Another year has gone since we first shared our whisky distillery index in 2023, which highlighted which distillery in the UK and Ireland are the most popular according to online data. So which distillery in the UK and Ireland is the most popular in 2024?

Whilst the best flavour of whisky will come down to personal taste, what we hope to achieve with this index (which has pulled data from each distillery’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn accounts, as well as Google and TripAdvisor reviews when available) is which whisky distillery has the best online presence across a range of social accounts. 

Some Key Whisky Points of Interest…

• The Cotswolds Distillery remains the strongest whisky distillery online by staying in first place for 2024 (and 2023)!
• We have added 72 new whisky distilleries, the total number of distilleries we have looked at across the UK and Ireland is 298. These are, to the best of our ability, selling and producing whisky currently. If we have missed any, please let us know in the comments and we will add them to our 2025 awards coming next year!
• In the top 20 distilleries, only one is in Wales, two are from England, five are from Ireland and there are 12 from Scotland. 

Here are the Top Whisky Distilleries in the UK and Ireland:

The Best Whisky Distillery in England

Interestingly, England takes the top spot for the best whisky distillery based on their performance online. This position is held by the reigning champion – The Cotswolds Distillery. But this is the only English distillery in the top ten, and there are only two English distilleries in the top 20. 

The question is what is The Cotswold Distillery doing right with their online presence/marketing?  

Further Key Points for Whisky Distilleries in England

• We found 56 whisky distilleries in England. 
• The Spirit of Yorkshire is the next top whisky distillery and is ranked in 17th place. This distillery unfortunately dropped by 10 places, as last year it was ranked seventh. 
• The English Distillery won the World’s Best Single Malt at this year’s World Whisky Awards with their English Sherry Cask. Between this award and The Cotswold Distillery taking the top spot, does this mean that English whisky is on the rise to be the most popular?

The Best Whiskey Distillery in Ireland

In this index we included, not just Northern Ireland, but the Republic of Ireland as well. In doing so, our study found that Teeling Distillery is the second best distillery in the UK and Ireland according to their online statistics, but takes the top spot for Ireland overall. 

Further Key Points for Whiskey Distilleries in Ireland

• We found 69 whisky distilleries in Ireland. This includes 15 in Northern Ireland and 54 in the Republic of Ireland
• Micil Distillery takes 16th place overall, and second place for Ireland. This distillery has dropped 10 places though, going from sixth place in 2023. 
• Powerscourt Distillery is the third Irish distillery to rank and takes 18th place overall, which is two places above where it was last year. 

The Best Whisky Distillery in Scotland

Scotland loses out on the top place for the best whisky distilleries, but it does have 12 in the top 20, so in terms of numbers, it takes the lead for this. The top Scottish distillery is Kilchoman Distillery which takes third place in 2024, unfortunately this is a drop from last year. 

Further Key Points for Whisky Distilleries in Scotland

• Scotland has the most distilleries in this list, with a total of 167. 
• Despite not taking the top spot, the distilleries that rank between the third and tenth spot all reside in Scotland. 
• Isle of Raasay Distillery takes the 4th spot for the whole of the UK and Ireland, but dropped one place since 2023. 
• Interestingly, the Scottish Distillery that takes fifth place overall, but is third for just Scotland has had a huge jump in the rankings since 2023. The Isle of Harris Distillery has gone from 32nd place in 2023 to fifth place in 2024!

The Best Whisky Distillery in Wales

Leading the Welsh Distilleries is Penderyn Distillery which comes in at 11th place, just losing out on coming in the top ten. This distillery has also dropped six places since 2023 as it was originally fifth place in 2023. 

Further Key Points for Whisky Distilleries in Wales

• With only six distilleries for Wales in our list, this one might not be the hotspot for whisky tourism, but it certainly does within the gin and other scenic adventures. We haven’t done a gin distillery index, but that might be something of interest! 

If you are interested in achieving results similar to these top distilleries, please get in touch with us as we can help.