'Nc’nean’s Commitment to Sustainability Means We’ll still be making whisky 30 years from Now'

Monday, 15 December 2025 at 17:15

Though she’s only 25 springs young, Suzanne Riviere is mad about whisky and especially about Nc’nean’s vision. We spoke with the European Brand Ambassador about sustainability and how she first fell in love with whisky.

Rooted in the vineyards

Suzanne is from France and started out in the wine industry. “It’s what every French teenager does when they want to earn money in the summer, you work in the vineyards,” she says with a laugh. For most French teens it ends as a summer job, but not for Suzanne. She went on to study a related field and took a job at a wine shop.

Her fascination with drinks started early, though not with whisky.

'When you’re young, you party and drink bad spirits. You don’t really enjoy it. You have to discover the good stuff.'

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An employer who encouraged whisky exploration

That discovery of good whisky happened in that very wine shop. “My boss made me try whisky,” she says again with a big smile. At first she didn’t care for it, but Suzanne tried new whiskies every day, and the spark slowly caught fire.

'It’s like coffee: You have to push yourself to learn to drink it. I became obsessed and found myself more interested in spirits than wine.'

Japanese whiskies

'I started with Japanese whisky. It’s so delicate and elegant. It’s a great entry point into the world of whisky. It’s not as challenging as heavily peated whisky. You can ease into this delicate world and start experimenting from there.'

She quickly fell for vintage whiskies too, especially one from Glenfarclas, and with that her love for Scotch was born. The leap to becoming a brand ambassador for Nc’nean suddenly felt natural, particularly because she loves the brand’s approach to sustainability.

Caring for the planet

'In Scotland we have amazing whiskies and traditions, but sometimes we don’t see sustainability. Things are changing fast in today’s world. And we think it’s important to find solutions so we can still be making whisky 30 years from now.'

She explains that everything is evolving quickly. We might face water shortages in a few years, costs are rising, and so on. Nc’nean is Scotland’s most sustainable distillery, where whisky production is literally guided by nature.

Nc’nean has also devised an innovative way to cool the vapors from the stills without using energy.

'We literally created a pond at the distillery that fills with rain, and we installed a closed-loop system. Production is tuned to this process. In summer it rains less, so there’s less production in a day. We work with what we have.'

That doesn’t mean overall whisky production is lower. Only that everything is adapted to the seasons.

Nc’nean was also among the first distilleries to launch a 100 percent recyclable bottle made from recycled glass. The company is working around the clock to find ways to harness nature to its advantage in whisky making.

“We’re spirit lovers”

And it’s not sustainability for sustainability’s sake. “We can’t do one without the other. If we make bad whisky, there’s no point in being sustainable. The goal is to translate sustainability into great whisky. (…) we’re spirit lovers.”

As mentioned, Orchard Cobbler has just been released, and Suzanne has a great music pairing to go with it: Artemis by Aurora. 'She makes great tracks, and it’s fun that this resonates with the idea of her being a huntress.'

Favorite whisky: Longmorn 18 Years
Glasses of whisky per week: 1–2
Most fun bottle owned: Nikka Yoichi 10 Years Single Malt
Most expensive whisky ever drunk: 32-year-old Rosebank
Whisky country to watch: Denmark. 'I love Stauning.'
Whisky you wish you’d created: 'Obviously an old French whisky.'
Least favorite whisky: Label 5