Top 10 distillery openings of 2025
In a year when the spirits industry faced more turbulence than a prop plane in a hurricane, it was reassuring to see so many brands cut the ribbon on new production sites in 2025.
New distilleries popped up in all four corners of the globe in 2025, with some opening right on schedule, while others arrived fashionably late. But you know what they say: good things come to those who wait, and each of these 10 openings stands out as one to be celebrated.
Eden Mill Distillery, St Andrews, Scotland
Eden Mill opened its new multi-million-pound distillery and visitor centre on the banks of the Eden Estuary in St Andrews, Scotland, in October, boasting a cocktail bar, retail space, and the creation of 18 jobs. However, the year-long delay in opening this distillery caused headaches, and the cash flow issues resulting from the delay led to it entering administration just a few weeks after opening. But woe didn’t hang around for long, as in November, equity firm Ruby Capital acquired the Eden Mill business and assets for an undisclosed sum.
Euan Kinninmonth, brand home manager at Eden Mill, said at the time of the distillery’s opening: “The vision was to create a distillery and visitor centre that would celebrate the town’s rich distilling heritage, highlighting St Andrews as a must-visit destination for spirits tourism. I’m delighted to say that this vision is now a reality. It’s a landmark moment – not just for Eden Mill, but for St Andrews as a whole.”
The site is fully powered by renewable energy and features a state-of-the-art golf simulator for guests to enjoy.
Luss Distillery, Dumbartonshire, Scotland
Scottish distiller Loch Lomond Group opened its multi-million-pound Luss Distillery and visitor centre in the village of Luss, Dumbartonshire, in October, having converted the site from the historic Luss smokehouse and the adjacent land on Church Road.
The distillery opened approximately eight months after Argyll and Bute Council and Luss Estates granted planning permission for the project in February 2025. In that time, it transformed the 5,362-square-metre site into a retail space, an immersive whisky and gin discovery area, the Ben Lomond Gin Distillery, and a café.
The site now serves as the brand home for Loch Lomond whiskies and includes a distillery for its Scottish gin brand, Ben Lomond. Meanwhile, the retail space showcases the group’s portfolio of whiskies, Champagne and spirits, including Glen Scotia and Littlemill single malts.
Galloway Distillery, Galloway, Scotland
In autumn, The Sassenach brand, co-founded in 2021 by actor Sam Heughan, got its own ‘spiritual home’ after the Outlander star acquired Crafty Distillery in the south of Scotland and rebranded it as Galloway Distillery.
The distillery is where the brand’s Sassenach Wild Scottish Gin was developed and produced, and where The Sassenach blended Scotch whisky will also be made. Since opening, the site has played host to the first release of The Sassenach Finest Scottish Vodka, and will also produce The Galloway Scotch Whisky, with a production capability of 200,000 litres of pure alcohol per annum.
Currently, the distillery is producing a maximum of 15,000 litres of pure alcohol for a limited amount of single malt new make. The distillery also has an in-house bottling room, capable of bottling 175,000 bottles a year.
Heughan said he created the Galloway Distillery to return to his roots and give back to the land where he was born. “My purpose is to shine a light on this unsung corner of Scotland that has so much to offer. This represents a true homecoming and new chapter, in the pursuit of fine Scottish spirits from this undiscovered and exceptional land, in the south of Scotland.”
Ki No Bi Distillery, Kyoto, Japan
Fifteen months after a Shinto shrine master blessed the land on which it was built in a traditional groundbreaking ceremony, Pernod Ricard-owned Ki No Bi gin opened its new fossil-free distillery, located in the Kyoto Prefecture in Japan.
The facility is part of Ki No Bi’s ambitions to sustainably expand its global distribution, and boasts a ‘highly efficient’ boiler that is powered entirely by electricity using only renewable energy sources such as wind, water, solar and geothermal energy.
Furthermore, the facility boasts multiple stills, which enable the production team to maintain the ‘meticulous’ gin-making process that defines the brand. Each of its six botanical elements – citrus, tea, herbal, spice, fruity and floral – is distilled separately before being blended to create an aromatic with a ‘refreshing taste’ and a gentle kick of warm, ginger spice.
Hiroyuki Nagai, operations director at The Kyoto Distillery, said: “Ki No Bi is a brand with a very Japanese heart and an artisanal spirit made with obsessive attention to detail. We could have installed one large still at the new facility, but we chose not to because we believe in maintaining our meticulous distillation process.”
Heaven Hill Springs, Bardstown, Kentucky
Family-owned Heaven Hill Brands officially opened its new Heaven Hill Springs Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, in September, marking the company’s official return to Bardstown since 1996. The original Old Heaven Hill Springs Distillery was destroyed by fire, forcing the family to relocate its distilling operations to the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville in 1999.
The new US$200 million distillery commenced production in April 2025, with an initial capacity of 150,000 barrels per year, with the potential for future scalability to 450,000 barrels.
Heaven Hill Springs features a 60-foot Vendome copper still, which is capable of producing more than 33,000 gallons of spirit per day, as well as an in-house live yeast propagation. Plus, representing a flagship of Heaven Hill’s 2030 Environmental Sustainability Strategy, the distillery features onsite wastewater pretreatment for renewable energy generation and integrated energy efficiency systems, which reduce the distillery’s water consumption by more than 24,000 gallons per day.
Ardgowan Distillery, Inverkip, Scotland
They say building projects always take longer than expected, but we bet the team at Ardgowan Distillery didn’t anticipate it would be eight years before they filled their first cask after planning was granted in 2017.
The independent Ardgowan Distillery Company officially opened its doors after construction was completed in June, marking the first new distillery to open in Inverclyde in more than a century. The last distillery to operate in the region was destroyed in the Greenock Blitz on 7 May 1941.
The ground for the £20 million (US$24.6m) site was broken in November 2023. The completed distillery has sustainability at its core, boasting a Scandinavian longhouse design, a 97% recycled aluminium roof, and the utilisation of green technologies, including thermal vapour recompression (TVR), which recycles heat waste.
The distillery had already invested ‘millions of pounds’ in casks, which have been seasoned for three years with Sherry. These casks are intended for maturation periods of 18 years or more, so we’ll report back when the whisky finally makes it into a bottle in circa 2043.
Amaro Santoni Distillery, Tuscany, Italy
Is this one of the most beautiful distillery settings you’ve ever seen? Summer saw the opening of Casa Santoni, the stunning new production site for 16% ABV aperitivo brand Amaro Santoni in Chianciano Terme, Italy.
The distillery build began in March 2025, and officially opened to the public in July to offer guests an inside look at the brand’s liquid creation and distilling process. Its 5,000 square metres includes multiple production, ageing, and hospitality spaces designed in harmony with the Tuscan countryside.
The site features a botanical garden that surrounds the distillery, filled with aromatic plants and herbs – useful, considering the liquid is imbued with 34 natural herbs and botanicals, and centres on the flavours of rhubarb and iris with undertones of citrus and olive leaves. In fact, the garden serves as inspiration for the Santoni recipes that are served in the hospitality and tasting area, which was designed by architect Monica Rossi.
The distillery itself is located in the same garden and houses a handcrafted Müller still, which was custom-designed with the guidance of master distiller Gianni Vittorio Capovilla. Its patented innovations enhance aromatic extraction while preserving the natural integrity of botanicals.
Saigon Gin Distillery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The company behind Vietnamese brand Saigon Baigur Gin shifted its operations to a bigger distillery in Ho Chi Minh City in April. The move increased its production capacity from approximately 15,000 nine-litre cases to 30,000, with room for further expansion.
The new site boasts streamlined workflows and improved infrastructure to maintain consistent quality, and allows Saigon Baigur Gin to experiment with new botanicals and flavour profiles.
The facility was designed to support distillery tours, giving visitors a deeper insight into the gin-making process. As such, District 9 Distilling, Saigon Gin’s owner, has plans to open Vietnam’s first gin school, alongside a tropical garden with an outdoor bar serving the brand’s signature cocktails.
Never Never at Brisbane Airport, Australia
Ever been walking through an airport and been struck by the sudden desire to visit a distillery? In November, Asahi Group joined forces with Brisbane Airport to sate those yearnings as it opened a distillery, brewery, 800-capacity venue, beer garden, gastropub dining and several event spaces right in the heart of the terminal building.
The Australian airport announced plans to open the ‘one-of-a-kind’ entertainment destination, called Landers Pocket, in 2014, and now it’s home to a Never Never gin distillery and a 4 Pines Brewery site.
Once fully completed, Landers Pocket will also feature padel courts, a Kick-n-Catch play zone, and a 3,000-capacity amphitheatre, alongside a 1,000-person lawn that can host festivals, market pop-ups and family-friendly activations. It sounds like the perfect recipe for a missed flight if you ask us, but with so much to do, it probably won’t be a bad thing.
Hollywood Distillery, US
Rounding off our top 10 is Hollywood’s ‘first’ official distillery, which was brought to life, so to speak, in a former mortuary in October.
The project had been in the making since 2016, and was finally realised by long-time friends Larry Neuberg, Jeff Zarrinnam, and Ferris Wehbe – the trio behind small-batch spirits Zanja-Madre Bourbon Whiskey, Zanja-Madre Rye Whiskey, Nopalera Gin, and Oasis Vodka, all of which are now produced on-site.
The distillery is located on Santa Monica Boulevard, across the street from Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It offers guided tastings, behind-the-scenes distillery tours and event hosting.
The space, which sports an industrial design, boasts 5,400 square feet with the capacity to host 60 guests. The bar area has been decorated with black-and-white photos of Hollywood icons such as Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Humphrey Bogart, while barrels of Bourbon and a wall case with rows of bottled house spirits are on display.
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