Whisky production grinds to a halt as heatwave leads to water shortages

Blair Athol ready to restart after four-week stop after burn ran low

It has been so hot, there was even a danger that the water of life could stop flowing.

The Courier can reveal whisky production at a well-known Highland Perthshire distillery had to stop due to this summer’s heatwave.

Staff at Blair Athol distillery were forced to cease production at their Pitlochry plant because of a lack of sourced water required from a nearby burn, the Allt Dour.

The Courier understands whisky production stopped at the Highland Perthshire site for around four weeks.

Yesterday, Diageo, which runs the Blair Athol distillery, confirmed operations had been “impacted” due to the Allt Dour running low.

A spokeswoman for Diageo stated production would resume tomorrow.

However, she refused to comment on whether staff had been laid off during the period in question or if this had led to a loss in revenue for the company.

During what has been one of the warmest summers on record in the UK, the scorching weather also led to nearby Edradour distillery running low on water supplies needed for its operation.

“We are also able to flex our annual routine maintenance schedules to coincide with low rainfall periods, to further reduce any impact. SPOKESWOMAN FOR DIAGEO

And it has seen several distilleries in Scotland’s Western Isles being forced to halt production because of water shortages. Half of the 10 distilleries on the Isle of Islay were hit earlier this summer.

The Diageo spokeswoman said: “Production was impacted at the Blair Athol distillery due to the Allt Dour burn running low due to low rainfall and we were unable to draw down water for a period.

“Over the past decade we have worked hard to improve water efficiency at our distilleries across Scotland. This means we are better placed than ever to manage periods of low rainfall with minimal impact on production.

“We are also able to flex our annual routine maintenance schedules to coincide with low rainfall periods, to further reduce any impact.”

She continued: “At Blair Athol, we have been carrying out maintenance to enable us to minimise water use in our processes during the current low rain period and will return to production on Sunday.

“Tours and distillery tastings continue seven days a week during the summer.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Symington, owner of the Edradour distillery in Pitlochry, said: “We almost ran out of sourced water last Friday.

“However, the thunder storm that evening and heavy rain over the weekend filled up the cooling pond enough to allow both sites to continue production.

“There is ample spring water – it was the cooling water that we borrow from the burn that was the problem.”

Blair Athol distillery was forced to halt whisky production for four weeks due to water levels at the nearby Allt Dour burn running low.

Picture: Getty. Edradour distillery also saw its water supply running low.