Contents
p5
Last Thursday I met two men who had bought distilleries in the last month: Michael Beamish and Leonard Russell. For me they represent the
joyful polarity of the whisky industry.
Michael was on time a...
By Marcin Miller in the section
The Miller's Tale
p11
Michael Jackson has a vision, and learns why the Japanese sit on the floor to eat dinner
Through the windows of the cab, the neons of Tokyo flashingly light Jimmy Russell’s face. I keep expecting him to say; “I couldda been a contender,” but why would he? Jimmy Russell is a champ.
He ha...
By Michael Jackson in the section
Musings with Michael Jackson
p12
Innovation in the world of whisky? It’s all over the place, argues Dave Broom
There I was, reclining in my whisky chair squirting a dram into my tumbler filled with ‘Whisky Rocks’, musing on what a remarkably innovative
industry this has become. An entire subset of firms has sp...
By Dave Broom in the section
A dram with Dave Broom
p20
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 ...
By Ian Buxton in the section
Whisky Production
p24
Campbeltown was once a thriving centre for whisky production. Now little remains. Is Springbank worth the journey? Our mystery visitor made the lengthy trek to find out
It took a long time to get to Campbeltown and, when I arrived, the profusion of palm trees in this delightfully Victorian town convinced me
that I had been magically transported from Scotland to the C...
By Mystery Visitor in the section
Mystery Visitor
p28
Four Roses has thrived since it was bought by Japanese brewer Kirin. Stuart MacLean Ramsay found out why
You never know what’s round the corner on the back roads of Kentucky.
Three years back I was meandering alongside the Salt River by Lawrenceburg, searching for Julian Van Winkle’s over-worked bottlin...
By Stuart MacLean Ramsay in the section
Distillery Focus
p32
Dave Broomtries to discover the secret of Nikka by visiting its North Japanese Yoichi distillery
There’s a difference to the light. Clear, sharp. The sky is blue but it is a chill blue. The trees on the roadside hills are thin-trunked, their ranches making fine tracings on the sky.
The ground se...
By Dave Broom in the section
Distillery Focus
p37
The Lonsdale in London recently hosted a Whisky Magazine cocktail challenge. Dominic Roskrow spoke to general manager Henry Besant.
If you’re of the view that whisky doesn’t have a place in the most stylish and fashionable city centre bars, you ought to have a word with Henry Besant.
It’s fair to say that Henry has been around a ...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Whisky Spotlight
p40
Robin Shields isn’t from Islay. He’s not Scottish. And he doesn’t have a distillery background. But as Martine Nouet finds out, he’s up for the challenge of protecting the reputation of Laphroaig
Robin Shields, Laphroaig’s new distillery manager faces more than a challenge: He’s taking over from living legend Iain Henderson, discovering a brand-new job after 25 years in the brewing industry, a...
By Martine Nouet in the section
Whisky Profile
p44
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 settl...
By Ian Buxton in the section
Distillery Focus
p48
Gavin D Smith looks at how Diageo’s forerunners flirted with the idea of launching a ‘boutique’ distillery based on an illegal operation – and how it ended up on the shelf
Today we take distillery visitor centres for granted. They have become part of Scotland’s tourist infrastructure, with ‘whisky tourism’ estimated to generate around £17m per year, and more than 40 dis...
By Gavin D. Smith in the section
Whisky History
p51
Whisky is a central part of the main character in Graham Greene’s The Human Factor says Jefferson Chase
Think Graham Greene and whisky, and the title that automatically pops to mind is The Power and the Glory. But The Human Factor, Greene’s 1978 tale of an inter-racial couple caught between the fronts i...
By Jefferson Chase in the section
Whisky Literature
p52
Irish Coffee is known and loved across the world, but how did this happen? Peter Mulryan shows how it first took off
For a brief period during the 1940s there flowered the most glamorous form of transport that we are ever likely to see.
In the days before budget airlines, or even decent runways, flying boats, the h...
By Peter Mulryan in the section
Whisky Trends
p52
Irish Coffee is known and loved across the world, but how did this happen? Peter Mulryan shows how it first took off
For a brief period during the 1940s there flowered the most glamorous form of transport that we are ever likely to see.
In the days before budget airlines, or even decent runways, flying boats, the h...
By Peter Mulryan in the section
Whisky Trends
p61
In the latest in an occasional series of matching whisky with food, Dave Broom compares and contrasts some sushi-whisky combinations
Scene I
An almighty shout had stopped us in our tracks. None of the diners seemed at all fazed by the entire staff of the restaurant stopping work to
bellow at a group of people walking through the do...
By Dave Broom in the section
Whisky and Food
p64
The cask plays a major role in the flavour of whisky. Ian Wisnieski takes a closer look
at how they end up sitting in a warehouse for years
Contributing up to 70 per cent of a malt’s flavour, the cask is a vital factor, but in the course of its life-time a cask offers varying maturation
influences and has, of course, already led an active...
By Ian Wisniewski in the section
Whisky Production
p74
Is the great John Haydockrattled? It would seem so. Here he goes on the defensive and answers his critics
Readers of Whisky Magazine will by now be only too sadly aware of the war of words and media misinformation that has broken out surrounding the latest edition of the definitive malt whisky biography –...
By John Haydock in the section
An acidic finish
