Silent Seasons, Production Pauses and Mothballing Explained

A spirit still being refurbished off site and a 106 year old mill being serviced: Glengoyne’s account of 25 June 2025 shows what a silent season can look like behind the distillery doors. Production stops to allow maintenance work.[1]

A silent season normally means a planned maintenance shutdown. A production pause or mothballing announcement may signal a longer interruption, with no settled restart date. The distinction lies in what has stopped, why, for how long and what continues elsewhere on the site.[1][2][8][11]

What a silent season means

A silent season is time set aside for work carried out while production is stopped. Laphroaig calls it a “period of maintenance shutdown”, usually in July and typically lasting three weeks. Glengoyne says it stops production every summer for rest and repair.[1][2]

The equipment work can be substantial. Bruichladdich reported 13 maintenance projects during one shutdown, including the replacement of malt intake equipment dating from the 1960s.[3]

Water availability also helps explain the summer timing. Laphroaig says its July pause is based around traditional water shortages. Bruichladdich explains that some Islay distilleries shut during the warmer months because water tables are at their lowest. Those explanations describe the producers’ schedules, rather than a fixed calendar for every distillery.[2][3]

Nor must there be exactly one silent season each year. Laphroaig’s 2025 maintenance programme included an additional engineering shutdown.[2]

Story box: Two silent seasons at Laphroaig

Verdict: Documented

Laphroaig reports that it held two silent seasons in 2025, including an engineering shutdown from 7 April to 3 May.[2]

Source: Laphroaig, 2025: https://www.laphroaig.com/en-gb/spring-distillery-update

Last checked: November 2026. Exact day not documented.

How to distinguish the announcements

A three week maintenance shutdown and an indefinite production pause tell different stories. These examples show what the wording means in practice, rather than defining interchangeable categories.[2][8]

That last distinction matters. MGP said distilling at the two Kentucky facilities might resume “as early as 12 months after that date”. The wording gives a possible earliest return, not a commitment to restart on the anniversary.[11]

Why production stops

Maintenance is the clear purpose of the silent seasons described by Glengoyne, Laphroaig and Bruichladdich. Other pauses concern production scheduling or investment.[1][2][3]

Irish Distillers described the Midleton interruption beginning in early April 2025 as a “routine, periodic review” of its production schedule. That is the company’s stated explanation; it does not establish every commercial consideration behind the decision.[12]

Investment can also be the stated reason. On 22 December 2025, Jim Beam announced a 2026 production pause at its main Clermont distillery in Kentucky. It said it would use the opportunity “to invest in site enhancements”, while distinguishing that facility from production continuing elsewhere.[10]

These explanations need not be forced into a single story about demand. Maintenance accounts describe maintenance; scheduling statements set out a company’s stated rationale. Wider industry conditions can provide context, but they do not replace evidence about a particular site. For that broader context, see craft distillery challenges.

A stopped still does not mean a closed site

At Limestone Branch and Lux Row, distilling was to stop while much of the site activity continued. MGP’s announcement of 7 April 2026 said distilling would be idled from 1 May, affecting 33 employees. Warehousing, bottling and barrel programmes would continue, and both visitor centres were to remain open.[11]

Jim Beam drew a similar distinction between its main Clermont distillery and its other operations. During the announced pause, production was to continue at the Fred B. Noe Distillery in Clermont and the Booker Noe plant in Boston, Kentucky. The Clermont campus was to stay open to visitors.[10]

Visitors may also find tours running during routine maintenance. Laphroaig says its tours continue through the shutdown, although some areas are off limits. An open visitor operation tells you about access, not necessarily whether the stills are working.[2]

The facility’s exact name matters just as much. In November 2025, reporting concerned Roseisle Maltings near Elgin. Diageo said it had temporarily paused production there to balance capacity against demand, that it was “not closing permanently”, and that staff had been redeployed. The announced pause extended at least until June 2026.[9]

The announcement concerned maltings, rather than every operation bearing the Roseisle name. Equally, continued bottling or warehousing does not cancel out a separately documented pause in distilling. Each activity needs to be described on its own terms.[9][11]

Why mothballing needs careful wording

Glenglassaugh shows how one interruption can produce sharply different descriptions, even when the accounts concern the same distillery.[8]

Story box: Glenglassaugh’s production pause

Verdict: Disputed

In January 2025, The Spirits Business reported an indefinite production pause. Brown-Forman said it was “not shutting down” and would share production with BenRiach, with occasional silent seasons. A departing team member described it as “closing for a while”.[8]

Source: The Spirits Business, January 2025: https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/01/glenglassaugh-pauses-production/

Last checked: November 2026. Exact day not documented.

The clearest account keeps those voices distinct. The report records an indefinite production pause and disagreement over its description. Brown-Forman’s “not shutting down” does not mean uninterrupted distilling; the departing team member’s “closing for a while” does not mean permanent closure. Neither phrase should be stretched beyond what it says.[8]

Long closures and the danger of permanent predictions

Brora was silent for 38 years before production returned. Diageo records its closure in 1983 and restart on 19 May 2021. Port Ellen also closed in 1983; Diageo records its reopening on 19 March 2024.[4][5]

Those returns show that a long closure need not be the end. They do not promise a return for other closed sites. Trade reporting describes twenty distillery closures in the 1980s. Some later reopened; others were demolished. Even within the same period of industry contraction, the outcomes were very different.[7]

The scale of that contraction helps explain the backdrop. Scotchwhisky.com reported that Scotch distilling output fell by 35% in 1981 and stayed low for a decade. It also reported that a surplus of three year old whisky remained two decades after production was cut.[7]

How to read a production pause announcement

Use five questions to turn an announcement into a clear account of what is happening:

1. Which facility is named? Keep Roseisle Maltings distinct from other operations rather than extending the announcement beyond the named facility.[9]
2. Which activity stops? Separate distilling from warehousing, bottling and barrel programmes, as MGP did.[11]
3. What dates are definite? Record confirmed dates separately from possible ones.[11]
4. Whose explanation is being reported? Attribute company statements, trade reporting and an individual’s account, especially when their descriptions differ.[8]
5. What remains open? Check visitor access separately, as the Laphroaig and Jim Beam examples show.[2][10]

A quiet still is not a verdict on a distillery’s future. The useful story is what the silence means at that site.

Where to go next

• Boom and Bust: How Whisky Industry Cycles Work: the wider relationship between production and stocks.
• The Rise and Challenges of Craft Whisky Distilleries: the business context for smaller producers.
• How a New Distillery Gets Started: From Licence to First Cask: the distinct stages involved in beginning production.

Sources

1. Glengoyne Distillery. Silent season. An important tradition in whisky-making. Producer’s account, 25 June 2025. https://www.glengoyne.com/news/silent-season-important-tradition-in-whisky-making

2. Laphroaig. Spring Distillery Update: Silent Season. Producer’s account, 2025 update. https://www.laphroaig.com/en-gb/spring-distillery-update

3. Bruichladdich Distillery. A Fine Balance: Walking the line between Victorian and Progressive. Producer’s account, undated. https://uk.bruichladdich.com/blogs/news/a-fine-balance-walking-the-line-between-victorian-and-progressive

4. Diageo. Diageo’s iconic “ghost” distillery of Brora is reawakened after 38 years. Producer’s account, 2021. https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/stories/2021/diageo-s-iconic-ghost-distillery-of-brora-is-reawakened-after-38-years

5. Diageo. Trailblazing new light shines in Scotch whisky as Port Ellen distillery is reborn. Producer’s press release, 19 March 2024. https://www.diageo.com/~/media/Files/D/Diageo-V2/Diageo-Corp/press-release/2024/port-ellen-distillery-launch-press-release_-is-cr-v6-updated-comprend.pdf

6. Scotchwhisky.com. Is a second ‘whisky loch’ brewing?. Trade feature, undated in the supplied record. https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/features/26340/is-a-second-whisky-loch-brewing/

7. The Spirits Business. Glenglassaugh pauses production. Trade report, January 2025. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/01/glenglassaugh-pauses-production/

8. The Spirits Business. Diageo halts production at Roseisle Maltings. Trade report, 18 November 2025. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/11/diageo-halts-production-at-roseisle-maltings/

9. UPI. Jim Beam to halt production at main Kentucky distillery in 2026. News report, 22 December 2025. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/12/22/Kentucky-Jim-Beam-pause-production-2026-whiskey-distillery-alcohol/7201766415807

10. MGP Ingredients. Exhibit 99.1: press release on temporarily idling distilling at two Kentucky facilities. SEC filing exhibit, 7 April 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/835011/000083501126000052/ex991mgpdistillery.htm

11. The Spirits Business. Irish Distillers joins Diageo in production pause. Trade report, March 2025. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/03/irish-distillers-joins-diageo-in-production-pause/

This desk research explainer draws on the site’s verified fact sheet, distinguishing producers’ accounts, a filed company announcement and trade reporting.

Last checked: November 2026