Company:
Freelance
Job:
Whisky Writer & Educator
Website:
theworldmasterclass.com
How long have you been working in the whisky industry?
I’ve been in and around whisky for my whole working life. From a pre-uni job on a whisky bottling line (read Beer Hunter, Whisky Chaser for the full sordid story) through Oddbins, a real ale pub, Off Licence News and since 1995 freelance writing specialising in spirits. A long time in other words.
What has been your biggest career highlight to date?
Can I have two? Seeing the Flavour Map being accepted as a new way of breaking the barriers surrounding Scotch, and being elevated if that’s the word to Master of the Quaich this year.
Can you remember your first dram, and indeed what it was?
I can remember it, from a half-bottle in a freezing cold and damp tent somewhere half way up a mountain in the Highlands. Haven’t a clue what it was. I was young. It was dark. I didn’t care.
What does whisky mean to you?
It means a liquid which allows you to talk of culture, history, landscape, science, industry, myth; a drink which is more than a drink but something which acts as a social lubricant, that is convivial, mysterious, frustrating, baffling, potent, complex, evanescent, earth-bound, head-pounding, bellowing, whispering. It’s a metaphor; it’s something to relax with.
Where would you like to see yourself in five years time?
Who knows. I go with the flow. As long as I’m happy, I’m fine.
What was your last dram?
Thirty minutes ago, on Brighton beach, Lagavulin 2011 Islay Jazz Fest bottling.
Do you have a favourite whisky and food pairing combination?
Sushi!!!
What’s your favourite time and place to enjoy a dram?
That depends on the time and place. Whisky fits in with your mood, so it could be a long relaxing highball after a long frustrating day, or a warming nip on the top of a hill, or with a stogie at the end of a long night.
What do you think is going to be the next big thing on the whisky horizon?
No Age Statements, an increase in non chill filtered single malts and Irish single pot still.
What’s the one dram you couldn’t live without?
I could live without whisky...
Many thanks to Dave Broom. Who will be the next Whisky Insider? Click back soon to find out!