23.06.08: Water, barley, yeast, and people.

I think it was a distillery manager on Islay who first coined the phrase that whisky has four main ingredients - water, barley, yeast, and people. I think what he was referring to is that despite all the factors that influence the taste of whisky, like the strain of barley, the shape of the still, or the type of cask, it is the people involved in the whisky process that make it so special. I have to agree. After meeting many people in the whisky industry over the years, they are indeed a valuable ingredient of our favourite tipple.

On a recent trip to Scotland we had the pleasure of meeting two of the people behind anCnoc whisky. The first was anCnoc Brand Manager, Elaine Mitchell. My wife and I met Elaine in the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Leith where we chatted over a cask-strength dram of the Society bottling of anCnoc.

Elaine is a bright, convivial person whose enthusiasm for her job is as contagious as her omnipresent smile. She got her start early in whisky, and like most others do, by an influential older male, in this case, her father. Elaine hails from Australia where she was a retail manager of a whisky chain enabling her to develop her knowledge of whisky. Later she took on the challenge of running the Johnnie Walker Ambassadors program in Queensland, where she was involved in training about 100 people twice a week during the evening, and treading the boards as Sales Account Manager during the day.

Elaine first came over to Scotland for a friends wedding in 2001 and spent a few days at Cardhu Distillery training with the Global Manager at the 'home of Johnnie Walker' a facility set up to train their Ambassadors.

After a week traveling around Scotland, visiting the distilleries with her Aunt and Uncle in tow, she decided to take the risk and move to Scotland to further her passion. Diageo offered her a position in London in a Marketing capacity and the rest is history.

She always tells people that "whisky is my thing, a hobby gone way out of control." All the males in her family think its great and love the fact they get to sample all sorts of whisky they may not have had a chance to normally.

According to Elaine, "It is interesting being a woman in whisky. There aren't many of who have really caught the bug and have delved into the detail as I have. I often am challenged by the male contingent as I am young, blonde, female and have an Australian accent. I am so lucky though to have a job that allows me to enjoy and share my passion daily. I hope I make a difference."

Make a difference she will! It was a pleasure to sit and chat with such a talented young lady.

The next day we travelled north to the distillery below the black hill, and met the second person behind anCnoc, Gordon Bruce, distillery manager at Knochdhu distillery. Gordon has been the manager at Knochdhu since August of 2006, moving south from a stint as distillery manager at Old Pulteney in Wick. He is a friendly, knowledgably person with a keen sense of humour. Gordon gave us a tour of some recent additions to the distillery

The first was the new stirring mechanism for the mash tun. It gently stirs the wash for maximum ester formation with a ground breaking planetary driven gear box (30,500nM torque through a 15kw motor!). He also showed us the new wash back constructed from Douglas fir and that has the same working level of 21,500 litres as its predecessor. I was amazed how the wash back of this size could be assembled in situ with all the wood and hoops having to come through the doorway!

Gordon believes that his work as manager isn't really a job but a way of life. When asked about the best bit about his job he says, "If it started becoming too much like work, then it's time to up sticks and go to do something else. Can't think of any other career where I would get the opportunity to work with such a great bunch of guys, I honestly can't speak too highly of them." He and the staff have managed to increase production to 19 mashes a week, which are a credit to all those who work there, considering it was originally designed in 1894 to produces 10 smaller mashes per week flat out.

If Elaine and Gordon are examples of the fourth ingredient of malt whisky, the people, then they are two more reasons why it is the best spirit in the world.

Slainte!

Previous Posts:

23.08.07: anCnoc 1975 - You Asked, Chris Answers!
27.07.07: Welcome to my Blog!