Campbell, the former Laphroaig distillery manager, will head up the production team for the release of Lochlea’s inaugural liquid set to launch in early 2022.

Campbell spent 27 years working on Islay before agreeing to join the Lochlea Distillery, based at Lochlea farm which sits below Glasgow, Scotland.

“Moving over to the mainland and joining Lochlea Distillery is an exciting step for my career. It’s an opportunity to develop a whisky that is innovative and distinctive, with a distillery that shares my ethos on quality, environment and sustainability,” said Campbell.

“Getting involved in the process from this early stage means I can help to define what Lochlea becomes. The next few years are going to be incredibly exciting for us and I’m looking forward to us creating something really special.”

Lochlea’s commercial manager, David Ferguson, added: “From our first meeting it was clear that John’s values aligned closely with ours as a business. His experience at Laphroaig in growing an iconic global whisky brand over the past 27 years is impressive.

“Though the most exciting part for me is that he brings new ideas, an emphasis on quality and an entrepreneurial streak which shone through with the Cairdeas bottlings he was responsible for.

“Having full traceability from growing our own barley through to maturing every drop of our spirit on site is great, but just as important is the team we’re building to develop the brand. John is another fantastic addition and will undoubtedly help us fulfil the ambitious plans we have for Lochlea.”

Lochlea Distillery is the result of a £6m investment with planning for the purpose-built facility starting in 2014 and whisky production commencing in August 2018.