Company:The Glasgow Distillery Co
Job:
Founder
Website:
Socials:
@GlasgowDC
How
long have you been working in the whisky industry?
In 2012
I founded The Glasgow Distillery alongside my long-term business partner, Liam
Hughes. Before embarking on our distillery journey, we had both been in the
drinks industry for over 20 years working across business development; brand
strategy; product launches; operations and project management for a wide number
of well renowned drinks brands, which included whisky. The drinks industry as a
whole has been central to my entire working life and the experience of seeing
the exciting changes and innovation across spirit categories is one of the
reasons we produce not only single malt Scotch whisky at The Glasgow
Distillery, but gin, vodka and rum, too.
What
has been your biggest career highlight to date?
Starting
up the distillery from scratch has been no easy task. It has been one of the
most challenging experiences of my life but, also, one of the most rewarding.
It fills me with immense pride when I see how far we have come in a relatively
short period of time. Indeed, our first release of single malt scotch whisky
distilled from The Glasgow Distillery, Glasgow 1770 Single Malt Release No.1, was
very memorable and a proud moment for me and everyone within the distillery who
collectively worked so hard to make it happen. That first release was the
culmination of so many years of effort – first to get the distillery up and
running but then to subsequently build all of our five brands.
Since
that first release, we haven't stopped. We’ve kept going with the same drive
and energy that was behind Release No.1 and with each subsequent new release –
be that our Peated or Triple Distilled single malts, or releases within our
experimental Small Batch Series of Glasgow 1770 Single Malts, or limited-edition
Banditti Club rums - I get a buzz and an immense sense of pride in our work.
Can you
remember your first dram, and indeed what it was?
It’s
hard to remember my first dram of whisky specifically but I recall when I was
somewhat younger, growing up at home with the aroma of single malt from my
father’s whisky collection as he took a well-earned dram after a long day at
work, which sparked my early curiosity. Albeit I was far too young to be
drinking at that age!
Having
frequented a wide range of spirits over the years, one of the first whiskies
that I fell in love with was Highland Park 18 Year Old. The balance of soft
campfire smoke against the rich sherry influence, the saline balanced against
the vanillin of American oak. It was one of the first whiskies that helped me
realise just how complex and well-balanced malt whisky can be.
What
does whisky mean to you?
Whisky
is both pleasure and business and it’s a privilege to be able to call it both. I
enjoy whisky in my downtime and have a joy in discovering new brands that are
innovative and engaging and pushing the boat.
Within
a business context whisky means working hard to deal with the demands of the
day-to-day running of an operating distillery and all the challenges that are
associated with that.
Whisky
also means creativity. Leading on new product development, creating new blends,
trialling new spirit and wood combinations, purchasing casks and planning out
our future spirit in the long-term are all aspects of my role and daily work
life.
People
and whisky cannot be separated. I have many personal friendships that have come
out of working in this industry; It’s full of wonderful and passionate people –
both within the wider industry and within the distillery itself. We have a
fantastic team of really engaged and passion-fuelled team members who are as
enthusiastic about creating, talking and loving whisky as much as I am.
So, for
me whisky means a lot of different things, each one contributing and adding
colour to my life.
