Obscured by the Scottish countryside on the outskirts of Kirkcaldy, Cluny bond is, in effect, a small town built to store whisky. By the time the latest set of warehouses are finished on the former opencast coal mine, Diageo’s 220-hectare (544-acre) maturation campus will be able to store almost 3m casks of Scotch. The drinks multinational needs the space.
After a 15-year boom turbocharged by the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for Scotch whisky has slumped around the world. Distilleries have paused production across Scotland to avoid adding to the glut of supply, known as a “whisky loch” – the equivalent of a “wine lake”. Last week, the community-owned GlenWyvis Distillery in the Highlands announced it would appoint administrators following sustained financial pressure in the whisky market.
On Monday, workers at Cameronbridge, Diageo’s largest distillery, a short drive from Cluny bond, began strike action in opposition to the company’s plans to cut hundreds of jobs across its Scottish operation. Diageo produces about one in three bottles of Scotch globally, including popular brands such as Johnnie Walker. Dozens of Scotland’s 156 active distilleries are rumoured to be up for sale.
There’s increased awareness of health issues, many are choosing to drink less, and booze got very expensive during the good years for the business.” Fluctuations in Scotch whisky’s £5.36bn export market have proven particularly hard to navigate. By law, the drink must be matured for a minimum of three years in an oak cask in Scotland, with high-end speciality Scotch being aged in barrels for up to 40 years. Such lengthy maturation periods, used to create a wide range of flavour profiles from sweet to sulphurous, can make it hard to plan production.
Despite Donald Trump’s decision to remove duties on Scotch exports to the US after the King and Queen’s state visit to the White House earlier this year, the industry had already suffered a significant hit. The US president’s “liberation day” tariffs in April 2025 resulted in a 15% fall in Scotch exports to the US, according to the Scotch Whisky Association. Demand in France – until recently the largest market by volume – has fallen, while the market in China has never really taken off as hoped.
Optimists point to early signs of a tentative recovery, however, with the industry returning to growth in the first half of this year. Exports to India in particular have surged – but have not yet offset declines elsewhere. The downturn is by no means limited to Scotch, either.
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