Whisky ambassadors travel the world promoting whisky. The ideal job? Martine Nouet went to find out
Seen from the public point of view, their life is an antidote against monotony.
Many a whisky lover would like to share the brand ambassadors’ diary, envying their continuous travelling round the globe and the opportunities they are given to taste outstanding drams.
Earning your living entertainin...
By Martine Nouet
from Issue 58 published on 30/08/2006
Tom Bruce-Gardyne reports on a firm which has flourished bottling fine single malts
This October, Alistair Hart celebrated 40 years in the whisky business, during which time the industry has changed almost beyond recognition, partly because of the technological revolution. Today, Hart Brothers, the firm of independent bottlers he runs with his brother Donald in Glasgow, cruises cyb...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 28 published on 16/1/2003
Dave Broom reports on the challenges facing a determined new breed of independent bottle-distillers
Question: What do you buy the independent bottler who has it all? Answer? A distillery. Signatory’s recent acquisition of Edradour is the latest
in a series of purchases by independent bottlers. Gordon & MacPhail had Benromach, Murray McDavid snapped up Bruichladdich, while Springbank – always a fir...
By Dave Broom
from Issue 26 published on 16/10/2002
Tom Bruce-Gardyne meets one of single-cask bottling’s real success stories, as Lorne Mackillop and his Mackillop’s Choice label go from strength to strength
London’s west end is famed for its private doctors and dentists and for the size of their consultation fees, but it is not the first place you would look for a firm of independent bottlers, nor the heir to the chief of a Scottish clan. Yet the two come together here in Mackillop’s Choice, a relative...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 22 published on 16/5/2002
Tom Bruce-Gardyne talks to Fred and Stewart Laing, the independent bottlers who are not only brothers and business partners but a potentially successful cabaret duo as well
Douglas Laing & Company of Glasgow may not be the oldest bottler of single malts on the planet, but as Stewart Laing is at pains to point out: “We’re no johnnie-come-latelys either.”
Stewart is a part of a well-known double-act, along with his brother Fred, on the blended Scotch whisky circuit wher...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 19 published on 16/11/2001
John Lamond talks to the man behind The VIntage Malt Whisky Company, Brian Crook, who is making a big noise with a small, independent, company
In the sedate Glasgow suburb of Milngavie (pronounced mill-guy), there is a south-east facing corner office that overlooks the local shopping thoroughfare. It is from this quiet location that one of the brightest independent bottlers is making a very big noise in the whisky industry that can be hear...
By John Lamond
from Issue 18 published on 16/9/2001
Tom Bruce-Gardyne recounts the history of Cadenhead, a company once regarded as a “soft touch” but now better known for being quick to spot business opportunities in the whisky industry
Miss Ann Oliver was a legend of the swinging, psychedelic sixties – well, at least she was in the drinks trade of Aberdeen. Whenever orders were thin on the ground the place to head for was number 47 Netherkirgate where Miss Oliver ran the firm of William Cadenhead Ltd. For the steady stream of sale...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 17 published on 16/7/2001
Tom Bruce-Gardyne talks to Sir James Ackroyd and Ricky Christie, two of the key figures searching for 'little gems' in an attempt to revive Speyside Distillery.
Six months ago the Scotch whisky industry was in a state of fevered excitement as the Speyside Distillery Co. was sold off by its Swiss parent company to the North Yorkshire firm of Alexander Muir & Sons. Speyside was a Glasgow-based blender and bottler, founded in 1955 by the infamous George Christ...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 16 published on 16/6/2001
Tom Bruce-Gardyne talks to Robin Tcek, proprietor of the independent bottler blackadder, and finds out why he dislikes filtering, industry attitudes and armchairs
Being asked to blind taste a whisky and identify it in front of an audience can be a little unnerving. To do so on TV as the last item on the six o’clock news sounds positively terrifying. When the evening’s presenter turned to his guest with the dreaded words “and finally”, handing him a miniature ...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 15 published on 16/4/2001
Damian Riley-Smith visits the home of Julian Van Winkle III, a nam dedicated to producing quality bourbon and adhering to traditional, family values.
Waiting more than a decade for a bourbon is the exception rather than the rule. Yet for the Van Winkle family it has become their trademark. There is no full production distillery, the 'family' is currently Julian Van Winkle III and he is an independent bottler.
The name Van Winkle has been associa...
By Damian Riley-Smith
from Issue 14 published on 16/2/2001
Charles Maclean visits inverarity Vaults a family company which has already earnt quite a reputation for the quality of its whiskies
I first met Hamish Martin five years ago on a remote trout loch in south Ayrshire. I tell a lie: actually I met him the night before in the lodge. He arrived late for dinner with a friend after having driven an impossible distance in impossible time – it later transpired that he had made full use of...
By Charles MacLean
from Issue 13 published on 16/12/2000
Tom Bruce Gardyne profiles Muray McDavid, the enfant terrible of independent bottlers.
“Independent bottlers have had to exist on the fringes of the industry ... [and are seen as] scavengers, dodgy, unscrupulous and a pain in the arse."
So says Murray McDavid on its refreshingly irreverent website. And after a long, lazy lunch in Glasgow with Gordon Wright, director and co-founder of...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 11 published on 16/9/2000
Andrew Symington has made huge success of Signatory, the world's second largest independent bottler. But this is just the beginning, as Tom Bruce-Gardyne found out.
Tucked away in the back streets of Edinburgh’s Newhaven district, Andrew Symington sits at the helm of the world’s second biggest independent whisky bottler. No mean feat for Signatory, the company he set up from scratch only 12 years ago. There is no sense of self congratulation however, not the fa...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 10 published on 16/6/2000
Gordon & MacPhail brought malt whisky to the people. Ken Hyder salutes the legendary pioneers who have always done it their way
The next time you raise a glass or quaich, you might like to consider the case of Mrs Crowe and the magistrates of Elgin. If Mrs Crowe had won, your choice of malts, and perhaps their quality would be much reduced. A small grocer’s shop in Elgin would have been denied a licence to sell alcohol and G...
By Ken Hyder
from Issue 8 published on 16/2/2000
