rinns of Islay surrounded by lush farmland upon which they grow their own barley.

The only independent distillery remaining on the island, they have invested heavily in the local community and employ 26 people.

Anthony Wills, the founder and managing director of the distillery, has reservations about the EU but he remains committed to continuing as part of the union.

“Personally I have views about the EU that I don’t like a lot about, the bureaucracy being one thing and not being in complete control, but for the business point of view, it’s pretty important for us to remain in.”

Like Bruichladdich, the export market is vital to the success of Kilchoman and the strength of the EU as a single trading bloc is hugely significant.

“Over 90% of what we produce in Scotland, whisky, is exported and therefore you can understand how concerned maybe the industry is if we came out of the EU and having to then renegotiate all sorts of agreements around the world and having a very small voice when trying to do that.

“Now you can argue that we have a very strong economy, we’re the fifth largest economy in the world, but we still have to start from zero again and I think that would be a big issue and a big, big concern for us as a major exporter.”

The Bristolian, who has been in Scotland for 22 years and Islay for 12, accepts that the demand for whisky will remain high regardless of Britain’s membership of the EU but worries that it will incur greater costs for his business.

“I think the thing for me is that as a whisky distiller I feel comfortable with the arrangements we’ve got in place. If I’m looking purely as a business then I see the hurdles that will be put in our place and it’s more bureaucracy and more red tape probably than we’re getting already, which is a strange thing to say, but it probably will be the case because we’ll have to have agreements with every country that we deal with and I don’t think they’ll make life particularly easy for us.”

When asked if he thinks the views of the whisky industry will influence the vote, the 59 year old suggested it should for those who are part of the island community.

“We’re a private company and I’m not looking to sway how people vote here, that’s an individual decision... I think though if you’re involved in the industry and you want the industry to thrive then you should be considering voting Yes [to remain] so that we continue in the way we have done. I would like to think that most people in the Scotch whisky industry would want to continue with being part of the EU.”

Brian Palmer, who works for the The Ileach, the independent newspaper for Islay and Jura, is not convinced that the distilleries will affect the vote, however. A more likely influence on the voting intentions of the islanders, he suggested, is the SNP’s viewpoint.

“The fact that Michael Russell is our MSP would tend to suggest there’s a reasonably heavy SNP influence. If [the islanders] are as SNP here as they purport to be then they would probably not want to come out [of the EU] on the basis that the SNP said they didn’t.”

One area of the debate which should influence voters is the effect a Brexit may have on tourism. During the Islay Whisky Festival, for example, it is alleged that the population of the island trebles bringing significant revenue to the island.

Ishbel Capper, a director of Islay Ales, the only brewery on the island, worries that leaving the EU would reduce the number of visitors to the island and have an adverse impact on their business.

“A lot of our market, and why we’re going into Europe, is because of the tourism market here. It’s through [the tourists] that we get these leads and we go into export and it’s easy for people from the continent to come and visit us and understand what we’re doing and think about having it imported into their countries.”

Capper, who is committed to remaining in the EU, is concerned that leaving would result in the end of unrestricted European travel.

“Will they come in the same quantities, the Swedes and the Scandinavians and the people from Germany and France and Italy who visit us now? It would have a huge impact on the island as a whole, not just on us, if it started to affect the tourism market. It would certainly make a big difference to this business if it affected the tourism business."