Contents
p5
I was lunching with my publisher recently in a trendy London restaurant, as one does. It was the kind of place which is favoured by advertising account executives and merchant bankers; my publisher wa...
By Charles MacLean in the section
From the Editor
p7
Michael Jackson reports on a hot night in Bowmore
The news seemed to have spread the 10 miles from Port Ellen like a peat fire. That's why the village hall at Bowmore was having difficulty coping with the crowd. Only 25 people had booked in advance,...
By Michael Jackson in the section
The Gospel According to Michael Jackson
p8
Jim Murray muses on the role of two loves in his life.
Is there a more apposite place to write about whisky than a distillery, or perhaps an adjoining warehouse? The answer is a resounding “No!”
However, the location I’m at this very moment comes a prett...
By Jim Murray in the section
The Gospel According to Jim Murray
p18
Kate Pierrepont tested the waters with some of Scotland's finest fishermen.
The romance of fly fishing captured me at a young age. I think it was the pictures I had seen of solitary figures, gracefully poised amid the gushing torrents that entranced my imagination. It was gen...
By Kate Pierrepont in the section
Whisky and Sport
p22
Stuart Maclean Ramsay roams among the magnificent buffalo of Kentucky.
One fine gentleman,’’ is how Jimmy Russell, Master Distiller at Wild Turkey describes his friend and fellow bourbon alchemist, Elmer T Lee.
“And he makes a good whiskey, too,” Jimmy adds. I met with ...
By Stuart MacLean Ramsay in the section
Whisky Hero
p28
What makes Lagavulin great? Dave Broom goes in search of answers at the home of one the world's most elusive malts.
The first sight you get of Lagavulin from the rolling road from Port Ellen is of a place which looks more like an austere, whitewashed Scottish baronial castle than a distillery; the sort that the wri...
By Dave Broom in the section
Distillery Focus
p34
Whisky pilgrims , tourists, locals- this summer's Islay Festival attracted fans from around the globe. Michael Jackson reports on a time to remember, while Marcin Miller travels east to catch up on the festivities in Speyside.
Do young people enjoy whisky? 13-year-old Joe Byrne certainly does. Nosing but not tasting, he identified four out of eight local malts in a competition at the Islay Festival of Whisky and Music. His ...
By Michael Jackson in the section
Whisky Events
p37
Maisha Frost discovers a new collection of whiskies that resurrect the Bennachie name
A trawl through past triumphs has led The Bennachie Scotch Whisky Company to usher in the century with a major collection of mature malts based closely on the originals.
The Bennachie name has not b...
By Maisha Frost in the section
Whiskey revival
p38
Coopering is an essential part of the maturation process. Gavin D Smith hails an irreplaceable art.
It was the diminutive Scottish comedian Ronnie Corbett who once said, “The common belief that whisky improves with age is true. The older I get, the more I like it”.
The process of personal maturatio...
By Gavin D. Smith in the section
Whisky Production
p43
Whisky Magazine's Michael Jackson teamed up with a panel of fellow experts to assess the new Balvenie vintage cask
What constitutes a vintage cask of malt whisky? One that I like, apparently. So long as it is also enjoyed by the French writer on whisky and food Martine Nouet (my frequent drams partner of late); t...
By Michael Jackson in the section
Whisky Tasting
p44
Whisky Magazine's Damian Riley-Smith previews bourboun's hot event
Whisky Magazine will be joining the great Kentucky Bourbon Festival (13-17 September) to enjoy the pleasures of bourbon in the heart of bourbon country. Last year 20,000 people travelled from all over...
By Damian Riley-Smith in the section
Kentucky
p45
Heaven is wall to wall Scotches, bourbons and malts for the taking. Stuart Maclean Ramsay had a hard time coping.
It was a pleasant if somewhat overwhelming quandary for a whisky drinker to be in. Around 250 single malt Scotches, top class bourbons and other exemplary spirits to nose and sample; 10 whisk(e)y lege...
By Stuart MacLean Ramsay in the section
Whisky Events
p46
You can feel the tension ease from your shoulders as you are met at Inverness airport. A representative assists you in the normally stressful business of removing your baggage from the uncluttered con...
By Marcin Miller in the section
Great whisky hotels
p48
Damian Riley-Smith dropped in on the Park Avenue Liquor shop and emerged energised and inspired.
“If you don’t have it you can’t sell it”, exclaims Michael Goldstein, who has adopted this phrase as his mantra for retailing excellence. It is a far cry from the 1920s when his business started (as t...
By Damian Riley-Smith in the section
Great whisky retailers
p50
Whisky Magazine readers revelled in true highland hospitality when they were entertained at a William Grant and Sons special lunch.
While much of England was under water during the month of May, Scotland basked in warm spring sunshine. So it was when 20 Whisky Magazine readers met at Glenfiddich Distillery, in Dufftown, for a tou...
By Charles MacLean in the section
Whisky Events
p52
An eccentric entrepreneur is seeking to challenge Talsiker's status as the only distillery on Skye. Tom Bruce-Gardyne went ot meet the man behind a special brand of Gaelic whisky.
Sitting at his desk on the Isle of Skye, Sir Iain Noble is gently extolling the virtues of Gaelic. His office is a cosy, wood-panelled room that dates back to 1812 and was once a shop. Outside the sea...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne in the section
Gaelic whisky
p56
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 irreve...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne in the section
Independent Bottlers
p60
The leader of the Liberal Democrats Charles Kennedy, shares a dram with Jane Slade.
Charles Kennedy does not have the mantle of a future Prime Minister. He has not the cold stare of Margaret Thatcher, nor the disingenuous smile of Tony Blair. In fact he seems so disarmingly warm and ...
By Jane Slade in the section
Whisky Interview
p64
A cigar replete with the aromas of bourbon, 'Paradise', thought Adam Edwards, and that's was where his troubles began
I am an innocent at the complexities of marketing. Who was the PR, for example, who decided that I should be the lucky journalist to receive a large cardboard box of 23 different Caribbean hot sauces?...
By Adam Edwards in the section
Whisky and Cigars
p66
Expert James Leavey provides the ultimate guide to smoking pleasure.
Tobacco was native to the Americas long before it was discovered by Christopher Columbus in Cuba in 1492, and transplanted around the world.
In their original arm-length form, Cuban cigars were rou...
By James Leavey in the section
Whisky and Cigars
p70
Nothing befits a dram more than a fine smoke. James Leavey advises where to buy the best cigars.
On 9 March 2000 at Christie’s in London, the hammer fell on 416 lots of ‘vintage cigars’, which ranged in age from 1930s to a box barely three years old. By the end of the day, the pre-sale estimates...
By James Leavey in the section
Whisky and Cigars
p90
Maturation expert, Dr Jim Veveridge, demonstrates the virtues of the refill cask to Charles Maclean.
CM Is it not something of a contradiction for a ‘back-room boy’ to become a ‘communicator’?
JB When I started with DCL it would have been unthinkable.
Even distillery managers within the company were ...
By Charles MacLean in the section
Whisky Interview
