Paul Miller

Paul Miller was born in November of 1961. His whisky story begins the way many modern Scotch stories do, and that is with a career spent learning how drink brands are built. Miller varies in that he experienced a serendipitous moment of clarity at St Andrews, when he realized a town with global foot traffic had no local watering hole to which he could take a visiting boss. By then, he had already spent decades in the drinks world; 37 years, in fact. Starting at Oddbins, Miller then worked at International Distillers & Vintners, a company that would later form part of what is now Diageo. After ten years there, much of it in new product development, he moved to Glenmorangie during the period when that company acquired Ardbeg. Those years help explain what Eden Mill became. Miller wasn’t just learning distillation; he was learning brand architecture: how products are positioned, launched, and kept alive long enough to earn loyalty.

In 2004, Miller completed an MBA at the University of Edinburgh Business School, which led up to his now-iconic business story. On a St Andrews trip in 2006, Miller, who was by then head of Molson Coors’ Scottish business, was hosting his boss at the famous golf venue when, at the course bar in the wee hours of the morning, he was asked to recommend a local brewery to visit. Despite being a native of the area, he couldn’t name one, and the absence sparked an idea. That seed stayed with him for years. Nevertheless, Miller did not immediately jump into entrepreneurship, and he spent a further four years at Molson Coors, then took a short-lived role in 2010 as a liaison between the drinks industry and the Scottish Government.

The time for Miller to act on his entrepreneurial instinct came in 2012. When space became available at the former Guardbridge paper mill site, which was owned by the University of St Andrews, Miller, along with his friend and partner Tony Kelly, established the Eden Mill Brewery in the summer of 2012. Once the brewery was completed and productive, Miller decided that the next step for Eden Mill was whisky. So, in 2014, three copper pot stills were installed and, that November, Eden Mill produced its first single malt. By 2018, those minimally aged single malts were reaching the market.

Miller knew that the spirit was young enough to attract skeptics. His plan, however, was not peaty, highly oak-infused malts; in fact, he was deliberately avoiding what he called “high-ticket debut bottles,” instead, releasing smaller-format “hip-flask” bottlings to “put the whisky into more hands at accessible prices.” For his shrewdness in the matter, Miller received Global Marketer of the Year at an Academy of Marketing Science Congress. Success and acknowledgement in the form of financial backing followed, when, in January 2022, Eden Mill secured majority investment from Inverleith LLP, with Paul continuing to lead the business as managing director. Nevertheless, eighteen months later, Scottish Financial News reported the departure of Eden Mill’s co-founder and managing director, Paul Miller. He had voluntarily resigned, saying he wanted to focus on other personal interests.

Unforeseeably, Eden Mill’s recent story soon showed how brutal the wider spirits cycle can be. In November 2025, Eden Mill’s new owner entered administration, citing a range of economic factors including changing consumer behaviors, rising operating costs, falling export sales, and overall reduced consumer demand for alcohol. Fortunately, the company was quickly bought out of administration by private investor Ruby Capital, saving all 42 staff jobs.

Taken together, Miller’s career reflects a pattern that runs headlong through modern Scotch whisky: long apprenticeships inside large companies, followed by a move toward smaller, founder-led ventures that rely as much on brand discipline as on distilling technique. Eden Mill’s survival through multiple ownership changes underscores that the business he helped build exists within larger market forces. However, it also confirms that Miller’s own creation, a distillery in the shadow of world-famous St Andrews, finally obtained and grew its own brewing and distilling presence, until it has now become a permanent part of the town’s beloved commercial landscape.

Sources:

  1. Companies House, “Paul Miller appointments”,  www.find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

  2. ScotchWhisky.com, “Five minutes with… Paul Miller, Eden Mill”, Becky Paskin, 10 May 2018, scotchwhisky.com 

  3. Scottish Licensed Trade News, “Eden Mill crafting…”, 11 Jun 2015, sltn.co.uk 

  4. Whiskypedia, “Eden Mill”,  scotchwhisky.com 

  5. DRAM Scotland, “Eden Mill secure new investment”, 25 Jan 2022, dramscotland.co.uk

  6. Scottish Financial News, “Rennie Donaldson ascends as CEO of Eden Mill”, 14 Aug 2023, scottishfinancialnews.com

  7. The Caterer, “Scottish distillery Eden Mill rescued from administration”, Clare Nicholls, 21 Nov 2025, thecaterer.com 

Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee USA