The world of Scotch whisky is facing one of its biggest challenges in a century. Now is not the time to abandon the on-trade, warns Millie Milliken, but to finally take it seriously.

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Where to turn to, then, than cocktail bars? Well, Scotch hasn’t doing great there either. In the 2025 Class Report, Scotch still trails behind the likes of gin, tequila, vodka, American whiskey and rum at number six on the bestselling categories scale. The big brands still dominate too – Johnnie Walker, Ardbeg, The Macallan – but even the giants, it seems, haven’t managed to crack the cocktail conundrum when it comes to Scotch.

Scotch whisky is yet to have its viral moment when it comes to the cocktail. Indeed, only one of the Class Report’s top 50 cocktails hero the category – the Penicillin. Damning, but not a big surprise. Scotch outside of dramming, single malts in particular, has had a complicated relationship with cocktails in the UK. It all began 50 years ago: when the whisky industry went through its last major slump in the 1980s, single malts, as a superior alternative to their predecessor, blends, rose from the flames in an opposing perceptual parallel with the simultaneous cocktail revival which favoured other spirits such as gin, rum and vodka.

Ever since, the notion of mixing single malt Scotch has been perceived as a no-no. “Whisky has put itself on such a pedestal that the idea of putting it in cocktails is still so alien,” says Siân Buchan, co-owner of Edinburgh’s Uno Mas and winner of the Edinburgh Bar Awards 2025 Legend accolade. Where tequila has the Margarita, gin the Negroni and vodka the Martini – all on the sliding scale of luxury – whisky needs to find its golden egg behind the bar.

It’s something brands such as Woven have been trying to evangelise about since inception: “We have a deep-rooted belief that if you want to change drinks culture, which we do around whisky, the only place you can do that is in the on-trade,” says co-founder Duncan McRae.

Yet advocacy roles and budgets are haemorrhaging in whisky companies. Understandably, brands are hunkering down and squeezing budgets, but while shop and ecommerce tills might not be ringing a happy tune, data is showing that the opportunities across the on-trade are lucrative. According to Global Data, Gen Z is eschewing the likes of beer for cocktails in increasingly social environments; ride-hailing service Bolt reported an increase in 2025 of late-night trips as UK nightlife seems to be revitalising; while memorable experiences and storytelling are becoming more valued among drinkers too. If there was ever a time for whisky to invest in the on-trade, now is it.

Useful gateways

How brands invest, though, is key. While budgets might be tight, bars are far more receptive to smaller, more personal, educational initiatives than one-off big-money splashes. For the team at Edinburgh’s Uno Mas, known for its whisky expertise and a big-volume bar at that, this approach has been woefully underserved. “We’ve got so many cool distilleries nearby, yet none of my team has ever been on a trip to a distillery that we haven’t arranged,” says Buchan.

Thinking outside of just liquid and hard cash is also a gateway, with the likes of Johnnie Walker Black Ruby partnering with The Connaught on social media content, as well as Woven’s own video series with bars around Edinburgh and during London Cocktail Week to amplify who is serving their whisky in a Highball. “Eighty per cent of consumer journeys for the on-trade are now starting on Instagram,” explains McRae. “If we invest in that amplification, film it, edit it, put it out on socials, you’re not just saying ‘Please stock my product’ – it’s an idea that ticks both sides’ boxes.”

Pricing is also an issue and a major gripe of Marissa Johnson, Shaker Collective co-founder and former global head of Diageo World Class & Advocacy. “There is something that is broken in this model around working with indie bars that are highly influential but not being given the prices they need to manage the stock levels that they go through,’ she says. “They are expected to sign up to the same contracts as larger venues and so many brands are missing the mark when it comes to the opportunity with this.”

Looking beyond ‘traditional’ on-trade opportunities – award-winning cocktail bars on international lists – could also be a volume driver for Scotch, with a pub renaissance in full swing, a swell of hybrid restaurant-bar openings, and a rise in the popularity of competitive social venues (axe-throwing, darts) changing the opportunities behind the bar. Woven has been looking at independent restaurants in London as a new potential champion for its blends. “They have a piece of paper with five cocktails and they usually have one weird
whisky cocktail like a smoky Manhattan that no-one drinks,” explains McRae. “Our ambassador goes in, suggests it in a Highball format, and 15 times out of 10 it works.”

A Highball audit around 25 venues in Edinburgh showed McRae that quality of delivery is still a barrier outside of cocktail bars: “It is where the Gin & Tonic was at the end of the 80s… it’s crazy.” As a result Woven provided its participating bars with Japanese glassware and cuboid block ice. “Not many whisky brands have done the work to pull whisky off the shelf and enable bars to provide a great experience… It’s basic drinks marketing, but somehow brands for the past 20 years have been immune to the need to do it.”

Johnson hammers home the pertinent point that approaching a broader range of bar types also means that brands need to adjust their strategy accordingly: “Look at your universe of venues – what’s your approach for 5-star hotels versus gastropubs and cocktail bars? It is not often you would be able to suggest the same drink to happen in all of those venues as there’s a difference in things such as skill level and ingredient sourcing.”

Ultimately, keeping bartenders – who we know are sponges for knowledge, education and creativity – sated with fun things to play with will only reap rewards for the brands that are clever enough to keep feeding them. “If the staff are excited by certain bottles,” says Buchan, “those are the ones that move.”

That pedestal Scotch single malt whisky has chiselled for itself? Where’s a hammer…