From the Fairway to the Distillery
Hello, my name is James and I’m one of the members of Alumni Whisky. Although I am from Edinburgh, Scotland, I played collegiate golf for Michigan State and the University of Houston before settling in the Houston area with my wife, Meghan. Although golf is my primary focus, I have grown to enjoy becoming more involved with the development of Alumni Whisky. With the recent good news that the Trump administration will be lifting the current tariffs on Scotch whisky in the US, now seemed like an appropriate time to do a short blogpost for Alumni Whisky on my recent trip to Scotland. Due to my father’s involvement in Tullibardine Distillery and the Scotch whisky industry, I’ve always been around whisky, but only recently decided to take a deeper dive into how it’s made and what happens behind the amber curtain. Also, as most golfers can attest, a little distraction off the course can be good for one’s game!
Every Day’s a School Day...
So, I recently flew back home to the motherland for an immersive experience in the Scotch whisky industry. Doug Ross, my father, has spent nearly forty years in the industry and he has always said that the industry is fundamentally based on relationships. In thanks to those relationships formed over the years, I had the good fortune of meeting with individuals and visiting key operations within the industry. After a couple of pints in Kay’s with Dad cured my jet lag, my fully immersive week kicked off by learning about how Scotch whisky is made – start to finish.
One afternoon, Mike Kydd, recently retired from twenty years in his role as Diageo Scotland’s Bulk Spirits Commercial Director, kindly enlightened me on the current state of the industry, the whole process of how Scotch is made, and where the spirit originated from.
What is Scotch Whisky?
The definition of Scotch Whisky is relatively straightforward. It must be produced at a distillery in Scotland and made from only water, cereals (barley, wheat etc) and yeast. It must be distilled to an alcoholic concentrate of less than 94.8% and then laid to rest in Scotland in oak casks for a minimum of 3 years. You might have read about some of the variable factors that affect taste and color in our previous blog post. It’s true and that’s the beauty of Scotch whisky. Some drams may taste like sweet sugar cookies while others may be rich with spice like Christmas cake.
A Brief History
I learned that the first official record of whisky-making in Scotland was in 1494 where Friar John Cor, a monk from Lindores Abbey in Fife, was commissioned by King James IV to turn 8 balls of malt into “aqua vitae” (water of life). They used very small pot stills and, as the story goes, it was originally meant for medicinal use…believe that if you will!
By 1824 the UK government had officially legalised Scotch by licensing stills of at least 40 gallons capacity. On the back of this, landowners began building small distilleries and quality control became possible. This was essentially the advent of the modern malt spirit. Further innovations in the 1830s then led to the design of the continuous still which provided a more efficient distillation and produced a lighter flavoured and higher quality spirit.
Fast forward nearly 200 years and Scotch whisky has evolved to an economic powerhouse for our wee nation, now accounting for over 80% of total food and drink exports. There are more than 130 malt distilleries, seven grain distilleries and thirteen bottling plants in the country. The industry supports over 10,000 jobs directly and around 40,000 indirectly in the UK. With around 1.34 BILLION bottles of Scotch exported annually (43 bottles every second), Scotch is highly correlated to GDP growth which makes the alleviation of current US tariffs so important and impactful.
How It’s Made
Blends, single malts, grain whisky... what a world! One of the most important takeaways for me was the distinction between malt and grain whisky. Malt whisky is produced in a batch process using only malted barley, water and yeast. The malted barley is simply just barley that has been allowed to germinate by soaking in water. This wakes up the barley and prepares starches in the seed to be converted into sugars. The sugary liquid is then fermented with yeast to create a low strength alcohol. At a malt whisky distillery, this liquid is distilled twice in copper pot stills. From tall and skinny to short and rotund, each distillery has its own style of copper pot stills. The label “Single Malt Scotch Whisky” means that the spirit has been made exclusively from 100% malted barley at a single distillery in Scotland. Our University of Houston release is just that – a 13-year-old single malt from Linkwood Distillery, a distillery founded over 200 years ago and renowned for its high quality. (Did you know a past distillery manager was so superstitious that he prohibited the cobwebs from being removed from the stills, for fear that it would affect the integrity of the spirit? Those cobwebs are long gone but we assure you Linkwood single malts are as good as ever!).
While they command a higher premium at the shelf, single malts only make up about 10-15% of production, which means blended whisky accounts for 85-90% of the industry’s volume. Blended Scotch whisky, like Johnnie Walker, is essentially mostly grain whisky with different single malts layered on top to create a consistent flavour profile (generally 85% grain and 15% malt). Grain whisky is made in large continuous stills from a combination of either wheat, maize or corn as well as malted barley and yeast.
Next stop on my journey was to visit North British distillery, one of only seven grain distilleries in Scotland, and it was probably the most eye-opening part of my visit. Inside, it looks not too dissimilar to a large industrial power station and nothing at all like the picturesque, romantic view many of us have of a Scotch Whisky distillery. (There’s a reason grain distilleries aren’t usually open to the public!). Their goal is to produce as much volume as possible; some of those grain distilleries produce over 100 million litres per year! My dad and I were very grateful to Callan Strain, one of the lead production operators on site, for showing us around. He was very enthusiastic and informative; what a pity we don’t have a picture of us all in our hard hats and protective coverall suits we were wearing on site!
Barrels of Wisdom
Having now seen the mashing, fermentation and distillation process, the next stop on my journey was a visit to Ian Macleod Distillers in Broxburn. Here I was able to see the next steps in the process of producing Scotch whisky - the filling of barrels, warehousing of those barrels as well as maturation and disgorging of casks. Keith Murdoch, head of supply chain at Ian Macleod, kindly showed me around. Ian Macleod Distillers are a family-owned spirits company that produces around 1 million cases per year. They own three malt distilleries (Glengoyne, Tamdhu and Rosebank) and have a wide portfolio of other brands and spirits as well such as gin and rum. One of the rare parts of their business is having their own bottling operation on site – this is in fact where we bottled the University of Houston release.
Tankers arrive to Ian Macleod Distillers with spirit from various distilleries which is then filled into oak casks and left to mature in the warehouse for at least 3 years. The industry is always laying down more stock than it is disgorging, essential for continued growth year on year. All in all, this was a fascinating look at one of the country’s top distillers and it led perfectly into my next visit to Speyside Cooperage.
Alloa is the home of Speyside Cooperage, the largest independent cooperage in the UK. Willie Finlayson and Brian Bartlett very kindly introduced me to the ancient art of coopering - the manufacturing and restoration of barrels. American bourbon is aged in brand new, charred oak barrels for at least one year, and after that those barrels are often resold to distillers in Scotland where they are filled with what becomes Scotch Whisky. These barrels can vary widely in their condition, and it is up to the craftsmanship and hard work of the coopers to refurbish them.
The US bourbon industry does not reuse their barrels as the wood would not be sweet enough for bourbon with a second fill. As I came to understand, there is an alchemy that goes on between the wood and the new spirit, and it is in fact the vanilla taste from the new wood that affects the liquid. American oak wood is used due to its highly porous nature which the spirit cannot breach. Coopering does not use any nails or glue at all; the vessels are held together by tightly fitting the curved wooden slats (staves) and securing them in place with metal hoops.
Scotland does not have access to the same size of forests available in the US; another reason why the industry uses American oak. Coopering is such an important step of the whisky making; the wood quality and condition are vital if we are to achieve the desired spirit flavour outcome at maturity.
The site in Alloa was filled with barrels of all different sizes. There were ASB barrels (American Standard barrels with a 200L capacity), Hogsheads with 250L, Butts with 500L which produce approximately 1000 bottles, and finally some Pucheons, also approximately 500L. There is a 3% instant loss in a barrel when it is first filled as the wood absorbs some of the liquid. Annually there is also a 2% loss of spirit, affectionately known as the “Angel’s Share”.
All About Relationships
As I began to wrap up my visit, I took a trip to Tullibardine Distillery in Blackford, where my now wife, Meghan, originally came on a study abroad internship in 2010 and worked with my dad when he was a Managing Director there. In a full circle moment, I spent the morning with David Myles and Gavin Cunningham, two guys very much part of the history and fabric of the distillery from when it reopened in 2003. I was given a tour of the distillery by David and thanks to my previous few days I was able to follow along and fully appreciate the whole process much more this time! Gavin has always been such a warm, welcoming character at Tullibardine and it was lovely to catch up with him and tell him about our exciting journey thus far with Alumni Whisky.
There was one more distillery stop on the agenda. A good friend of mine, Stuart McLean, and I went to visit the brand-new Port of Leith Distillery in Edinburgh. It is Scotland’s first ever vertical distillery - a remarkable 9 storey high building on the water. They are so new that they don’t have any mature whisky available to try yet, but it was fascinating to get a glimpse into another way the industry is innovating and attracting tourism.
As I reflect on my trip, I’ve realized it really is all about relationships. Scotch whisky, the small but special industry that it is, has a way of bringing people together. I feel very grateful to have had such an incredible experience over the course of the week in Scotland and it certainly ignited a true passion for Scotch within me. Time for a wee dram of Linkwood I’d say…cheers!