At 18, Craig MacRitchie began working at the Whisky Shop in Inverness. What was meant to be a job for one summer became a regular gig during every break from university, then a full-time position post-graduation. At the shop, Craig had a broad training in whisky and whisky tasting from his mentor and then shop manager, the late Scott Dunn. Having learned about a new distillery being set up in Dingwall, Craig applied as a marketing and sales assistant and became the very first employee of GlenWyvis Distillery, where his next whisky mentor would become Duncan Tait, the former GlenWyvis distillery manager. A decade on, Craig is now distillery manager.

Whisky #1

Aberfeldy

Ramble 16 Years Old

I was working in the Whisky Shop at the time, and I remember the bottle coming in. Myself and my colleague Chris wanted to shift as much of it as possible, because we thought it was good, but we had never tried it… We made the executive decision — as two sales assistants — that we were going to open a bottle one afternoon, and we opened a bottle of this Aberfeldy Ramble. Of course, we tried it first ourselves, and it was just fantastic. The depth of flavour, the richness. Even at cask strength it was just so mellow, rich, and fruity. We had a 100 per cent taste-to-sale record on that whisky. Everyone who tasted it bought it — it was that good. I bought two bottles for myself. I drank one a long time ago, as a young man, and I kept one for a special occasion. I kept that dram for my wedding day.

WHISKY #2

Talisker

18 Years Old

When I developed a relationship with a lass and she became my girlfriend, I wanted to show her my love of whisky. So, my plan was, I was going to take her to Talisker Distillery, and she really politely agreed to come along. During the holidays, the two of us drove all the way up from Inverness to Carboss in Skye. We were the only two people on the tour and she really threw herself into it. I wanted to come away with a Talisker whisky, and it had to be the Talisker 18… that Talisker 18 holds a special place. The complexity of it. That girlfriend is now my wife and mother of my one child, with a second on the way. Years later, she told me how bored she actually was on that tour.

Whisky #3

Hunter Laing

The Sovereign Cambus 50 Years Old

I was so lucky during my time at the Whisky Shop where I got to try so many different whiskies. We did a single-grain-only tasting one evening. At that point, the only single grain I had tried then was Cameron Brig, which was the predecessor to Haig Club. That was fine: it was sweet, it was easy going. But some of the drams we had that night at that very special grain tasting were phenomenal. One that really stands out to me was a 1964 Cambus, bottled under the Hunter Laing Sovereign range, and it was a 50 Years Old at the time. I would actually put that in my top three whiskies I’ve ever tried. I think at the time it was about £450 a bottle, and if you could go back in time with a full wallet and buy whiskies, I would be doing that. I remember the smell of almost pure banoffee pie.

Whisky #4

Blair Athol

12 Years Old Cigar Malt

I encountered this particular whisky in my first month of working in the Whisky Shop when I was 18…it was bottled at 50%. I remember I was sort of pushed towards it by my friends who said you have to try it — and I tried it. At 50%, you know, as an 18-year-old boy, you’re thinking this is going to blow my head off. But it didn’t. That was my first time with a proper sherry cask whisky as well. And again, that was sort of an awakening for me. Whisky isn’t just whisky, the barrel makes such a difference to it.

Whisky #5

GlenWyvis

Highland Exclusive Single Cask

This was the hardest one to choose… but I’ve actually gone with the one that we released just December last year. It was a six-year-old oloroso sherry quarter cask, and it was sold exclusively through retail, so we didn’t sell it direct from the distillery, and we gave it to retail outlets in the local Highland area, which had been good to us over the years. As a quarter cask, it didn’t go far but it was a very rich, fruity dram. It was the first release from GlenWyvis since I took over as manager in June last year, so this was my first release of whisky from the distillery. 

Luxury item

Bagpipes

The item I would take is my bagpipes. You can kill many hours to yourself, playing the bagpipes, and my whisky journey has intertwined with my piping career. No one likes a dram like a piper, and quite often I find that I play a wee bit better after a couple of whiskies.