IVOR Lewis, the man who

controlled a third of Scotland's whisky output, is quitting after his failure to gain a more senior post in the drinks giant Diageo.

As UK operations director of United Distillers and Vintners (UDV), the spirits arm of Diageo, Lewis controlled 27 of Scotland's 85 working malt whisky

distilleries.

From his headquarters in

Edinburgh, he also supervised the group's whisky bottling plants in Scotland and its Gordon's gin and and Smirnoff vodka production South of the Border.

UDV announced yesterday that Lewis was handing over his responsibilities immediately to David Hardie, 53, Diageo's managing director for global operations. But a spokesman said he would continue working with the company until the autumn to come to ensure a smooth

transition.

A new global management structure is being created within Diageo and Lewis will not be directly replaced. This inevitably raises fears that management control of Diageo's whisky production and marketing activities is slipping further away from Scotland.

There will no longer be one individual based in Edinburgh with overall responsibility for

Diageo's whisky production and packaging activities in Scotland.

Instead, responsibility for the different aspects of spirits production in the UK will be split between six directors with global responsibilities, three of them based in Edinburgh and three in London.

Hardie, who is presently based in London, will spend some time working out of a new office in Edinburgh, but much of his time will be spent travelling to visit Diageo's various spirits manufacturing operations around the world.

UDV insiders said Lewis, 52, quit his #180,000-a-year post out of disappointment that he was not promoted after Diageo was created by the merger of Guinness and GrandMet in December. He particularly coveted Hardie's job as Diageo's head of world-wide

spirits production.

The sources said Lewis wished to remain in Scotland if possible, but he was looking for a new business challenge to crown his career and this could take him further afield.

He joined United Distillers, the spirits arm of Guinness, in 1991, and became managing director for UK operations based in

Edinburgh a year later.

Using skills acquired as a manager in the engineering industry with JCB and Rover, Lewis set to work streamlining the whisky production chain to cut costs and improve efficiency. He closed three bottling plants and mothballed four distilleries in moves that led to 700 job losses. But for the last two years he has had little to do apart from keeping the company's slimmed down operations ticking over.

''He wants a fresh challenge, something of significance,'' one close colleague said of Lewis's decision. Earlier this year Diageo announced the closure of its UK spirits marketing operation in Perth.

Hardie, who supervises everything from tequila production in Mexico to rum making in

Australia will be at best an irregular visitor to Scotland.

A native of Alloa, he created and led GrandMet's brewing division in the 1970's. Following the group's acquisition of the US food producer Pillsbury in 1989, he moved to the US to direct

GrandMet's food production operations in North America.

Hardie moved back to the UK in 1994 and became managing director of GrandMet's global spirits operations last year, a few months before the merger with Guinness.