Article from The Courier

Several whisky distillers, blenders, ambassadors and communicators from across Scotland discovered they had won top prizes at the Icons of Whisky Scotland awards.

The ceremony took place online on Friday February 5 when they were presented by the Christopher Coates, editor of awards organiser Whisky magazine.

Many of Scotland’s top industry producers were among those who won awards, including Lunan Bay’s Arbikie Distillery, who walked away with the Craft Producer of the Year award, after rebranding their 1794 Highland Rye whisky last month.

Co-owner Iain Stirling said his team are delighted to be recognised for all of their hard work after they set out wanting to be one of the world’s most sustainable distilleries.

He said:

“It is fantastic to be recognised by the whisky industry for what we are trying to achieve with our whiskies at the Arbikie Distillery. It’s an honour to be awarded Craft Producer of the Year by the prestigious Whisky Magazine and as owners, my brothers and I are absolutely delighted to see our team recognised for all their hard work on the farm, at the distillery and in whisky markets across the world.

“We had no idea we had been nominated. The Icons Awards are nominated by and voted for by the drinks trade before the results are ratified by the Whisky Magazine Judging Panel.

“We found out live and so it was a mix of surprise and delight for all our team. We were competing with so many other excellent distilleries, so winning is always very special, especially coming so soon after winning the ‘Excellence in Sustainability’ at the Scottish Whisky Awards. We have an amazing world-class whisky industry in Scotland, so it is fantastic to be included on such a prestigious list of amazing distillers and distilleries when still such as a young whisky business.

“We set out with a clear vision when we started Arbikie in that we wanted to be one of the world’s most sustainable distilleries and to distil one of the world’s best whiskies, and have worked and continue to work very hard to achieve these goals.”

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