Editor's letter

Welcome to the new edition of Just Drinks’ quarterly digital magazine.

The Scotch industry, like the whole drinks sector, is facing a range of sustainability challenges, from emissions to water use.  

Scotland’s distillers are also facing the issue of peat, the use of the ingredient in the majority of whiskies on offer and its impact on the environment. Peated whisky is popular but, as we report in our cover story, manufacturers, facing criticism from campaigners, are looking at how they extract the ingredient and investing in restoration.  

Elsewhere, staying on ESG, we pore over the investment made in paper bottles and ask whether that form of packaging can really become mainstream. 

And we look at the interest in nootropic drinks, examine the efforts to sell more non-alc beer on draught and speak to spirits giant Suntory Global Spirits about trends in travel retail.

Dean Best, editor