A new Scottish platform is aiming to make it far easier for visitors to plan drinks-led trips across the country, as demand for whisky tourism and other food and drink experiences continues to grow. Sip Seekers, launched in 2025, is designed to help travellers find and book distillery tours, gin tastings, brewery visits and other experiences in one place, a service its founder, Victoria Miller, has compared to a travel search engine for whisky. According to The Scotsman, the idea emerged after she tried to arrange a last-minute Highland distillery visit and found herself juggling several websites and phone calls just to check availability.

Ms Miller’s pitch is rooted in more than 14 years in the drinks trade, including sales, marketing and international business development roles helping Scotch whisky brands expand across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In comments to The Scotsman, she said people are drawn to whisky not only for what is in the glass but for the stories, places and people behind it, and argued that tourists need a simpler way to compare experiences. Sip Seekers says it acts as a specialist search engine for alcohol tourism, connecting users directly with distilleries, breweries and makers while directing spend towards local producers and communities.

The company also wants to position drinks tourism as a broader economic driver rather than a niche attraction. Ms Miller told The Scotsman that visitors to distilleries often spend money in local restaurants, cafés, shops and accommodation, creating what she described as a ripple effect through rural economies. Sip Seekers says Scotland has only begun to tap its drinks tourism potential, and that increasing the share of overnight visitors who tour a distillery from two in ten to three in ten could unlock significant additional spending and support jobs in communities that benefit most from tourism.

Alongside standard tours, the platform is leaning into the premium end of the market. Its website highlights features such as route planning, event listings and curated experiences ranging from independent whisky festivals to rare bottlings, private weekends and chauffeur-driven trips. Ms Miller told The Scotsman that demand is growing for more immersive and exclusive experiences, including whisky and chocolate pairings, blending sessions and cask samples, suggesting that the next phase of whisky tourism may be as much about discovery as it is about the dram itself.

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