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Stillbound Research · Ownership · October 2026

A tale of two countries: who runs the stills

Scotland

Map of Scotland's 163 Scotch whisky distilleries by owner. Two-thirds answer to a bigger company.

Ireland

Map of Ireland's 52 Irish whiskey distilleries by owner. Nearly three in four are still independent.

Scotland. Two-thirds of its 163 Scotch whisky distilleries answer to a bigger company. Nineteen groups run 99. Seven more sit under multinationals. Diageo alone runs 31.

Ireland. Nearly three in four of its 52 Irish whiskey distilleries are still independent. Fourteen answer to a bigger company, and four of those are paused.

Counted the same way. A distillery answers to a bigger company if its owner runs more than one site, or is a multinational drinks group. Whisk(e)y distilleries only, counted by distillery, not by litres. Paused plants are shown, not deleted.

Sources: SWA operating list, Irish Whiskey GI verified operators 2024, Companies House and CRO filings, operators and trade press.

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