Cost pressures and environmental targets are reshaping whisky production in 2025, but distillers are finding creative ways to tackle both challenges at once, according to industry design experts Organic Architects.
New distilleries are taking a page from their 300-year-old predecessors, choosing locations that tap into natural power sources like wind and tidal energy. It’s a back-to-basics approach that’s proving surprisingly modern – much like the trend of breathing new life into historic buildings for production spaces.
The real excitement is in the distilling technology itself. New systems with tongue-twisting names – Thermal Vapour Recompression (TVR) and Mechanical Vapour Recompression (MVR) – are making waves by capturing and reusing heat that would normally go to waste.
These systems can cut production costs almost in half, though they come with their own hurdles. The UK’s steep electricity prices and limited grid capacity mean some distillers are getting creative, with talk of following Speyside’s example of building their own power infrastructure.
Smaller, newer distilleries might actually have an advantage here. While established producers face the headache of squeezing new tech into old buildings, newcomers can design their facilities around these innovations from day one.
“The trick,” says Organic Architects, “is balancing all this new technology with the time-honoured processes that give each whisky its character.” After all, even as the industry evolves, the magic still happens in those copper pot stills.