Sip Seekers is a new search engine for distillery and brewery visitors available from this week. Its founder Victoria Miller hopes it will make the many great drinks experience tours on offer much more accessible for customers and in turn, help grow much needed revenue for many of Scotland’s distilleries and visitor centres.
This will be a first for drinks tourism as it ultimately aims to make the process of booking distillery and brewery tours effortless for visitors searching by availability, location proximity, spirit type and more.
Over 50 partner distilleries and breweries have already signed up. These include iconic sites such as Aberfeldy, Glen Garioch and Benromach as well as more urban and modern locations such as Clydeside, Holyrood and Edinburgh Gin. The islands are also well catered for with Arran, Lerwick, Orkney and Raasay all represented.
Bridgeen Mullen, Visitor Centre Manager at The Clydeside Distillery said “We are delighted to be partnering with Sip Seekers for their launch. Anything that helps visitors discover the depth of Scotland’s heritage and makes it easier for them to plan a visit is a huge win for the industry.”
“Sip Seekers brings a modern, customer friendly approach to showcasing experiences like ours and we are delighted to be part of it from day 1”
Background and Story
Whisky and the wider drinks tourism represents a huge growth opportunity for both the industry and the country’s economy as a whole.
Over 2 million people already visit whisky distilleries each year in Scotland alone. Incredibly though, 79% of Scotland’s visitors leave having not experienced a distillery tour.
Sip Seekers founder Victoria Miller said “Put simply, part of the problem is that we don’t seem to make it easy for our guests to find and book tours”. Scotland has world-class distilleries and alcohol producers, they deliver great experiences for customers but finding and booking these is often quite challenging. It really shouldn’t require opening multiple tabs or making multiple phone calls to decide on best options and due to this, the industry is almost certainly losing out on bookings”.
Miller, who has 14 years’ experience in the whisky business, got together with a tech industry friend to look to develop a solution which they feel could work for the whole industry, both customers and distilleries alike. She believes, if successful the potential upside for the industry could really be beneficial at this critical juncture.
Miller claims “The whisky industry is a really special one. One we should ALL be proud of. It is one where companies do genuinely align for the common good in areas such as legals and provenance protection”. Her university dissertation highlighted the good the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) do in this area and asked “why could it not combine better on marketing and sales”. Thus it has long been her passion to try to do something which can help across the industry in this way.
Utilising industry knowledge and contacts she has developed this ‘Sky Scanner’ type search engine which will also provide valuable tracking data for the benefit of broader market understanding.
“Since taking the leap and dedicating myself full-time to Sip Seekers, the response from the industry has been overwhelmingly positive. While a few of the more conservative voices have taken a wait-and-see approach, there is unanimous agreement that this is a much-needed opportunity for the sector.”
“Over 50 distilleries and breweries have already joined the platform, with more coming onboard every week. There has been real support from those who recognise the potential of Sip Seekers to amplify their stories and reach new audiences.”
62% of people now use third party booking platforms to book experiences. Consumers are behaving so differently now than even 7 or 8 years ago in terms of how they plan vacations and trips. Time is invaluable and making bookings as easy as possible is so important. At launch, Sip Seekers already features more than double the number of Scottish alcohol producers currently listed on global marketplace GetYourGuide, demonstrating the strength of a model built with both producers and visitors in mind.
It is hoped that travellers will gain the benefit of a clear, cross-comparative search across Scotland’s distillery and drinks experiences, while producers retain the value of direct bookings, allowing them to manage their customer relationships and experiences end-to-end.
It’s a simpler, more transparent approach for both sides.
As visitors are already spending an average of £42 at distilleries, Miller believes drinks tourism really could be an untapped growth engine for Scotland’s drinks industry in the next decade. “Scotland is bursting with brilliant distilleries- from the new and innovative to the historic and world-famous- each offering experiences that genuinely deserve to be shared with the world. Every site has its own story, its own people and its own sense of place. Sip Seekers is all about making that discovery effortless and celebratory. With just a few clicks, travellers can compare options and book directly with the distilleries that suit them best. We hope this simplicity will appeal to whisky, gin and beer lovers both locally and from further afield.”
The initiative also carries significant endorsement from Industry members such as George McNeil, previous Chairman of The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival and he said “Sip Seekers arrives at exactly the right moment for Scotland’s drinks tourism. By making the visitor decision-making process smoother and more intuitive, it opens the door for distilleries to reach new audiences, while shining a light on the rich stories to be shared and told within the industry.”
Brian Woods of the Independent Bottler Cane and Grain said “Sip Seekers has the opportunity to make real and significant change to the tourism side of our market. By harnessing innovative strategies and deep market insights, new avenues for growth and collaboration can be opened benefiting the entire Whisky industry. This forward-thinking approach aims to drive collective excellence and strengthen the industry as a whole”.
Simon Hannah CEO of Wholesaler Fillshill said “Sip Seekers has the potential to transform whisky tourism- connecting distilleries with global audiences, driving jobs and boosting Scotland’s economy”.
Market Stats source:
21% of visitors take whisky distillery tours
5% of visitors take gin or other drinks tours
6% of visitors take brewery tours
From Visit Scotland Audit 2023
£42.60 per head spend per whisky tour visit from
SWA report 2022
62% of all travellers now use a metasearch platform prior to going on any holiday.
From Rakuten Travel Affiliate Intelligence Report 2025
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