Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Whisky chief breaks silence on Stirling ‘Ponzi scheme’ accusations

Jamie Lunn said: "We’ve been completely open and honest with people about what we’re doing."

One of Wolfcraig Distillers' whisky blends. Image: Wolfcraig Distillers
One of Wolfcraig Distillers' whisky blends. Image: Wolfcraig Distillers

The boss of a whisky company with hopes of opening a distillery in Stirling has hit back at “keyboard warriors” who he says unfairly criticised him and his business.

Wolfcraig Distillers came under fire in October when two of its customers shared their concerns with The Courier about the provenance of casks they had each spent around £5,000 on.

But Jamie Lunn, co-founder and director of the brand, told The Courier: “I do believe what we’re doing is positive.

“I know, obviously, off the back of the story, you get a lot of the kind of keyboard warriors that come on and post things about you and call you Ponzi schemes and scam artists.

“It’s nothing to do with that, people just read between the lines.

“We’re certainly not a Ponzi scheme.

“We’ve been completely open and honest with people about what we’re doing.

“And, listen, I’ve got nothing to hide. I’ve always said that.”

Wolfcraig has ‘sorted it all out’ with unhappy customers

Wolfcraig Distillers had plans to open a distillery and visitor centre at Stirling’s Craigforth campus.

But the firm was unable to secure council planning permission.

Then, in September this year, the whisky company informed customers that their casks would be filled at an unnamed Highland distillery rather than one in Stirling.

Investors Howard Downey and Iain Smith expressed their disappointment with this outcome.

Proposed plans for a Wolfcraig distillery and visitor centre were rejected. Image: Wolfcraig Distillers/Stirling Council

In October, Mr Downey told The Courier the “lack of provenance” was “unacceptable”.

He claimed Wolfcraig was not honouring its commitment to customers, giving them no choice but to accept “unbranded” whisky.

Mr Smith added: “My fear is loss of value in a cask for all, as there will be no provenance associated with the cask – a cask that a person has bought at a premium price due to provenance.”

But Mr Lunn claims the two men were the only Wolfcraig cask-buyers who raised concerns.

“We had conversations with them; sorted it all out,” he said.

“We understand each other’s positions.”

Prices for a Wolfcraig Distillers ‘Alpha Wolf Package’ including a whisky cask started at £3,995. Image: Smit/Shutterstock

The Wolfcraig investors who spoke to The Courier lashed out at the whisky firm for poor communication.

In October, Mr Downey called the company’s lack of engagement “arrogant”.

But Mr Lunn said: “I can understand a couple of people if they thought the communication wasn’t good enough.

“We’ve got over 1,000 members that we try to keep on top of and, unfortunately, sometimes we don’t.

“But it’s a lot of people to deal with.”

‘No negativity’ from majority of cask-buyers

When Wolfcraig’s casks went on sale, a maximum of 1,000 were advertised.

According to Mr Lunn, the company didn’t sell “anywhere near” that number.

“Obviously, people were doing their own maths and working out things and, obviously, it attracted a lot of negative press,” he says.

But, despite online criticism, Mr Lunn insists his customers are happy.

“There’s been no negativity around it,” said the founder.

“We’re still trying to grow a brand and we’re still working away in the background on the distillery.

“So, yeah, we’re just trying to push forward.”

During the sale period for Wolfcraig Distillers casks, the whisky company posted on social media suggesting the uptake had been high

Cask-filling reportedly on track

The whisky boss says his company is on track to fill all of its casks by the end of the year, as promised, and filling is underway.

“At the moment, we’re going well – getting through it,” he said.

“I can’t give too much information away just now because I’m about to get another email out to our members this week and next week, just with more updates.

“We’ve still got plans, but I’ve just got a few things to sort out and deal with, the casks being priority at the moment.

“And then, in the new year, we’ll look forward and we’ll continue to grow the memberships.”


For more Stirling news and features visit our page or join us on Facebook

Conversation