22 • AGENDA
• FEATURE: NEW DISTILLERS Fortunately, it turned out that Darren
Rook – formerly venue manager at 19 Greville Street – was looking for someone with precisely his technical background for the head distiller role at The London Distillery Company. Rook started out by saying he had no interest in competing with the Scotch industry and that he wanted a distiller who could be “technically creative”. The London Distilling Company has
been extremely canny in its dealings with HMRC, working with a former taxman (who they met through the Society’s London branch at 19 Greville Street) to obtain a license for a 650-litre pot still. As anyone familiar with the UK licensing regime will tell you, this is far smaller than the 1800 litres previously believed to be the minimum permitted size. This breakthrough has caused considerable excitement among the young distillers of Heriot-Watt, as it removes one of the main barriers to the kind of low volume, small batch production that many of them crave. “Distilling has really been a big
boys’ playground in recent years,” confi rms Banik. “We’re not like the US, where micro-distilling has got established over the course of 20 years. But with the overturning of the 1800
NAME:
ANDREW MacLEOD SMITH GRADUATE YEAR:
2012
litre minimum limit, that really opens things up and we can get started.” Crucially, greater fl exibility around the still itself also allows more experimentation on the distilling side of the whisky-making equation. Banik continues: “The Scotch whisky industry has been very conservative. Most if not all of the innovation comes on the maturation side – blending diff erent cask types to create a new expression.” Mason agrees, arguing that UK
craft distillers may well look to German, American and Canadian still manufacturers to produce spirit with a distinctive character. “Christian Carl stills really dominate the
US craft scene, just like Forsyth’s dominate Scotch. But there’s a problem with that, because everybody’s making their spirit within the same basic parameters. If you look at all the diff erent kinds of stills used for spirits around the world – like rum stills, which are all weird retorts and wooden pot stills feeding into one another – you start to see the possibilities.” If these young distillers refl ect a wider mood in the industry, then we seem to be heading for major change. So, should the traditional distilling companies be worried that this generation of knowledgeable, ambitious graduates hunger for something diff erent? Euan Kennedy is 18 months away
from completing his graduate degree and recently completed a placement at a large distillery, where he was “thrown in at the deep end” with the opportunity to put his lab lessons into practice.
“I defi nitely get the sense that the craft
movement is just getting started here, and that it’s likely to build quickly over the next few years… But I’d very happily go back to work for one of the big distillers when I graduate – I have a lot of respect for them and what they’re producing. This is echoed by Colin Gordon,
who vigorously refutes any suggestion that Heriot-Watt is churning out a generation of small-scale distillers. “Training with Diageo, I see every
area of the business and I’m working under real craftsman who are hugely passionate about whisky. “There can be a balance. Sure, I think
we’ll see more guys like the London Distillery Company popping up. But I’m proud to be where I am too; we’re looking to the future, innovating and making fantastic whisky.” Even among those graduates setting
out to create something new, there seems very little interest in trying to take custom away from the traditional distilleries. “There’s space on the shelves for
everyone,” says Macleod Smith. “People know what they like, so if someone’s looking for something local and traceable, they’ll know where to fi nd craft products. If they want the consistent, reliable brands that they’re familiar with, then they’ll know where to get them too.” Banik conludes: “If anything sets the
new generation apart, I hope it’s that they have an excellent technical knowledge of the process, and – wherever they end up working – they use that to create high quality, innovative whiskies.”
If anything sets the
current generation apart, I hope it’s that they have an excellent technical knowledge
THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY
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