LEXINGTON, Ky. — Sixteen University of Kentucky students spent three weeks in Edinburgh this summer, exporting Kentucky’s growing expertise in spirits education across the Atlantic while forging connections between two of the world’s most prominent whisky-producing regions. The program, coord inated through the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits and UK’s Lewis Honors College, combined distillery visits, academic projects and cultural exploration to deepen students’ understanding of the global spirits industry. One student team developed a marketing strategy for Ballindalloch Distillery, a Scottish producer recently joining the Estate Whiskey Alliance, aimed at reaching American consumers. “Everywhere you go in Scotland, Kentucky comes up,” said Ilka Balk, associate director of the Beam Institute, who accompanied the students. “Distilleries over there use our casks for aging and are always friendly and warm to our students.” The connection between Kentucky bourbon and Scotch whisky runs deep. Scottish distilleries regularly mature whisky in used American bourbon barrels, creating an economic and production link between producers on both sides of the Atlantic. Jacob Keaton, a UK landscape architecture student also pursuing the university’s Distillation, Wine and Brewing Sciences Certificate, said the program provided valuable perspective. “The program was wonderful in exploring the industry as a whole and understanding the different pieces that make up Scottish whisky,” Keaton said. Ballindalloch’s international sales representative Aidan Dunn praised the students’ engagement. “Their enthusiasm, curiosity and willingness to get involved made them a pleasure to work with, and it was refreshing to see them applying their academic knowledge in a real distillery environment,” he said. The Scotland initiative reflects UK’s expanding international reach in spirits education. Established through a $5 million gift from Suntory Global Spirits in 2019, the Beam Institute offers multidisciplinary courses across engineering, chemistry, business, law, horticulture, forestry and food science to address industry needs. Ballindalloch is working toward certification through the Estate Whiskey Alliance, which was established at UK in 2023. Under EWA standards, production must occur at the distillery with at least two-thirds of grains grown on estate-owned or controlled land. Ballindalloch is the organization’s first member in Scotland. “Opportunities like this are exactly why the Estate Whiskey Alliance was founded: to foster connections that advance the estate whiskey community,” said Alexa Narel, associate director of the alliance. The organization aims to expand collaborations between member distilleries and UK students, providing additional experiential-learning opportunities while developing international relationships within the spirits industry. Sources Lane Report (KY Business) James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits official website Estate Whiskey Alliance official website This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Lane Report (KY Business), enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://www.lanereport.com/189060/2026/08/uk-beam-institute-students-take-kentucky-spirits-education-to-scotland/. View in feeds The post UK students expand Kentucky spirits education to Scotland appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less