Scotch Whisky Puts Out the Welcome Mat...Slowly

Tourism has become a major part of the Scotch Whisky industry,
with two million people visiting distilleries in both 2018 and
2019. 2020, the "Year of the Pandemic," will be much different
after distilleries had to shut down their visitors centers for
nearly four months because of coronavirus-related public health
restrictions. As of July 15, they can reopen with strict limits
to prevent a flareup of new Covid-19 cases, but only a handful
have put out the welcome mat so far. The Scotch Whisky Experience
on Edinburgh's Royal Mile will not reopen until August 17, and
we'll talk with Julie Trevisan Hunter about the issues she and
her colleagues around Scotland are facing. In the news, the
deadline for public comments on the Trump Administration's latest
review of tariffs on single malts from Scotland and Northern
Ireland is coming up this weekend. Juice boxes are a common sight
for kids, but what about a "whisky box" for adults? That's a
loosely-defined version of the paper-based "bottles" Diageo plans
to test with Johnnie Walker whiskies next year, and we'll go
Behind the Label to look at the Texas-grown barley used in the
latest Balcones single malt.