Diageo and Google offer remote distillery tours

Four Diageo-owned Scotch whisky distilleries have become the first to allow fans to virtually explore the sites through Google Business View, enabling tours of the facilities from the comfort of consumers’ living rooms.

Inside Cardhu Distillery: Google Business View allows users to snoop around inside the Speyside distillery

The British drinks group has claimed the technology enables Diageo to “pay tribute to centuries old traditions” by giving fans anywhere in the world an opportunity to explore the distilleries, which lay in remote areas of Scotland.

The free-to-access, 360 ˚ technology has been applied to Cardhu in Banffshire, The Singleton of Glen Ord on the Black Isle, Talisker on Skye and Lagavulin on Islay. It is also available for teh Guinness Storehouse at St. James’s Gate in Dublin.

Venky Balakrishnan, global vice president, digital innovation, for Diageo, said: “People travel from all over the world to our distilleries in Scotland to learn about the heritage and provenance of their favourite brands. Google Business View brings the immersive experience of visiting these famous landmarks to people regardless of where they are in the world.

“Seeing & feeling the incredible history, craft and quality first-hand will bring them closer to the brands they love.”

The technology works by piecing together photographs of rooms together, similar to the process behind Google Street View.

Businesses partner with a Google-approved photographer, who visits the site and captures the distillery environment. The photos are then pieced together by the photographer and uploaded, giving users a complete, 360 ˚ experience.

Google introduced the technology as part of its Google Street View service in 2013.