Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i Whisky Magazine

Who out there has heard of the phrase ‘quarter-life crisis’? It was a concept coined by Millennials in the West (roughly those born between 1980 and 1996) to convey – and dramatise – a sense of discontent, confusion, and even fear felt among that generation as they fell headfirst into adulthood. With global economies still contending with shockwaves from the financial crash in 2008, spiralling costs to gain a university education, poor job prospects, and an ever-increasing gap between median income and house prices, many were left feeling that the true pillars of adulthood, as taught by our forebears – stable employment, a home of your own, even finding a life partner – were slipping further from their grasp through no fault of their own. (And then came the news…

I’ll never understand why spring cleaning gets all the love. Spring is when people start to spend more time outside their homes, after all. I, for one, am a fan of the winter sweep – christened as such (by yours truly) for its implications of being both a physical dusting/mopping/polishing exercise and also rampage-level purge. Winter is, of course, nesting season. Doesn’t it make more sense to do a deep clean and eliminate as much as you can before you settle in and get cosy for the next few months? I have written in these pages before about my collecting habits – something that I’m sure many readers relate to, as whisky enthusiasm lends itself to purchasing, swapping, cataloguing, and storing spirits. If you carry out those third and fourth…

There is a joke within Scotch whisky company Whyte & Mackay that after a storm master whisky maker and blender Gregg Glass gets a gleam in his eye and sets out to scour the countryside for freshly fallen trees – oak trees, to be specific. There is method in this unusual practice. Glass is spearheading an ambitious long-term project to make Scottish oak a widely recognised option for Scotch whisky maturation. At a time when sustainability is one of the industry’s principal watchwords, what could be more sustainable than using timber grown, felled, milled, and coopered in Scotland, rather than imported from mainland Europe or the US? Glass, who was named Master Distiller/Master Blender of the Year in Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky Awards 2023, joined Whyte & Mackay in…

As Whisky Magazine celebrates its 25th anniversary, we are reflecting on the journey that the whisky industry has been on over the past quarter-century. It is our privilege to celebrate the whiskies of the world through this publication and we hope to continue doing so for many years to come. Over the next few pages, we take a look at some of the distilleries and people that have helped to build the whisky world we enjoy today – and taste some rather special drams to mark the occasion. Here's to the next 25 years!…

TASTER BIOGRAPHIES Bethany Brown After studying English literature at university, Bethany worked as a journalist for regional newspaper groups before moving to the spirits industry. She was appointed as editor of Whisky Magazine in 2022, having previously edited its sister titles Gin and Rum. She is also editor of annual publications Travelux and Scotch Whisky. Christopher Coates A member of the team since 2013 and a keen whisky drinker long before that, Christopher served as Whisky Magazine’s Scotch whisky editor before being appointed as editor in 2020. In 2022, he was named editor-at-large and now writes a regular column for this title, in addition to his role as a blind taster. He is also chair of judges for the World Whiskies Awards and Icons of Whisky competitions. THE PROCESS All…

By 1600, the City of London had Britain’s largest population of 200,000 people. Neighboured by Westminster, it dominated politics, access to capital, a skilled workforce, and a widening range of trades, including a small-scale distilling industry. An estimated 200 distillers operated in London, most distilling malt spirits from spent ale and beer. These were modest one- or two-person trades, representing physicians, barber-surgeons, apothecaries, and general distillers. If London was Britain’s distilling centre, then Oxford was the incubator. One of the first references to distilling in Britain was Roger Bacon, writing on “distillations” in his 1267 Opus Majus. He returned to Oxford University in 1270 as Dr Mirabils, lecturing on alchemy and distillation, describing in his 1278 Error of Physicians “most wholesome and salutary waters, by distillation” referring to the production…

As far as job titles go, ‘master of wood’ is pretty hard to beat. “It looked great on business cards,” smiles Scotch whisky industry veteran Stuart MacPherson. “Some of my colleagues may have said it was more along the lines of ‘lump of wood’, though,” he adds with a self-deprecating laugh. MacPherson spent 43 years at Macallan owner Edrington, becoming master of wood in 2012, a title that put him on par with the industry’s master blenders and master distillers. During his tenure, The Macallan became synonymous with whiskies aged in sherry casks, trumpeting its use of both American and European oak on its labels and in its marketing. One of MacPherson’s lasting achievements was building an audit trail that allowed The Macallan to trace the provenance of its casks…

Charring casks reached an apogee in July 1935 when US Congress mandated the first standards of identity for producing straight classes of domestic American whisky: “must be kept in new oak containers, charred if used for whisky.” Today, the regulations state that for bourbon, rye, wheat, and malted straight whisky, the vessel in which the spirit must be aged is a charred new oak barrel. No other country or alcoholic beverage mandates the charring or use of new casks as a requirement for a national class of whisky. The charring of barrels was introduced to America by Europeans in the 18th century when distillers of rye and corn mashes used the charcoal membrane inside the barrels to filter and treat raw spirits. By the 1870s, charred barrels remained in minority…

Tamdhu Cuatro Reserva IAN MACLEOD DISTILLERS ABV: 41.2% Style: Single malt Bottling type: Distillery Price per bottle: £76.99 Availability: Travel retail Origin: Scotland Independent family firm Ian Macleod Distillers launched this accessibly priced Tamdhu expression at the recent TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes. The non-age-statement Tamdhu Cuatro Reserva is a travel retail-exclusive Speyside single malt that will undoubtedly appeal to fans of sherry cask-matured whiskies, being aged in four different types of oloroso sherry casks: first-fill, refill, American oak, and European oak. The nose is rich and warming with hints of spice, raisin, orange peel, and crème brûlée, and the palate is well balanced with notes of poached fruits, toasted almond, and rich sherry. The long, smooth finish is delicately spiced. Bushmills 21 Years Old BUSHMILLS DISTILLERY ABV: 46% Style:…

SCOTLAND 1. Bruichladdich Founded in 1881, Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay narrowly avoided closure during the 1980s before then-owner Whyte & Mackay finally halted production in 1997. It was bought and reopened by a group of Islay landowners and London-based wine merchant Mark Reynier in 2001. Reynier employed the help of local whisky legends Jim McEwan and the late Duncan McGillivray to bring the distillery back to life. Producing three styles of spirit (the unpeated Bruichladdich, heavily peated Port Charlotte, and even more heavily peated Octomore), Bruichladdich is committed to championing barley provenance, working with local farms to source Islay-grown barley and helping to reintroduce Bere barley to the island. In 2023, it expanded its grain philosophy with the launch of the first whisky to use Islay-grown rye. It was also…

In the basement of the ‘Imported Branded Goods Arcade’ in Namdaemun market, a sprawling traditional wholesale market in central Seoul, tightly packed stalls are piled high with every kind of goods imaginable. Amidst this maze, I find a vendor with at least 600 bottles of rare and collectable whisky. Several similar stalls are dotted about nearby. The shelves groan under row upon row of Springbank, GlenDronach, GlenAllachie, Balvenie, and Macallan bottles. Until just over a decade ago, when official retailers finally began stocking wider ranges of quality whiskies in more locations, ‘secondary’ markets like this one (selling grey import stock brought into the country by individuals returning from trips abroad) were some of the only places Koreans could come to source high-end foreign liquor, which would often be taken back…

The Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame is sponsored by INDUCTEE 87 COLUM EGAN Bushmills Growing up in the heart of Ireland’s barley-growing country, Colum was born to be a whisky maker. Today, he has what he calls his “dream job” in charge of the Old Bushmills Distillery on the rugged north coast. After graduating from the University of Limerick with a degree in production management, Colum embarked on a career in the beverage industry and began studying every aspect of the whisky-making process. On a chance visit to Bushmills, he fell in love with the history and heritage of the distillery. Driven by a strong determination to get involved, it wasn’t long before he gained a position at the Old Bushmills Distillery, progressing under the tutelage of its former master…

Taster biographies Bethany Brown After studying English literature at university, Bethany worked as a journalist for regional newspaper groups before moving to the spirits industry. She was appointed as editor of Whisky Magazine in 2022, having previously edited its sister titles Gin and Rum. She is also editor of annual publications Travelux and Scotch Whisky. Christopher Coates A member of the team since 2013 and a keen whisky drinker long before that, Christopher served as Whisky Magazine’s Scotch whisky editor before being appointed as editor in 2020. In 2022, he was named editor-at-large and now writes a regular column for this title, in addition to his role as a blind taster. He is also chair of judges for the World Whiskies Awards and Icons of Whisky competitions. THE PROCESS •…

SCOTLAND 1. Balvenie A new era has begun at The Balvenie with celebrated malt master David Stewart passing the baton to his protégé Kelsey McKechnie. To mark this occasion, the brand launched A Revelation of Cask and Character, a 19-year-old expression created solely by McKechnie which is the latest release in its Stories Collection. At the ultra-luxury end of the market, The Balvenie has also launched a 60-year-old single malt – selected by McKechnie in honour of Stewart’s six-decade career at the distillery – which is limited to just 71 bottles globally. 2. Dornoch With a focus on traditional methods employed by early 20th-century distillers, founders Simon and Phil Thompson established Dornoch in 2017 on the site of a 19th-century fire station located within the grounds of Dornoch Castle. Recently…