Contents
p5
Listening to another overlong speech at The International Wine & Spirits Competition Dinner, a desperately unoriginal thought struck me. How about organising a classification of Scotch single malt whi...
By Marcin Miller in the section
The Miller's Tale
p7
Michael Jackson is under the gun with Booker Noe
The shotgun on the dinner table made it a memorable evening. The dinner ended with a bang, too. That cannot be denied.
It was so memorable that I keep recalling it, turning it over in my mind. I thin...
By Michael Jackson in the section
Musings with Michael Jackson
p8
Dave Broom considers some unprecedented parallels between Scotland and Jamaica, and how drink is the key to exploring new cultures
The still bore the name Forsyth’s. Rain was falling on the stillhouse roof. Business as usual. Well, not quite. The rain was warm; and the racket it was making on the corrugated iron roof was renderin...
By Dave Broom in the section
A dram with Dave Broom
p16
Dave Broom exposes the shady side of the antique, collectable whisky market
It was over two years ago when the rumours began that slightly dubious bottles of old whiskies were beginning to appear at auction and were being offered to private collectors. These claims weren’t be...
By Dave Broom in the section
Whisky Fakes
p22
William Delmé-Evans designed no less than three distilleries. Gavin D. Smith talked to him
William Delmé-Evans has been described as a latter-day Charles Doig, yet while the important role played in the development of the whisky industry by that Elgin-based 19th century architect has finall...
By Gavin D. Smith in the section
Architecture
p26
Tom Bruce-Gardyneexamines the life and times of the determined, self-made whisky pioneer William Teacher
Of all the founding fathers of the Scotch whisky industry, there is something endearingly down-toearth about William Teacher. In a photograph taken shortly before his death in 1876, he stands square-o...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne in the section
Whisky Hero
p30
What will make Whisky Live 2003 the event of the year
Whisky Live 2003 runs on 7th and 8th March at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London SW1, and is the United Kingdom’s premier whisky tasting event. Organised by Whisky Magazine, this year it attracted ...
By Brigid James in the section
Whisky Live
p34
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, Har...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne in the section
Independent Bottlers
p38
Germany’s capital city holds much to tempt the whisky-lover, as the Berlin-based Jefferson Chase explains
It ain’t paradise, but it is a great playground. With roughly 3.5 million inhabitants, at 882 square kilometres, Berlin has been at the centre of world events for 200 years. Aformer garrison town of t...
By Jefferson Chase in the section
Great whisky bars
p44
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 Erski...
By Ian Buxton in the section
Distillery Focus
p48
Ian Wisniewski reveals the secrets behind this rather complex stage of whisky-making: malting
It’s easy to romanticise floor maltings, but anyone who has turned the malt and pulled a plough (as I did at Bowmore) knows this is a demanding, not to mention expensive, practise.
Commercial maltste...
By Ian Wisniewski in the section
Whisky Production
p52
Martine Nouet crosses the Atlantic to bring you some fine recipes using quality bourbons
Bourbon is a delightful companion to food because it is usually drunk with ice and therefore at a lower alcoholic strength, which suits a table drink well. But it is also a great ingredient in food be...
By Martine Nouet in the section
Whisky and Food
p61
Jefferson Chase on William Kennedy’s early novel about the struggle for survival in Depression-era New York
You can usually tell from a novel’s first scene whether it is going to be any good. Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish- American author William Kennedy starts with a gam...
By Jefferson Chase in the section
Whisky Literature
p82
John Haydockreflects on his many past and present glories
People often ask me, “John, what is it that motivates you to continue to aspire to the very highest levels of achievement in the world of whisky writing, after all these heady and glorious years?”
“I...
By John Haydock in the section
An acidic finish
