Too many wee drams

The king of spirits, whisky, has more complicated problems, quite simply because it is made around seven years before it is released on the market. It needs this time to mature, so the producers must predict how much they have to distill each year in order to meet demand in the future. Tricky stuff, and a mistake will leave them with more scotch on their hands than they can sell or not enough to meet the demand.

Torres Celeste Crianza 2021

A red wine from Ribera del Duero made from Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) grapes, it shows the usual care and quality common in all Torres wines, and is aged for 12 months in French and American oak, followed by an additional 12 months in the bottle. Around €17

If Donald Trump, a teetotaler with Scottish heritage, puts up US import tariffs, as he has threatened to do in retaliation for the Boeing-Airbus spat, there may be a glut.

Fortunately Japan buys more than America and India is a massive consumer. Sales are made to another 180 countries, although as 75% of the retail price of domestic sales goes to the UK Exchequer, the British taxpayer could come out as another injured party. There are 40,000 employees in Scotland's rural distilleries, and in parallel they bring in substantial amounts from tourism, making it a unique and irreplaceable industry poised on a knife edge.