Articles by Ian Buxton
Does history hold the key to future
brand development? Ian Buxton puts on his white gloves and has a delve around. The readers of this magazine include in their number some pretty enthusiastic collectors, and the proliferation of whisky auctions, specialist dealers and eBay sales illustrates just how powerful the ...
From Issue 78 in
Whisky archives
published on 27/02/2009
For our 10th anniversary issue,Ian Buxton profiles 10 people who have shaped today’s global whisky industry.While these are only short biographical sketchs of individuals,all of whom deserve an article or book in their own right,we hope it may inspire you to discover more.
Alfred Barnard, the great Victorian chronicler might be surprised at the importance attached today to his work. He was, after all, essentially, a relatively obscure journalist (who also tried his hand...
From Issue 76 in
Whisky Legends
published on 28/11/2008
Ian Buxton meets the Brazilian collector with a record breaking collection.
Where would you find William MacFarlane’s Number One Harbour Master whisky? Or, for that matter, Mason & Summers Auld Shepp?
Give up? Well, very soon they’ll be on view in Edinburgh’s Scotch Wh...
From Issue 76 in
Colector
published on 28/11/2008
Ian Buxton finds out more about this tiny yet hugely significant part of whisky packaging.
The cork and elaborately engraved stopper on some luxury whiskies can end up costing you £3 or more, the cork itself has come on a fascinating journey and deserves your attention.
After all, it does...
From Issue 75 in
Whisky issues
published on 31/10/2008
Ian Buxton meets the man behind Balvenie's style
With more than 45 years in the whisky industry, remarkably with just one company, you’d expect David Stewart to think carefully before putting his signature on a bottle.
And you’d be entitled to ...
From Issue 72 in
Whisky People
published on 19/06/2008
Ian Buxton looks at some innovative uses for casks and washbacks when the whisky industry has finished with them.
The distilling industry likes to promote its environmental credentials and lays heavy emphasis on the use of waste materials, such as draff and pot ale. But distilleries use a lot of wood, in casks an...
From Issue 71 in
Production
published on 17/04/2008
The last time I tried falling off a log I nearly broke my ankle. It looks easy enough, the principle isn’t hard to understand but doing it gracefully is another matter. And doing it day after day is...
From Issue 71 in
Blended Whisky
published on 17/04/2008
So you'd like to invest in Whisky? Ian Buxton reports
It’s a good plan. After all, you know something of the subject, you enjoy the product and whisky’s prospects look exceptionally good. So what do you do?
There are three routes with, as you might ...
From Issue 70 in
Whisky issues
published on
Ian Buxton looks atone of whisky’smoreinfluential yet unassuming gatherings.
Why would more than a hundred of the most powerful international executives in the Scotch whisky industry gather in private in a Highland Castle?
Why would they need the last private army in Europe t...
From Issue 69 in
Whisky People
published on 18/01/2008
Ian Buxton looks back at the career of one of the whisky world's titans - Tom Aitken.
After nearly 40 years experience in the drinks industry, and with a career that has embraced gin, cachaça and coffee liqueurs as well as Scotch whisky, it might be expected that Tom Aitken has some i...
From Issue 68 in
Whisky Interview
published on 07/12/2007
Ian Buxton delves into the world of premium aged blends
It’s been a mantra for the global spirits industry for some while – but at last it seems to be coming true, especially for Scotch whisky.
Single malts have been growing at around 8.5 per cent per...
From Issue 67 in
Premium blends
published on 01/11/2007
Ian Buxton looking at the rising phenomena of distilling spirit from the comfort of your armchair,shed or garage.
Personally, I blame Bonnie Prince Charlie.
The least he could have done, if he couldn’t have remained a Continental playboy, was to have won his battle for the British throne. That way, we might ne...
From Issue 66 in
Distillery at home
published on 25/09/2007
Ian Buxton dusts off the film canisters to discover a lost world
In every distillery visitor centre you care to name you’ll see the same picture. It’s sepia, often a bit grainy and it features a group of serious looking individuals gazing earnestly at the camer...
From Issue 65 in
Whisky and Film
published on 20/07/2007
Ian Buxton dons his wellies and digs out his shepherd’s crook
Spencerfield Spirits is not your usual whisky company. For one thing, it’s based in the tack room attic of the owner’s thoroughbred livery stable and, for another, you have to meet Doug (the compa...
From Issue 64 in
Whisky Trends
published on 01/06/2007
Ian Buxton peruses the library for some of the finest whisky books
How would you like a whisky investment that you can enjoy, display in your home, share with friends and which, however often you use it, will never wear out? And, as a special bonus, will almost certa...
From Issue 64 in
Whisky books
published on 01/06/2007
Two new distilleries announced in as many months...are we on the brink of a golden time for whisky? Ian Buxton finds out
Things are stirring in the world of Scotch whisky. With growing affluence in the so called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) the demand for luxury whisky is growing rapidly.
Sales of pre...
From Issue 63 in
Whisky Production
published on 20/04/2007
Ian Buxton looks at the man behind the iconic pagoda,his contemporaries and his legacy
Stop reading this article now – and draw a distillery. Then come back to this page.
Chances are your sketch, however crude, has a pagoda roof somewhere in the design.
You didn’t have to think ab...
From Issue 62 in
Architecture
published on 01/03/2007
Ian Buxton uncovers some of the less heard whisky quotes
On publication of his novel, The Hippopotamus, people kept giving Stephen Fry toy hippos.
“It is really very kind of them,” said Fry, “but I have decided that my next book will be called 18 Yea...
From Issue 61 in
Whisky Spotlight
published on 19/01/2007
The autumn is always an exciting time for whisky collectors and connoisseurs. There are generally a number of exciting limited edition releases,targeted at the gift market,and this year is no exception.
In this article we are going to look at the some of the very latest and most attractive limited edition releases – but you will have to be quick as demand will be high. One of the most highly demand...
From Issue 60 in
Limited editions
published on 10/11/2006
A new company is breathing new life in to old lost tomes.Ian Buxtontells us more
As regular readers will know, I am an enthusiast for old whisky books for several reasons.
Firstly, they are often attractive objects, “Books do furnish a room” as Anthony Powell remarked.
Secon...
From Issue 60 in
Whisky books
published on 10/11/2006
As the Gaelic whisky company hits the big 30,Ian Buxtontakes a trip to Skye to find out what’s next
Guests at the 30th anniversary party for Sir Iain Noble’s Pràban na Linne Gaelic whisky company enjoyed two birthday surprises: the sampling of a new 30 year Poit Dhubh limited edition bottling and...
From Issue 60 in
Gaelic whisky
published on 10/11/2006
Ian Buxton looks at turbulent times during whiskey’s history
So begins William Findley’s classic account of the Whiskey Rebellion, his History of the Insurrection, published in Philadelphia in 1796.
You have to admire his understatement.
“Interesting scen...
From Issue 59 in
Whisky rebellion
published on 11/10/2006
Ian Buxton gets his taste buds tickled with the latest releases
Cult Islay distillers Bruichladdich has announced the release of a staggering eight new expressions.
Top of the heap is the Bruichladdich 125th Anniversary, commemorating the distillery’s 1881 foun...
From Issue 59 in
Whisky Spotlight
published on 11/10/2006
Just when you thought you’d heard the end of whisky investment scams, Ian Buxton says the true story will be in the drinking
Iwas reminded of this old adage when browsing around eBay recently. There I saw what looked like a real bargain – a hogshead of 10 year old single malt starting at offers of more than £200!
Out c...
From Issue 58 in
Whisky Spotlight
published on 30/08/2006
Royal Lochnagar is an iconic distillery that ticks all the whisky lovers’ boxes. Ian Buxton visited it
Imagine one of those ‘50 things to do before you die’ lists. ‘Visit a distillery’ would have to be right up there (even for non whisky drinkers). But which one?
Well, we will all have our fa...
From Issue 58 in
Distillery Focus
published on 30/08/2006
Whisky by Aeneas MacDonald is being republished. But who was the writer shielded behind the author's pseudonym? Ian Buxton solves the mystery
It is, according to Dave Broom, “the finest whisky book ever written.” Charles MacLean nominates it as “the one whisky book I would take to a desert island.” T S Eliot presented a copy to Har...
From Issue 57 in
Whisky icons
published on 21/07/2006
Johnnie Walker Blue Label is a thoroughbred whisky but does it live up to the hype? Ian Buxton got close and personal
When you think about it, Johnnie Walker Blue Label is a little like the impressively large marine mammal that shares its colour.
Like the blue whale, it’s rare, rather precious and, even if you don...
From Issue 57 in
Whisky issues
published on 21/07/2006
Glengoyne,close to Glasgow and not quite Lowlands or Highlands,is a charming but under-rated distillery. Ian Buxton returned there 30 years after he first visited it
Imust confess an unnatural fondness for Glengoyne. It was, after all, the very first distillery I ever visited and, as that happened during my first and, so far, only honeymoon, it left quite an impre...
From Issue 56 in
Distillery Focus
published on 01/06/2006
Deanston Distillery is something of a hidden gem. Ian Buxton visited it
“We need to work smarter,not harder”
That’s the view of Graham MacWilliam, Inver House’s Distilleries general manager, and you can’t argue with that.
After all, in Speyburn Inver House ha...
From Issue 55 in
Distillery focus
published on 14/04/2006
Aberko is a small independent bottler, Ian Buxton investigates...
The life of the independent bottler seems all but ideal: stroll round a few of the more interesting distilleries tasting their whiskies, select a particularly fine cask, develop your own distinctive p...
From Issue 55 in
Whisky Spotlight
published on 14/04/2006
Deanston is the least-known of Perthshire’s six remaining distilleries. Ian Buxton visited it
Once, Perthshire was a major distilling centre. One researcher has listed more than 140 distilleries that were active in Scotland’s ‘Big Country,’ some working well into the 20th century.
Toda...
From Issue 54 in
Distillery focus
published on 03/03/2006
Jura makes no economic sense. But when it comes to putting quality before profit it stands like a beacon. Ian Buxton made the long journey
Burning money is boring. Official.
Famously (or should that be notoriously?), musicians and art pranksters the KLF burnt a million quid on Jura in August 1994. In cash. There were bundles of 50,000 s...
From Issue 53 in
Distillery Focus
published on 12/01/2006
Oban is a wonderful but compact distillery in a picturesque port town. Ian Buxton visited it
After 37 years in the business, it seems churlish to deny Oban’s manager Kenny Gray an easy commute to work. After all, he’s worked man and boy for Diageo, starting out as laboratory assistant to ...
From Issue 52 in
Distillery Focus
published on 30/11/2005
The Pattison brothers could have taught media guru Max Clifford a thing or two about promotion.They even used parrots to promote their whisky. Ian Buxton reports
Every age has its ‘bubbles’ and every age seems determined to repeat the mistakes of the last. Think of the South Sea Bubble; of Victorian railway bonds; of the mania for tulips that possessed Hol...
From Issue 52 in
Whisky History
published on 30/11/2005
What makes a great blend,and why do the biggest brands command such loyalty? Ian Buxton reports
I can buy blended Scotch whisky at Tesco for £6.86. It’s called Horseman. A full 70cl bottle and the proper 40% ABV strength it carries the claim ‘Distilled, Blended & Bottled in Scotland.’ Tha...
From Issue 51 in
Whisky Blends
published on 07/10/2005
A book on the great Glasgow whisky scandal of 1872 is set to be republished.According to Ian Buxton,it makes essential reading
Ah, the good old days. Whisky just a few pennies a glass; hundreds of independent companies competing for our business; distilleries now lost in the mists of time sending forth their wonderful drams. ...
From Issue 51 in
Whisky History
published on 07/10/2005
Ian Buxton goes among old friends and visits Aberfeldy
They say confession is good for the soul: so here goes... I know the folk at Dewar’s pretty well. From time to time I do consulting work for them, and (back in the last millennium) I was heavily inv...
From Issue 50 in
Distillery Focus
published on 09/09/2005
Glasgow restaurant Arisaig is fast becoming a whisky venue of some note.Ian Buxton visited it
What do you get if you blend a lawyer and a graduate in International Relations? Well, a stylish, trend-setting contemporary Scottish bar restaurant with a rapidly growing reputation seems to be the a...
From Issue 50 in
Whisky and Music
published on 09/09/2005
The Scottish Liqueur Centre is set for a new lease of life. Ian Buxton reports
Located at Bankfoot just off the main A9 north of Perth, the Scottish Liqueur Centre was for years a low-key part of the Scottish drinks business.
The family-owned company ran a small visitor centre;...
From Issue 49 in
Whisky Trends
published on 15/07/2005
Ian Buxton travels North of Inverness to the remote distillery at Clynelish
Clynelish’s significance in the history of Scotland might not be fully appreciated by the casual visitor. After all, everything is peaceful enough today in the small northern Highland resort of Bror...
From Issue 49 in
Distillery Focus
published on 15/07/2005
The restaurant at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ought to know about serving whisky with food. Just to check, Ian Buxton dined there twice in three days
It’s just over a year since the Scotch Malt Whisky Society took a giant leap forward and opened its elegant premises at 28 Queen Street, Edinburgh.
For those of you who are not members of the Socie...
From Issue 49 in
Whisky and Food
published on 15/07/2005
Johnnie Wallker is 200 years old. Ian Buxton looks at the history of a whisky icon
I doubt if John Walker would recognise the firm he first founded. Yet his name lives on in the world’s best-selling Scotch whisky.
With more than four bottles consumed every single second, more tha...
From Issue 48 in
Whisky Legends
published on 10/06/2005
Bruichladdich reopened some four years ago and has been trail-blazing ever since. Ian Buxton visited it
It’s never particularly hard work to go to Islay. In fact, you have to remind yourself this is actually work, and you’re not just here to enjoy yourself (though I did).
But my arrival was low key...
From Issue 48 in
Distillery Focus
published on 10/06/2005
Elsewhere in this issue we’ve looked at four distilleries a couple of years after they were given a new lease of life. Here Ian Buxton updates in tow new faces
There’s something of a renaissance going on amongst small distillers. Not only have a number of Scotland’s distilleries passed back into private hands, but a few brave pioneers are starting out fr...
From Issue 47 in
Distillery Focus
published on 05/04/2005
Not all liqueurs are over sweet and unpalatable. And some should even justify a place in your drinking repertoire. Ian Buxton reports
Liqueurs – love them or hate them, no genuine whisky lover would let them pass their lips. Right? Well, wrong actually. In the course of researching this article I’ve had to think again and, if no...
From Issue 47 in
Whisky Trends
published on 05/04/2005
Ian Buxton visits the picturesque and constantly surprising Glen Grant distillery in Speyside
One of Glen Grant’s more obscure claims to fame is its name. After all, it should logically be called Glen Rothes, after the small Speyside town where it is to be found.
And it does have first clai...
From Issue 46 in
Distillery Focus
published on 10/3/2005
A couple of years ago there was a spate of takeovers of Scottish distilleries and independent buyouts. What happened to them? Ian Buxton investigates
Once upon a time, almost all Scotch whisky was made by independent companies. Then, over time, the twin pressures of economics and competition forced rationalisation and, one by one, the independent c...
From Issue 46 in
Whisky Trends
published on 10/3/2005
Say the word ‘Cardhu’ and it stirs up images of underhand dealings. But the distillery intrinsically linked to last year’s scandal is charming and impressive, and its staff outstanding. Ian Buxton reports
Cardhu may have been around for the best part of 200 years, but it’s a fair bet that more has been written and broadcast about this Speyside distillery in the past 12 months than in all of the rest ...
From Issue 45 in
Distillery Focus
published on 21/1/2005
Ian Buxton visits Balblair
As the internal arrangements and vessels are like the other distilleries in the district, it is not worthwhile to recapitulate them” commented an
unusually blunt Alfred Barnard on his visit to Balbl...
From Issue 44 in
Distillery Focus
published on 25/11/2004
Shock! £60 or more for a bottle of blend.
Shock! £60 or more for a bottle of blend. Horror! Whisky served straight from the freezer. Nightmare! Whisky with exotic fruits – the world of super-premium blends is quite an alarming place for wh...
From Issue 43 in
Blended Whisky
published on 23/10/2004
Girvan isn’t your normal run of the … er… mill distillery. Ian Buxton paid it a visit
Here’s a curiosity. This article celebrates a distillery you’ve probably never heard of; whose whisky you’ve never consciously drunk and which you can’t visit. It’s a mere 40 years old, loca...
From Issue 42 in
Distillery Focus
published on 3/9/2004
Chivas billed it as the great Glenlivet Tasting Showdown. Our man Ian Buxton popped along to see what it was all about
The idea seemed simple enough – but there was a twist. A panel of seven expert tasters would assess five expressions of The Glenlivet and compare notes. However, to spice things up, each of the five...
From Issue 41 in
Whisky Spotlight
published on 16/7/2004
A high proportion of Caol Ila whisky is used for blends. But as Ian Buxton discovered, Diageo is making some excellent single malts available from the enigmatic Islay distillery.
How pleasant is the process of exploration when performed in fine weather and in company with good companions.” So observed Alfred Barnard, the original Colossus of whisky writers, on the occasion o...
From Issue 40 in
Distillery Focus
published on 4/6/2004
Longmorn is a blenders’ favourite. But as a single malt it’s both wonderful and frustratingly hard to get. Ian Buxton adds his voice to the Whisky Magazine clamour for more of it
I arrived at Longmorn in a swirling snowstorm, quite worried about the directions I have been given.
“Pass the Shougle turn,” they had told me “right through Fogwatt and then turn right.” Sho...
From Issue 39 in
Distillery Focus
published on 1/5/2004
Ian Buxton braves the ghosts and investigates the roots of lowland malt Glenkinchie
It’s hard to believe that just 15 miles from Edinburgh Castle you can find a real live distillery.
I left the city behind and seemed to move to a more timeless place as I passed through the rolling...
From Issue 38 in
Distillery Focus
published on 7/4/2004
Once just William Grant’s ‘other’ Dufftown distillery, Balvenie is starting to build a big reputation for itself. Ian Buxton went to pay homage
Dufftown is a kind of Valhalla for distilleries. In this land of castles and stills, long-silent ghosts, such as Convalmore and Pittyvaich, haunt its streets, while the force is still strong at Duffto...
From Issue 37 in
Distillery Focus
published on 23/2/2004
Islay’s meant to be all about tranquillity. But when Ian Buxton visited Bowmore it was anything but
Islay is supposed to be quiet. Very quiet. The island’s image is of great peace and tranquillity; empty open spaces, washed by clear skies, a deep silence broken only by the cries of distant seabird...
From Issue 35 in
Distillery Focus
published on 17/11/2003
Keep advertising and advertising will keep you”, famously quipped whisky baron Tommy Dewar. He was renowned for advertising firsts and for
the lavish promotional budgets that built the Dewar’s bra...
From Issue 34 in
Whisky Production
published on 5/10/2003
Speyside’s most eastern distillery is something of an enigma, but it’s not without
influence. Ian Buxton paid it a visit
The towns of Macduff and Banff are located in the North-East of Scotland, on either side of the banks of the River Deveron, reputedly a “first-class, second-class salmon river”. Both are ancient s...
From Issue 34 in
Distillery Focus
published on 5/10/2003
Ian Buxton discovers the charms of Royal Brackla, also a RAF base at one time
Few, if any, distilleries can claim the historical importance of Royal Brackla, yet few are as little known. Located right in ‘Macbeth country’ (Cawdor Castle is less than a mile along the road), ...
From Issue 33 in
Distillery Focus
published on 25/9/2003
Ian Buxton provides a rare insight into a Lowland distillery not currently open to the public – Auchentoshan
If, in the words of that great old Scottish air, you take the high road to the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, then you’ll be able to look down upon Auchentoshan as you go. Just before the Ers...
From Issue 28 in
Distillery Focus
published on 16/1/2003
Bunnahabhain is the foil to Islay's claymore, finds Ian Buxton
I once threw my dinner in the sea at Bunnahabhain. Staying at the distillery, I befriended some local fishermen and swapped the contents of their creel (two fine edible crabs) for luxury shortbread.
...
From Issue 27 in
Distillery Focus
published on 16/11/2002
Ian Buxton explores the whisky industy's shift from patron to sponsor of visual art.
Fancying himself an artist, whisky baron Tommy Dewar once painted a cow in a meadow and asked a friend for his opinion. ‘The ship seems alright,’ he was told, ‘but I think you have made the sea ...
From Issue 12 in
Whisky and Art
published on 16/11/2000
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