To what extent is the regulation of industries affected by changing regional political spaces? This question is tackled here by exploring the role of ‘territory’ in the construction of the institutions which both constrain economic activity and render it durable. Illustrated by an example of re-institutionalization in the Scotch whisky industry, we first uncover a range of global/European Union/UK/Scottish political spaces across which issues of territory are omnipresent. We then argue that if, post-devolution, Scotland possesses considerable latent political resources, actors still can and do choose the UK as the most pertinent territorial ‘base’ from which to regulate their industry.