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 expect, some highways and byways to add interest and excitement.
You could buy some shares in a distill...
Whisky issues
from Issue 70 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 to stand guard?
What is the mysterious ‘Grand Quaich’ which forms the centrepiece of their arcane ri...
Whisky People
from Issue 69 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 interesting views.
It proved so when I met with him at Whisky Live Glasgow to reflect on his career a...
Whisky Interview
from Issue 68 published on 07/12/2007
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 never have had the vicious clampdown on private distilling that followed Culloden as part of the general...
Distillery at home
from Issue 66 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 camera.
They’re wearing flat caps, moustaches and working clothes, except that is for a rather dapper charac...
Whisky and Film
from Issue 65 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 company dog, pronounced ‘dug’ – it’s a pun, you see) and four friendly horses before you get down to business...
Whisky Trends
from Issue 64 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 certainly go up in value over the long term?
It sounds appealing. You’ve probably worked out that it’s n...
Whisky books
from Issue 64 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 premium blends and malts, both single and blended, are moving ahead rapidly with double-digit growth re...
Whisky Production
from Issue 63 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 about it, it was just there. Without it, your picture wouldn’t really look like a distillery. With it, the...
Architecture
from Issue 62 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 Year Old Malt Whisky.” And that got me to thinking…what else had folk to say about whisky?
As you might expe...
Whisky Spotlight
from Issue 61 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 demanded is the Ardbeg 1965.
Renowned distillery manager Stuart Thomson is moving on, but his swansong is t...
Limited editions
from Issue 60 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.
Secondly, unlike a whisky collection you can enjoy them and they don’t decline in value the moment you’ve ope...
Whisky books
from Issue 60 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 a trip to the site of the company’s proposed new distillery.
Pràban na Linne was established in 1976 ...
Gaelic whisky
from Issue 60 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 scenes” indeed. This of a country that had less than 15 years previously been fighting a war of independence...
Whisky rebellion
from Issue 59 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 founding. This is based on a 1970 Bruichladdich finished in Alsace Pinot Grigot casks, said to be among th...
Whisky Spotlight
from Issue 59 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 came the calculator. Assuming normal evaporation, that should be enough whisky for 36 cases of 12 bottle...
Whisky Spotlight
from Issue 58 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 favourites, but a very reasonable case could be made for Royal Lochnagar. If you could only ever visit one dis...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 58 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 Harold Monro of the Poetry Bookshop.
Christopher Morley, a giant of pre-war American literary life, gave a “re...
Whisky icons
from Issue 57 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’t see one every day, it’s good to know it’s there.
At around £150 a bottle Blue Label is always goin...
Whisky issues
from Issue 57 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 impression.
So going back after nearly 30 years, I was prepared to be disappointed. It surely wouldn’t b...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 56 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 has taken a distillery largely under-exploited by its previous owners and built sales in one of the most demandi...
Distillery focus
from Issue 55 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 packaging, get it bottled, persuade some discerning retailer it’s what they need to grace their shelv...
Whisky Spotlight
from Issue 55 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.
Today there are just six. You’d be hard pushed to name them all though.
Aberfeldy, Edradour and Glenturret mi...
Distillery focus
from Issue 54 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 stuffed into the flames like a guilty confession.
Journalist Jim Reid watched the whole thing for Th...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 53 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 the renowned Dr Magnus Pyke, who might have modelled for the original mad scientist.
However, having me...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 52 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 Holland in the 17th century; of the dotcom boom.
Then, think whisky. Yes, whisky had its own period of fin...
Whisky History
from Issue 52 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.’ That means it’s at least three years old and contains some single malt whisky. The name of the proud producer ...
Whisky Blends
from Issue 51 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. On every street corner a Dickensian pub stands ready for our business, the ruddy-faced landlord disp...
Whisky History
from Issue 51 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 involved in the design and construction of their visitor centre at Aberfeldy. So naturally, I think it’s ...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 50 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 answer here.
Arisaig, the place, is a small village in the West Highlands. Devasted by the Clearance...
Whisky and Music
from Issue 50 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; blended and bottled a pleasant but unassuming range of fruit liqueurs and produced Columba Cream li...
Whisky Trends
from Issue 49 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 Brora – but its name is written in infamy, wreathed in myth and clouded by decades of propaganda, spin and...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 49 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 Society (and you should be!), or if you don’t know Edinburgh, this was a bold undertaking.
Queen Street is...
Whisky and Food
from Issue 49 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 than 10 million cases of Johnnie Walker are sold every year in more than 200 countries. Not bad for a 15 ...
Whisky Legends
from Issue 48 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. Heavy, driving rain obscured the view across Loch Indaal; even moving between distillery buildings ens...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 48 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 from scratch.
Though many of us dream of starting our own distillery, in the cold light of day it doesn’t...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 47 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 not exactly converted, I’ve been partly won over by their honeyed charms.
Historically, whisky liqueurs h...
Whisky Trends
from Issue 47 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 claim on that title, having been founded nearly 40 years before the distillery that actually carries the n...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 46 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 companies merged, amalgamated or were taken over.
They, in their turn, were swallowed by other corpo...
Whisky Trends
from Issue 46 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 of its
distinguished history. Not that this blizzard of opinion, rumour, spin, gossip, innuendo and in...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 45 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 Balblair.
Though we might admire the brevity of this approach, Alf’s somewhat taciturn description belies ...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 44 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 whisky traditionalists.
But they’re fighting a rearguard action. The world is embracing these luxury ble...
Blended Whisky
from Issue 43 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, located in a region without any recognised distilling tradition and it’s very proud of the precision of its comput...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 42 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 would be tasted blind, in random order, and the seven experts would be whisky novices.
Drawn from th...
Whisky Spotlight
from Issue 41 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 of his visit to Caol Ila, Islay in 1887.
Well, my companion (your editor) had abandoned me earlier on ...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 40 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.” Shougle? Fogwatt? Perhaps I was to be lost forever in the Elgin Triangle: was this some Beachcomber fantasy, I ...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 39 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 East Lothian countryside.
Just out of the little village of Pencaitland, virtually hidden in a fold ...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 38 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 Dufftown, Mortlach and Kininvie.
But best known amongst this hall of heroes are the two distilleries buil...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 37 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 seabirds. Indeed, Bowmore’s latest corporate DVD is an elegiac tribute to Islay’s special
tranquillity, vivid...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 35 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 brands round the world.
And, across the industry, his successors and competitors have taken him at his wor...
Whisky Production
from Issue 34 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 settlements, today characterised by attractive architecture, spectacular cliff scenery and two busy harbo...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 34 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), around four miles from Nairn, Brackla was founded in 1812 by Captain William Fraser, owner of nearby Bra...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 33 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 Erskine Bridge, as the A82 leaves Clydebank on the outskirts of Glasgow, you’ll glimpse the distillery on...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 28 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.
All went well until the procedure for preparing the delicacy was explained to my children, then four...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 27 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 too green.’
This little story is, perhaps, a metaphor for whisky’s place in art history. Despite its stat...
Whisky and Art
from Issue 12 published on 16/11/2000
