Company:The Balvenie
Job:
UK Brand Ambassador
Website:
Socials:
@thebalvenie
How long have you been working in the whisky industry?
Not long at all – just 16 months, though the majority of my
career to this point has been spent behind a bar, so I’ve been blethering about
whisky for much longer than that.
What has been your biggest career highlight to date?
Visiting the home of sherry, Jerez, in Andalucia last year,
with the rest of The Balvenie’s international brand ambassador team. We try to
get together at least once a year, and as I’ve said above, I’m still very much
the baby of the crew, so being made to feel so welcome by them, in a part of
Europe I’m absolutely in love with was brilliant. We’ve all cultivated this
exact same specific obsession for our whiskies, but the way we deploy it, to
audiences from Taipei to Sydney, New York to London is so so different –
they’re an inspiring bunch to be around.
Can you remember your first dram, and indeed what it was?
I do! Growing up, my Dad had a proper niche interest in
Royal Lochnagar, so it was probably their 12 Year Old that I was offered in
about 2005, and to my shame, requested on ice and chased with Coca Cola. You’ll
never believe me, but a year or so later, the first bottle I ever bought with
my own money was The Balvenie’s old Signature 12 Year Old, from Sainsburys in
Camden Town, for £21.49, which felt like a staggering indulgence.
What does whisky mean to you?
It’s a great leveller – even the most exalted, experienced
people in our industry haven’t lost their capacity to be surprised, struck-dumb
by a special dram. There aren’t enough years in this life to properly get to
the bottom of the whole thing, we’re all just bearing witness to our own little
corner of it.
Where would you like to see yourself in five years’ time?
I’d love to see more of the world through this job – I love
the vibey, sleet-slicked granite of Aberdeen as much as the next man, but it
might be nice to do the odd whisky tasting on a warm beach…
What was your last dram?
The new Glenrothes 18 Year Old, whilst watching the changing
of the King’s guard on Whitehall in London, from the window of Raffles’ Hotel
bar. It was lovely.
Do you have a favourite whisky and food pairing combination?
I used to manage a bar in Soho called Milk & Honey, one
evening, my predecessor-but-one, James Buntin came through to host a ‘Balvenie and
Cheese’ session for some of our guests. That night’s pairing of Portwood 21
Year Old and creamy blue cheese remains pretty undeniable.
What’s your favourite time and place to enjoy a dram?
I do my best to attend a specific Yin yoga class from an incredibly
soothing instructor called Carl every Friday at 5pm, before walking to my
partner’s bar (Swift, in Shoreditch). So it’s that dram, dozy and relaxed,
surrounded by friends, the whole weekend spread out before me – bliss.
What do you think is going to be the next big thing on the
whisky horizon?
Oof, I’ve no idea – what tends to feel like ‘a big thing’ to
us on the inside of the industry rarely even registers with regular folk. One
thing does come to mind, some of the most interesting (not to mention, keenly
priced) whiskies I’ve had this year have been super-old grains. I don’t know if
it’s something to do with distillers choosing to fill grain whisky into better
quality casks in the 90s, or an uptick in interest of that era from the
independent bottlers, but I’ve never known there to be so much circa-30 year
old grain kicking about. It’s a brilliant change of pace if you’re inured to
single malts.
What’s the one dram you couldn’t live without?
It would have to be The Balvenie French Oak 16 Year Old,
which was finished on Pineau de Charentes casks. Released two years ago, and
sitting alongside the iconic Doublewood 12 Year Old, Caribbean Cask 14 Year Old
and Portwood 21 Year Old, it’s not yet got the attention it deserves. It’s a cask
finish that absolutely sparkles!
Many thanks to Sean Fennelly. Who will be our next Whisky
Insider? Click back soon to find out!
