Elixir Distillers announced the appointment of Georgie Crawford as distillery manager for the company’s forthcoming Islay distillery.

Having been with Diageo’s distilleries for 14 years, more recently as manager for Lagavulin and then the Port Ellen Distillery Revival project, Crawford will join Elixir Distillers this summer, when construction on the distillery on Islay’s south coast is set to begin.

Crawford’s career in Scotch whisky began at The Vaults in Edinburgh, the home of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in 2002. It was Lagavulin and the role as manager that brought Georgie back to Islay. 

“Having grown up on Islay, attending school a stone’s throw from our distillery site, Georgie’s love for the island and all its distilleries is unrivalled,” Sukhinder Singh, co-founder of Elixir Distillers, said in a news release. “She not only shares our passion for Islay whisky, but also our vision for the future and I know that she will bring both exceptional expertise and a fresh approach to a new Islay distillery. We’re genuinely excited to have her on board as we begin the creation of our distillery.”

Added Crawford, “I have been friends with Sukhinder and Ollie [Elixir Distillers’ head blender] for a long time and was always keen to hear about their plans for the new distillery build here on Islay.  It is an honor to be asked to join their team and to help them take their ideas from plans to reality.”