Whisky Wars – Two Famous Whisky Distillery Feuds from Over the Years
One of the main things I love about the whisky industry, and the whisky community in general, is the fact that everybody gets along. Sure, there’s the occasional bit of banter when it comes to Scotch, vs Irish, vs Bourbon etc, and a tiny bit of snobbery, but for the most part, we’re like one big happy family.
Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case and there have been instances where prominent figures in the whisky world haven’t exactly seen eye to eye. At the end of the day, despite having plenty in common, most distilleries are in direct competition with one another, and there are bound to be differences of opinion. Sometimes, though, things stretch beyond that, and rivalries become feuds.
While a little friendly competition is good for business, the rivalries I’m going to talk to you about today have been anything but friendly.
From property disputes to wars over water supplies, here are just a couple of famous whisky feuds from over the years.
The GlenWyvis Distillery Landlord Dispute
The first feud I’m going to talk to you about today is fairly recent and is one which many in the biz were disheartened to hear about at the time. Myself included.
Whenever a new distillery is founded, I’m always excited. More distilleries mean more whisky, and how can that be a bad thing? Well back in 2015, a new distillery was founded by the name of GlenWyvis. Even more exciting was the fact that it was Scotland’s first community-owned distillery. Sadly, what started out as an exciting opportunity quickly turned sour.
The distillery was founded by farmer John McKenzie in the Highland town of Dingwall. John was well known in the area and even held a helicopter pilot’s licence. In 2017 he became known as the ‘flying farmer’ as he would chauffer Nicola Sturgeon across the country in the runup to the election that year.
He granted the distillery a lease for 175 years on his farm’s land, for just £1 per year. This effectively made him the landlord. He lived on the land by the distillery and shared the access road. Unfortunately, in 2019, he resigned as landlord and has since become embroiled in a bitter rivalry with the distillery chairman David McIntyre and the distillery workers.
McKenzie claimed that the distillery exceeded planning permission size, was too close to his home, and was disrupting his farm. This would often result in arguments and hostilities between himself and employees at the distillery.
The case eventually went to court, where an Inverness Sheriff granted an interdict which prevented McKenzie from interacting with the distillery workers, or anybody associated with the distillery.
As far as I’m aware, the feud is still ongoing, though hopefully it can be resolved amicably sooner rather than later.
The Laphroaig vs Lagavulin Water Feud
Despite being home to less than 15 working distilleries, Islay is one of Scotland’s most prominent whisky regions. Renowned for its heavily peated, smoky, medicinal, maritime-inspired drams, it’s home to some of the world’s most famous distilleries, with Laphroaig and Lagavulin being prime examples.
Located a stone’s throw from one another (not difficult on Islay) the two distilleries are on better terms nowadays than they were a century ago, when they became embroiled in a bitter rivalry over water of all things.
Originally, the two distilleries got along and worked together. Lagavulin would even strike a deal to use Laphroaig whisky for blending their own grain expressions. This deal eventually went bad, as Lagavulin were using so much of their whisky, that Laphroaig barely had enough to create their own single malt expressions. They ended up in court in 1907 and the deal was officially terminated. This was only the start, and things would soon get much worse.
That same year, the owner of Lagavulin, a man named Peter Mackie, had his workers place rocks, stones, mud, and other debris into a nearby stream, thereby blocking off Laphroaig’s water supply. Now, you don’t need to be a genius to know that no water means no whisky. Mackie, who was still unhappy with how the former partnership between the two distilleries had ended, even tried to claim Laphroaig’s land for his own distillery. He seriously did not like them, and really let his feelings be known.
Laphroaig themselves were not happy about having no water for their whisky and took Lagavulin to court again. Once again, they won the case and were granted access to their water supply, with Lagavulin being penalised. Since then, the two have made-up somewhat, and the rivalry between them nowadays is more akin to football banter, just like you’d see between, say, Liverpool and Everton. That said, I don’t think they’ll be inviting each other round for Christmas dinner anytime soon.
To this day, Laphroaig run a loyalty scheme called ‘Friends of Laphroaig’. The scheme, which was launched in 1994, means that by entering a unique product code after buying a bottle of whisky or visiting the distillery, customers will be awarded their very own square foot plot of land on the distillery’s grounds. They’ll be given the coordinates, a plot number, and even their own flag to plant into the sodden boggy ground. The idea behind this stems from the legal battles of the past, when Mackie tried to claim the distillery’s land. With hundreds, if not thousands of people owning a small plot of land, taking this many people to court over a land dispute would be impossible. Pretty clever if you ask me, and I love the pettiness, or should that be, peatiness. I’ll get my coat.
If you’d like to learn more about your favourite whiskies, or simply treat yourself to a dram or two in the process, head on over to GreatDrams.com and take a look at the diverse selection of unique whiskies we currently have in stock.
With an impressive selection of limited-edition, rare, and award-winning whisky, as well as heaps of whisky info on our blog, it’s the perfect spot for any whisky lovers out there.
Greg
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