Contents
p5
Only one thing: they drank my entire bottle of Laphroaig
A colleague of mine recently decided to hold a whisky tasting for some non-whisky drinking friends. He presented them with four whiskies covering a range of tastes, and when he came back to work on th...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
From the Editor
p11
Michael Jackson recalls his part in Ron’s downfall
Fulsome though they were, the tributes to President Reagan omitted one of his greatest services to humanity. He was a Keeper of the Quaich. Not many people know that.
I played a small part in this bu...
By Michael Jackson in the section
Musings with Michael Jackson
p12
Dave ‘The Brush’ Broom on potting, pirates and promotions
If the truth be told, I’ve never been particularly good at snooker. The myopia doesn’t help. Neither does the fact that I usually only end up playing it at the end of what has already been an extremel...
By Dave Broom in the section
A dram with Dave Broom
p18
It takes some getting to but Scotland’s most southern distillery is worth the effort. Even when it’s silenced
After driving for some hours, I decided that the quickest way to get to Bladnoch is probably to fly to Belfast, hire a car, take the ferry back to Stranraer and potter along to the distillery – from w...
By Mystery Visitor in the section
Mystery Visitor
p20
This month’s debate looks at the future role of age statements on bourbons
The Panel
Frank Coleman, Senior vice president for public relations, Distilleries Council of the United States (FC)
Charles Cowdery, Whisky Magazine American correspondent (CKC)
Dominic Roskrow, Whisk...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Whisky Debate
p22
These are very special days indeed for whisky
These are very special days indeed for whisky. We might well have laughed at the marketing men in the 90s when they told us about the way consumers were moving from standard products to premium ones.
...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Special Report
p24
Is there a perfect age for American whiskey – and are different age expressions driving the market or in danger of harming it?
The world of bourbon faces a major dilemma – how does it reverse years of decline and make such a proud drink acceptable again but do so without sacrificing the very qualities that make the product so...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Special Report
p28
When TW Samuels VI first produced Maker’s Mark he was dismissed as a crackpot. But he succeeded in changing the image of bourbon forever, and the sector is still benefiting Dominic Roskrow reports
To fully understand just how revolutionary Maker’s Mark was when it was launched you have to go back not just 50 years to that time, but further back still. To 1946, in fact, when the classic film It’...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Special Report
p32
At Yamazaki the distillery and church stand next to each other in harmony. Dave Broom witnesses whisky making at its noblest
Jet-lag does weird things to the brain, makes it seem as if you are existing in some dream state.
Though you’re screaming with tiredness, you’re wide awake. The mind is subtly dislocated from reality...
By Dave Broom in the section
Distillery Focus
p36
The smells of Islay reflect on some of its wonderful whiskies. Martine Nouet takes you on a sensory journey across the island and introduces its flora and fauna
Westering home and a song in the air”, says the song about Islay. It could as well be: “Westering home and whisky in the air”.
Not only because the ‘island of whisky’ shelters seven distilleries (and...
By Martine Nouet in the section
Whisky Experience
p40
Can whisky-making be taught properly at university, and is our understanding of science leading to better whisky? Gavin Smith looks at the issue
If you walk into any pub on Speyside where retired distillery workers congregate and ask them whether things were better in their day, you’ll receive the resounding answer ‘yes!’ Partly, of course, th...
By Gavin D. Smith in the section
Whisky Trends
p44
The Scapa distillery on Orkney is to be reopened full time after years of neglect Dominic Roskrow visited it
If the owners of Scapa distillery needed a sign that its time was finally up they got it during a tempestuous evening on Orkney last August. During a storm lightning took the electricity out. Permanen...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Whisky Trends
p47
Jefferson Chase stops for a drink at Carson McCullers’ Sad Café
When Carson McCullers wrote The Ballad of the Sad Café in 1941, she was 24 and had already seen enough of life’s hard knocks to know whereof she wrote.
Born Lula Carson Smith in Columbus, Georgia, Mc...
By Jefferson Chase in the section
Whisky Literature
p50
Celebrity chef Paul Rankin has always used whiskey in his recipes. Dominic Roskrow took a cooking lesson with him and visited his restaurant, Cayenne
Beware lobsters with attitude. I have one in front of me. It’s moving.
Celebrity chef Paul Rankin has congratulated me for the firm way I have picked it up, though he does note that I have gone for t...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Whisky and Food
p56
Chivas billed it as the great Glenlivet Tasting Showdown. Our man Ian Buxton popped along to see what it was all about
The idea seemed simple enough – but there was a twist. A panel of seven expert tasters would assess five expressions of The Glenlivet and compare notes. However, to spice things up, each of the five w...
By Ian Buxton in the section
Whisky Spotlight
p58
Ian Wisniewski explores the phenomenon of marine characteristics and asks why we can taste the sea when we drink some malts
The flavours we find in malts are inevitably a personal matter, reflecting the individuality of our palates, though the question of marine characteristics in malts is an increasingly public, and contr...
By Ian Wisniewski in the section
Whisky Production
p74
American writer Terry Sullivan is the latest guest journalist to grace our pages. And he has some pretty cool industry insiders as contacts…
We number among our faithful readers some of the finest whisky makers,connoisseurs and spirits industry executives in the world. Luckily, we also number among our readers a few humbler folk—those who ...
By Terry Sullivan in the section
The Last Word
