Clynelish Visitor Center to Close
The distillery remains in production, owner Diageo emphasized
January 26, 2026 –––––– Jonny McCormick
On March 13th, Clynelish Distillery, the Highland home of Johnnie Walker, will close its doors to visitors, owner Diageo announced. Tours will end on February 28th. Production of Clynelish’s distinctive waxy single malt will continue—it’s sold as a single malt bottling and is also a key component in Diageo’s blends, including Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve. The single malt was selected for inclusion in the Diageo Special Releases 2025, the 91-point Clynelish Waxen Sun 18 year old.
In 2018, Diageo’s then chief executive Ivan Menezes announced a significant investment in upgrading scotch whisky tourism facilities, commenting as part of a wider statement, “For decades to come, our distilleries will play a big role in attracting more international visitors to Scotland.” The Clynelish visitor center opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when international and domestic travel restrictions were in place. Despite the normalization of global travel, Clynelish recorded fewer than 20,000 visitors in 2023, significantly fewer than distilleries such as Talisker and Oban, and it has not survived to see its 5th anniversary or help realize the ambitions of Menezes’ original vision. The reality is that driving is a necessity in this part of the world, fueling a demand from many distillery visitors for more alcohol-free options. In the end, the math simply didn’t add up for Diageo at Clynelish. Low foot traffic and unremarkable revenue per visitor left Diageo unable to justify the attraction’s operating costs amid broader industry cost-cutting efforts.
Clynelish Distillery lies on the outskirts of the town of Brora in the Northern Highlands, on the North Coast 500 (NC500) roadway, a spectacularly scenic travel route that attracts tourists. Its neighbor is Brora Distillery, which reopened in 2021, remains open to visitors. It offers high-end tours costing from $300–$1,200. The Singleton of Glen Ord, a 75-minute drive south of Clynelish, is the nearest Diageo facility offering a standard distillery tour at more affordable prices (tours start at $33). The Clynelish operation was an elevated structure with an upper-floor bar offering views over the surrounding hills, farmland, and coastline. Visitors were greeted by a full-sized golden Johnnie Walker statue wearing a saffron yellow top hat, a frock coat, and boots stylized to look like melting wax, a color palette that carried through inside. Tours began with a display of archive materials about the founding of Clynelish and its importance to Johnnie Walker and its blenders, followed by an invitation to slip through a secret bookcase to enter an immersive, interactive world of mystery, puzzles, and hidden keys in the multi-sensory ambience of the story room. Then came a tour of the production areas, followed by a visit to the tasting bar, where guests could enjoy a dram or a cocktail out on the terrace. A spacious gift shop offered visitors the opportunity to bottle their own distillery-exclusive single cask releases. Diageo had marked the opening of the visitor center with a Clynelish 16 year old Four Corners of Scotland expression, a 3,000-bottle limited edition only available at the distillery and online
The main Johnnie Walker visitor center is the Johnnie Walker Princes Street facility in Edinburgh. Other key visitor assets for the brand are at Glenkinchie, Cardhu, and Caol Ila Distilleries.
