Whisky Advocate: Distilleries Face A Rocky Road To Reopening After Covid-19

Much of the world is reeling from the Covid-19 crisis as countries step gingerly toward reopening in the wake of lockdowns. Amid the uncertainty, some whisky distilleries are carefully moving forward with reopening plans of their own—in fact, some already are underway. But others are proceeding more cautiously.

In Scotland, the whisky industry has significantly scaled back operations; nearly 90% of production sites are either operating at reduced capacity or have closed entirely, according to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). A number of major distilleries have shifted production capacity to making hand sanitizer or providing ethanol to other manufacturers. All sites that are still operating have implemented strict social distancing, and visitor centers remain closed since initially shuttering in March, in line with Scottish government recommendations. They would be allowed to reopen in the third phase of the country’s four-phase reopening plan, but there’s no specific date for this yet, and it’s not expected until mid-summer at the earliest.

Diageo, which owns nearly a quarter of all whisky distilleries in Scotland, has continued production even as its visitor centers remain shuttered. “We have not closed any distilleries,” a Diageo spokesperson says. “As is common practice within the Scotch whisky industry, we actively manage production pauses at smaller distilleries on a rotation basis to balance production capacity and inventory levels.”

At present, seven of Chivas Brothers’ 14 distilleries in Scotland are operational, production director Gordon Buist tells Whisky Advocate, adding that any decisions on increasing capacity or reopening sites will be based on government guidelines. As for its visitor centers, Chivas Brothers, which is owned by Pernod Ricard, is mapping out potential reopening plans. These could include “changes to the flow of tours, booking solutions, and relocating entrances, in addition to increased sanitation measures,” Buist says. “We expect that forms of social distancing will continue to be the norm across all of our sites until a vaccine is found, so we have put plans in place to ensure whatever the ‘new normal’ brings,” whisky supply won’t be interrupted and visitor centers can reopen safely. Whisky Advocate has a full report.—Zak Kostro

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