From the Editor
The Keepers promote the goodwill of the industry and honour those who have made a significant contribution to it
On the last day of April, the Spring banquet of The Keepers Of The Quaich took place at Blair Castle, hereditary seat of the Duke of Atholl. This bi-annual shindig is the opportunity for the Scotch whisky industry to honour those who have been actively involved in the promotion of Scotch on the world stage. April’s banquet saw a mammoth 53 new Keepers inducted into the Society.
The new Keepers included in their number myself and our very own Dave Broom, as well as old friends of Whisky Magazine such as Andrew Symington of Signatory, Robin Dods of Burn Stewart, Michael Stoner of Schieffelin & Somerset, Jim Cryle of The Glenlivet, Derek Gilchrist of Morrison Bowmore and Campbell Evans of the Scotch Whisky Association.
Canada, Taiwan, Panama and Lebanon all had new Keepers in attendance. The Keepers are now represented in 68 countries.
There is a minority in the industry that is cynical about the Keepers as an institution. Sour grapes is an extremely unlikely possibility. More probably they feel that the society, although formed much more recently than you might think (1988), does more harm than good in that it roots Scotch whisky in precisely the bagpipes and tartan world that a modern spirit desperate to be sexy should be working hard to avoid. They also think that the society is an irrelevance. The cynics cannot see the long-term benefit to Scotch that awarding a medal to, for example, the Uruguayan distributor of Teacher’s will bring. Perhaps they merely find the sig.....
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By Marcin Miller
Section : From the Editor
Page number : 5
