You make a valid argument; my kneejerk reaction to the grandparent was to go "damn corporations!11", but at the same time, a lot of those hundreds of years old brands wouldn't be around anymore if it wasn't for those. As long as they leave the distilleries to do their thing I guess I'm okay with it.

Plus they can much more efficiently handle distribution. I mean I don't think an independent Scottish distillery would easily send representatives to e.g. Japan to create new markets there. If representatives representing 130 brands at a time goes there, however...