The Scotch Whisky Distillery Timeline

When compiling the data for the Periodic Table of Scotch Whisky, founding and (if applicable) closing dates of the distilleries were included. Ordering the list by these dates gives you an interesting by-product, a timeline of distillery openings and closures.

To make it even more interesting, the 71 distilleries listed on Ulf Buxrud’s Lost Distilleries page are included here as well, as is the legendary Malt Mill – all these are presented in different colours. Of course there are still a lot more obscure distilleries, especially on Islay. But data is getting very thin here, so the list will stick to those. All in all it comprises over 200 distilleries.

Please note that some of the early dates are disputed or depend on what you consider the founding of a distillery: the first distillation or the grant of the licence. Also the closing dates for some of the ‘lost’ distilleries are unclear.

You can easily notice the periods of boom and recession that lead to increased opening or closing of whisky distilleries, as well as times of relative quietness. And as devastating the closing spree of the early 1980s may have been, this is nothing compared to the first half of the 20th century. Those were very tough times for the Scotch whisky industry, not only because of US prohibition. Economic troubles started shortly after the blend boom of the late 19th century, and they lasted until well after the Second World War.

But as we all can see, Scotch whisky has survied and is now stronger than ever, with all the consequences currently seen in the business.