When distilleries are closed, they are closed for a reason – economic, socio-political or natural disaster, be that fire or, I dunno…global pandemic. The closure of sites is viewed on the one-hand as a tragic loss of distilling history (little is ever written about the impact on the communities which those distilleries served in terms of their employment and welfare benefits) and on the other as a gold-mine of vintage and nostalgia. The psychological underpinnings for why some whisky enthusiasts are obsessed by the liquid from defunct distilleries is actually rather multi-layered – the desire to possess something deemed as scarce and ergo rare – an impetus fuelled by the constant excitement of the hunt – or just a misguided belief that whisky was simply better ‘back then’. But, regardless of the drivers, for distilleries to thrive, it is actually a necessity that some have to die.