Despite growing up in Speyside, Jill Boyd never considered a career in the whisky industry. After university, however, she moved home and landed a job in the distillery laboratory at William Grant & Sons. There, she says, “anything felt possible”.

 

While at William Grant & Sons, Jill was encouraged to learn more about the whisky industry. Through this, she discovered a passion for sensory analysis. This interest led Jill to her first job as a blender, joining blending house Compass Box in London. She stayed with Compass Box for seven years, but when the company sold it seemed like time for a new challenge. After a spell as master blender for Halewood Artisanal Spirits, which owns eight distilleries including Aber Falls and Bonnington, she took on her current contract as master blender for independent Lowland distillery Lochlea. As well as shaping the distillery’s long-term whisky inventory, Jill has been working on Lochlea’s new core range and limited releases for 2025.

 

Whisky #1

Glen Moray

Cider Cask Project

 

I took a cask strength bottle of this on a friend’s stag trip to Prague where I ended up meeting my now husband. I always joke it’s the whisky that brought us together! Somewhere tucked away in our house is one last bottle, which I almost hope not to find until the right moment. I always champion drinking the whisky you buy; I’m not a whisky hoarder and find it so sad when bottles are bought, but never opened. But this one is different: there’s just so much love and good memories swirled up in it that I really do want to keep it for best.

 

Whisky #2

Lochlea

Smoke Without Fire

 

I love balance within a whisky, and Smoke Without Fire just hits that sweet spot with phenolic smoke playing against delicate fruit and blossom. It’s one of three new whiskies that we’ve just released in our first permanent core range of single malts: the Lochlea Single Estate Range. It was such a joy to work on this expression through spring and summer, being inspired by all the flowers bursting into bloom around me and the scent of barbecue in the air. I made sure to carry out some ‘quality checks’ on warm afternoons with a cheeky Highball, but I am so looking forward to winter with a smoky New York Sour, drawing out the juicy sweetness while cooried under a blanket on the sofa with my cats.

 

Whisky #3

Balvenie

21 Years Old Port Cask

 

Probably the first luxury whisky I ever bought, a very kind customer tipped me a dram of this at the end of my shift and I’ll forever be grateful for their generosity and the introduction to one of my all-time favourite whiskies. I knew I had to have a bottle and agonised for weeks about the price tag before caving and regretting nothing! A few years later, when I ended up working for William Grant’s, it felt like a dream come true. First matured in American oak, so all those fatty, buttery, and vanilla notes can work their magic, and then finished in port pipes to layer in super juicy, sticky-sweet richness, I loved it from the first sip, and it was a huge step forward in my whisky journey.

 

Whisky #4

Compass Box

The Muse

 

Working with grain whisky, and having to face all my own biases about how good a grain whisky could be, was a real turning point for me. There are so many beautiful, interesting, complex grain whiskies in the world and yet they are so often overlooked. The cask which inspired The Muse had itself been forgotten. When I first sampled it all I knew was that it was a blend of grains, the youngest distilled in 1984. After 34 years quietly marrying in cask and still at well over 65% ABV, it was just about as incredible a whisky as I had ever tasted. It became the backbone of this amazing blend and I still love it dearly.

 

Whisky #5

Kilchoman

STR Cask Matured

 

A chance meeting with George Wills from Kilchoman at the 2019 Bakewell whisky festival led to me picking up a bottle of this. It sat almost untouched on my bookshelf throughout the madness which was the 2020 lockdown, but as the world began to open up, I took it glamping with my boyfriend and two best friends. We had an almost magical couple of nights reconnecting around the bonfire, and this whisky became a cornerstone of that memory. 

 

Luxury item

Kitchen knives

 

I would have to bring my kitchen knives and knife sharpener. I love cooking and spending time in the kitchen, so having the right tools would let me whip up some pairings to go with my drams while I wait for rescue.