ByJoseph V Micallef,
Contributor.
The World Whiskies Awards have unveiled their 2025 Scotch whisky winners, and a handful of single malts from the Lowlands, Speyside, and Campbeltown have risen to the very top. Together, they tell a story of how far Scotch has come: from urban revival distilleries experimenting with bold cask finishes to quietly resolute, family-owned houses that have been shaping the category for generations.
This feature looks at the distilleries behind those medal-winning bottles and what’s in the glass—how Glasgow’s new-wave malts, Fife’s technical innovators and Galloway’s reborn Lowlander stack up alongside classic Speyside names like The Glenlivet, GlenAllachie and Glenfarclas, and the enduring coastal character of Campbeltown’s Glen Scotia. Think of it as a guided tour through some of the most compelling single malts on the 2025 podium. A companion feature explores the Highland and Island winners in more detail.
The modern Glasgow Distillery, 1770 Glasgow, revived whisky-making in the city when it opened in 2014, the first single malt distillery there in over a century. It produces unpeated, peated and triple-distilled styles, plus gin and vodka, with a strong focus on cask experimentation.
