The buck stops here
Ian Wisniewski looks at the challenging role of distillery managers
It takes various professions to provide us with malt whisky, starting with the farmers who grow the barley, the maltsters and the peat cutters.
Thatâs before any of the distillery team become involved, including mashmen and stillmen, as well as the lab teams and nosing panels.
Then itâs onto the coopers and warehousemen during the aging process, and finally everyone on the bottling line.
But while each of these people undertake a specific task, ultimate responsibility for the production process, not to mention everything else that takes place at a distillery, rests with the distillery manager.
âItâs a very interesting and well rounded role. My responsibility is from barley coming in, to the mature whisky leaving the site, and everything in between,â says Highland Parkâs Russell Anderson.
Thatâs plenty to be getting on with. But handling the intricacy of the production process is only one aspect of the job.
âIf you spend time, money and resources training the team thereâs more knowledge, which also helps morale. The more skilled your team the more efficient your plant will be, and I invest a lot of my time in coaching and training staff. The more knowledge someone has in their role thereâs a knock on effect in terms of Health & Safety and environmental issues. You canât separate this from producing and aging whisky,â adds Russell.
Beginning his career at Glenrothes as a process operator, covering all aspects of production and warehousing, Russell.....
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By Ian Wisniewski
Section : Whisky production
Page number : 56
