graham huband business editor

The loss of the Famous Grouse Experience is a grievous blow to Perthshire and the local tourism-led economy.

With an official five-star Visit Scotland rating and consistently strong customer reviews on Tripadvisor, the distillery is more than a producer of top-class malt.

It is also home to one of the finest and most entertaining whisky tour experiences anywhere in Scotland.

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to be given a behind-thescenes tour of the upgraded distillery and visitor centre.

I met the site’s then general manager Stuart Cassells, an entertaining chap who, in a previous musical life, had founded the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

As you would expect, Mr Cassells put on a great show.

He painted a vivid picture not only of how central the Famous Grouse – and by extension the Famous Grouse Experience at Glenturret – was to the Edrington group as a brand, but also how important it was to the community in which it was located.

And that is undoubtedly true. Day in and day out coach parties full of whisky enthusiasts arrive at Crieff to enjoy a dram and learn a little about the history of Scotland’s favourite tipple.

Those same people also spend money in gift shops, coffee shops, in local hotels and B&Bs and, crucially, once captured and captivated they return time and again to Scotland.

That is why tourism bosses have long viewed the Famous Grouse Experience – along with luxury Perthshire hideaway Gleneagles – as a central plank of the narrative created to sell Scotland as a destination.

It is as essential to “Brand Scotland” as Highland cows, golf, castles and the Loch Ness monster.

The closure of the Famous Grouse Experience – whether it is ultimately replaced by a new Glenturret-focused attraction or not – therefore leaves a gaping hole in Scotland’s immersive whisky tourism offer.