The seeds of future regeneration for Scotch whisky tourism in Scotland have been sown with Diageo’s ongoing £185 million investment programme into its brand home estate. The project has seen no less than seven distillery experiences across the country completely reimagined, with a focus on telling the story of Scotland’s best loved export through immersive multi-sensory tours.

Sitting at the heart of the investment, Johnnie Walker Princes Street has welcomed some 300,000 guests from over 97 different countries since opening its doors in September 2021. The eight floor attraction in the heart of Edinburgh’s west end provides the perfect starting point for novices and aficionados alike to begin exploring the wonderful world of whisky.

Most recently, the reawakening of the fabled Caol Ila brand home on Islay has completed the ‘Four Corners’ element of the project, a journey around the distilleries that contribute to the world famous Johnnie Walker blends. Caol Ila means Sound of Islay in Gaelic, with the distillery taking its name from the stretch of water between Islay and Jura.

The Herald:

Caol Ila is designed to maximise the distillery’s stunning views. Boasting panoramic vistas of the neighbouring island of Jura and its iconic Paps, the new bar area offers one of the most incredible views in the world of whisky.

The experience also tells the wider story of Scotch whisky and its origins, establishing Islay as the place where the story of the country’s national drink began. With a modern retail space and a bar featuring floor to ceiling windows, Caol Ila is certainly a world removed from the traditional distillery tour offering.

Like each of Caol Ila’s sister distilleries across the Four Corners, a unique Striding Man statue salutes visitors with a tip of his hat. A collaboration between local artist and craftsperson, Rosemary Fletcher, and her two daughters, Cairistiona and Jessica May, the Striding Man is inspired by island life, capturing the moody colours of Islay’s huge open skies, Hebridean landscape and vibrant seascape.

Glenkinchie is the Lowland Home of Johnnie Walker, part of a network of visitor experiences linked to the project’s global centrepiece, Johnnie Walker Princes Street. The Glenkinchie distillery is centred around a beautifully landscaped garden – carefully curated to reflect the local rural environment – and an immersive guest experience in the traditional Victorian red brick warehouses.

The Herald:

Cardhu’s new visitor experience tells the story of Helen Cumming and how, in the early days of illicit distilling in Speyside more than 200 years ago, she would raise a flag to warn her neighbours of approaching authorities. It also celebrates Helen’s daughter-in-law Elizabeth, who took on running the distillery as it grew into a successful business throughout the Nineteenth Century until it became the first distillery to be acquired by John Walker & Sons in 1893.

Located in the Sutherland town of Brora on the famous NC500 scenic route, the transformed Clynelish Distillery adds a new high-quality attraction to the Highlands. Its visitor experience has been reimagined into a fully interactive and multi-sensory journey, with secret rooms and hidden keys, each unlocking elements of the whisky’s story, as well as revealing stories of the local people, landscape and culture.

In addition to the Four Corners, Diageo has reopened both The Singleton of Glen Ord and Talisker brand homes in Muir of Ord near Inverness and on the Isle of Skye respectively. Visitors to each can expect the enjoy an experience unique to each of these much loved single malt whiskies, complimented with local food, distillery exclusive cocktails and retail stores packed with products from regional suppliers and beyond.

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