Scran: Bonus Episode - The Scotch Whisky experience and its career-launching history

Name: Scran: Bonus Episode - The Scotch Whisky experience and its career-launching history
Uploaded: 2024-02-22T16:45:50+00:00
Duration: 36 min 21 s
Channel: The Scotsman

00:00 [SOUND OF WIND BLOWING]

00:02 [SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS]

00:04 [SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS]

00:06 [SOUND OF THUNDER]

00:08 Okay, folks, so welcome to Scotch Whisky Experience.

00:11 My name's Heather. I'm going to take you on a journey today

00:14 and tell you and show you how we make single malt Scotch Whisky.

00:18 We need three ingredients for this - water, barley and yeast.

00:23 So let's put the water, barley and yeast together

00:26 and see how we can turn our national drink to the true spirit of Scotland.

00:31 [MUSIC]

00:35 Hello and welcome to this special partnership episode of Scran

00:38 with the Scotch Whisky Experience.

00:40 Nestled on Castle Hill within a stone's throw of Edinburgh Castle,

00:44 the Scotch Whisky Experience has been welcoming visitors

00:47 from all over the world since the late '80s,

00:49 a time when the world of whisky was very, very different to what it is now.

00:53 I went along to experience this popular tour

00:56 and speak to some of the people in the know about how it came about,

00:59 what it has to offer and how it has played a not insignificant role

01:03 in nurturing much of the talent found in the whisky industry today.

01:07 I sat down with Angela Dinnie, Operations Director,

01:10 who filled me in on the history as well as modern undertakings,

01:13 including the recent investment of £3.5 million into a new tour

01:17 and how it houses one of the world's largest collections of Scotch Whisky,

01:21 which was amazing to see.

01:23 So this is the very sixth that started this whole collection.

01:28 Now he collected for a period of 35 years

01:31 and amassed approximately 3,400 bottles.

01:35 [MUSIC]

01:38 Michelle Peetsey, Site Director of the North British Distillery

01:41 and Alex Thomson, Visitor Attraction Manager at the Glen Turret Distillery,

01:45 shared their memories with me of their time working at the Scotch Whisky Experience

01:49 and how it helped shape their future careers in the industry.

01:53 They offer some great insight into working in this thriving industry

01:56 and how the Scotch Whisky Experience has played its part in their careers.

02:00 [MUSIC]

02:02 They message me out of the blue on Instagram

02:04 and I've always been happy to meet up with them if they come to the distillery

02:08 or meet up with them for a dram and stuff like that

02:10 because it's an awesome industry

02:12 and the more people that work in it, the better.

02:14 If somebody hasn't had the exposure, they can often think,

02:16 "Okay, it's about drinking, it's about what's in the shop, it's what's in the bottle,"

02:20 but there's so much more that goes into making Scotch Whisky

02:23 and it's depending on what your passion is,

02:25 there are so many different aspects you could go into.

02:28 [MUSIC]

02:34 So hi Angela, we're here at the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh

02:37 and I'm excited, I've never been here before.

02:39 I'm really excited to find out more about the tour and what you do here

02:42 but for anyone that doesn't know,

02:44 could you give us a sort of brief history of the Scotch Whisky Experience?

02:47 The Scotch Whisky Experience exists to make the world fall in love with Scotch Whisky

02:51 and back in 1988, our founder, Alistair McIntosh,

02:55 approached a number of the distillers at that time

02:58 with a view to creating an attraction here in the capital city

03:03 to learn about our national drink.

03:05 So at that time, in the 80s, very few of the distilleries were open to visitors

03:10 so there wasn't really that kind of market

03:13 and a lot of people who came to Scotland didn't really travel much further north

03:17 than kind of that Perthshire area

03:19 so didn't even have access to visit the distilleries.

03:22 So the idea was that we set up something here, right in Edinburgh,

03:26 that people could come and learn about Scotch Whisky.

03:28 So we opened our doors in 1988, on the 5th of May.

03:32 And like you say, it was a much different time, it's almost hard to imagine

03:35 not being able to go to a distillery and visit, go to the shop

03:38 but do you think it was sort of pivotal in kind of opening it up to people?

03:42 Yeah, I think there were a few of the distillers who were certainly leading the way.

03:47 Glenfiddich had a long established visitor experience up there.

03:50 Just locally here, Glenkinchy were also open to visitors

03:54 but it was certainly quite a new thing.

03:57 Scotch Whisky wasn't really as popular as it is today.

04:01 Certainly nowadays it would be unthinkable to find a distillery that wasn't open to visitors

04:07 so there's a real passion to learn more about our national product.

04:11 So yeah, it's a very different landscape today.

04:14 And how did you get involved?

04:16 So I joined the Scotch Whisky Experience 21 years ago

04:20 and I started as a tour guide, leading the tours downstairs.

04:24 And prior to that I'd worked at Glenfiddich Distillery up in Speyside.

04:28 I'm originally from Speyside so I'd been working as a visitor assistant there

04:32 using my languages, because I studied languages at university.

04:35 And that was only seasonal work and I really wanted to be working full time.

04:40 And got in touch with some friends who were already working down here

04:44 and headed back to the city.

04:46 Could you have foreseen that 20 odd years later you'd still be here?

04:49 Very quickly when I started working here I realised how much I enjoyed it.

04:53 I loved meeting people from all over the world.

04:56 I loved talking to people about Scotch Whisky.

04:58 I am a bit of a country girl at heart and although I now love living in the city

05:03 there's so many of the distilleries located up in and around Speyside

05:06 so it always feels like a little bit of home as well.

05:09 So it's really nice to have that connection still.

05:12 I don't know at what point I realised that I would be here for the long term

05:16 but it's a decision I certainly don't regret.

05:19 How are things progressing up to the modern day?

05:21 Because there's been quite a bit of investment and there's a new tour

05:23 which I'm excited about.

05:25 I think that's probably one of the things that have kept me here for so long

05:29 is the fact that there's always continuous investment.

05:32 We're always looking to offer the best experience to our visitors.

05:36 So I've seen so many different transformations.

05:39 It's almost unrecognisable to the place I joined back in 2002

05:44 but I think this recent investment, we've just invested the £3.5 million

05:49 into our new tour area.

05:51 It's been such a phenomenal project to be involved in.

05:56 There have been so many different designers and trades involved in delivering this

06:01 and yeah we're just so proud of the end result.

06:05 So I'm excited to hear what you think of the experience as well.

06:08 I'm excited to try it.

06:10 So for anyone that hasn't ever done it and is going to book to come,

06:12 what can they expect?

06:14 So we tell the whole story of Scotch whisky if you like.

06:17 We'll take you through how whisky's made, we'll position that

06:22 and tell you a little bit about the different regions.

06:24 So really good to learn more about Scotland in that way too.

06:28 We talk about single malts but we also focus on grain whisky

06:32 and the importance of the blends to the industry as well.

06:36 We house one of the world's largest collections of Scotch whisky

06:40 which is a lovely wow moment for our visitors to just be surrounded

06:44 by almost like a liquid history of 35 years of Scotch whisky.

06:49 So a really great way just to introduce people to what can sometimes be

06:54 quite an intimidating subject.

06:57 There's so much choice when it comes to Scotch whisky

06:59 so we're just trying to inspire and enthuse people just about Scotch whisky

07:04 and hopefully leave here with a newfound love for Scotch.

07:26 Okay so here we are at the distillery and each distillery has got its own way

07:31 of doing things. Now whether that be height and shape of pot stills,

07:35 timings, temperatures, doesn't matter.

07:38 There's only one way to make whisky and in essence that's the way

07:42 that each distillery uses.

07:44 Making malt whisky began with a clean drink.

07:49 [Music]

07:57 The barley is fooled into growing by steaming it in water.

08:01 Then spreading it out on the malting house floor to germinate.

08:10 As it germinates the barley generates heat.

08:14 It must be turned frequently to ensure the germination is even.

08:19 So obviously you've got loads and loads of whiskies.

08:22 So for someone coming in who obviously they're going to find out a lot more

08:25 if they don't or if they do know they're going to further their knowledge.

08:28 How does it work with the whiskies that you do have?

08:30 So what we try to do is to simplify it and make it really approachable

08:35 for our visitors. A lot of them tell us they don't know anything

08:39 about Scotch whisky when they come through the door.

08:41 Scotch whisky is very synonymous with Scotland obviously so it's a kind of

08:46 tick for them when they're here to visit.

08:48 We try and encourage them to have an overview of the regions.

08:52 That's quite a simplified way to do it but it's an easy way to get people

08:55 interested to begin with. So we do a bit of basic flavour profiling

09:00 with them on tour and we use some aroma scratch cards to get them just

09:04 thinking about flavours and aromas that might appeal to them

09:07 and then they can choose a whisky that's selected.

09:10 So there'll be about six whiskies that they can choose from on tour

09:14 and hopefully they select one that is best suited to their palate.

09:18 And then there are other opportunities to explore that further with more

09:21 of our in-depth tours. So you can have your tasting flights or you can

09:25 learn a bit more about whisky and food matching.

09:28 So there's lots of different options there for everyone.

09:31 There's also a restaurant here as well isn't there?

09:33 Yes, our Amber restaurant is amazing. The food that the team produce

09:37 down there is absolutely exceptional and one of our great newer products

09:42 that's actually Tasting Tails pairs some Scottish produce with some

09:47 excellent whisky so it's a really lovely match.

09:49 And then we do our Taste of Scotland meal which is really popular.

09:53 We tie that in with our last two tours of the day which are our platinum tours

09:58 so you get a bit longer to explore the collection.

10:01 You get to have a cheetah tasting with your guide and then downstairs

10:05 and you get a three course kind of taster menu showing the best of what

10:09 Scotland can offer so a really, really popular product for us.

10:13 It also sounds ideal for, you know, the amount of times people say to me

10:16 'Oh I don't like whisky, I don't like it' and I always sort of think

10:19 'Well you've just not found the right one' so to get people in and show

10:22 them their regions and their flavour profile is quite important as well.

10:25 So do you find that a lot that there's people coming out at the end going

10:28 'I actually do really like it'?

10:29 Yeah, that's a huge thing for us, this kind of conversion that we get

10:33 from our visitors so we see that and it's quite a high rate of people

10:37 that have either found a whisky that they've fallen in love with on the visit

10:42 or have been inspired to explore further which is great for us.

10:46 So I think it's over about three quarters of our visitors that we convert

10:50 after that initial visit and that's phenomenal I think but it's really good

10:55 for us just to spark that passion or that enthusiasm to learn a little bit more

10:59 so hopefully after they've been here they go and visit a distillery

11:03 or they'll look for Scotch whisky back home in whatever market they've come from

11:07 so I think it's a bit of a privilege to be involved in what can often be

11:12 that first step on a journey with a new product like Scotch whisky

11:17 that then becomes part of their lives forever more so yeah, it's nice.

11:21 What about you, do you find that, obviously you've been doing this a long time,

11:24 you've worked in whisky a long time, do you feel that you're always learning

11:27 because we're in a real period of boom and new whiskies and new techniques

11:31 and different things happening, do you find that you're learning a lot as well?

11:34 Yeah, absolutely, I think that's one of the great things that you never feel like

11:38 you know everything about Scotch whisky, there's always new things to learn,

11:41 there are new distilleries to visit, distillery bagging's a particular hobby of mine,

11:45 I think I'm on about, yeah the next one will be number 70 so I'm looking forward

11:50 to getting another one under my belt.

11:52 So, and it's just, I think there's just a lovely sense of community

11:57 within the whole of the industry, it's interesting that often you've got

12:03 these competitors but like for example we meet a couple of times a year

12:07 with the other distillery visitor centre managers and we just talk about trends

12:11 and you know what our visitors are enjoying, what's going on, what's new,

12:16 what are we doing down in Edinburgh and what's everyone finding out and about

12:19 around Scotland and the fact that everyone's so open and it's so collaborative

12:24 around there, it's a really supportive network of contacts and the one thing

12:29 that really comes through is just the passion that everyone has for it,

12:32 like whisky's something once you get into that industry, very few people I think

12:36 leave afterwards just because of that, you know it's such an exciting product

12:41 to be involved in but it's also steeped in so much history as well

12:46 and has so much cultural significance for us as Scots.

12:50 Which takes me on to my next question which is, so the staff, so you started off

12:55 obviously tour guide for Glymphedic, you came down here, you got this job,

12:59 as someone trying to get people in, you know obviously people could come here

13:02 when they're at uni in Edinburgh or otherwise, it seems like the type of place

13:06 whereby it's not just a summer job or a student job because you know whisky

13:09 tends to lend itself to that kind of like lifetime journey, is that something

13:14 you would say is what happens here when you're getting new staff in the door?

13:18 I would say that the majority of people who come to us for a job don't really

13:23 have that passion for whisky yet, it's something that they often get while

13:28 working for us, so it's not something we look for, we don't look for people

13:32 who know about Scotch whisky or have any experience in the whisky industry,

13:38 we're really just hiding for attitude, we need people who love speaking to people,

13:43 who offer a really warm welcome, who are just passionate about delivering

13:49 memorable experiences for our visitors. What we pride ourselves on is our vision

13:54 to make the world fall in love with Scotch whisky, often the easiest people

13:58 to convert are our team and then I've seen people come in who've changed

14:03 careers, changed the course they're studying at university to then go and do

14:08 the distilling degree at Heriot-Watt, it's just amazing how quickly that

14:12 whisky bug kind of captures people. Much as it's not essential to have a

14:17 whisky background when you come here, I think we pride ourselves on everyone

14:20 who leaves our doors being a huge whisky ambassador and an advocate for Scotch.

14:25 And going out into the industry.

14:27 Yeah, many of them have, which is brilliant. When we launched our new

14:30 experience just towards the tail end of last year, we ran a couple of industry

14:35 launches and it was just such a lovely feeling to see how many of our Scotch

14:40 whisky experience alumni came in, representing distillers, working within

14:46 the industry now, so we've got distillery managers, we've got distillery

14:50 visitor centre managers as well, we've got people working as brand ambassadors

14:55 on behalf of all the distillers, so it's just really lovely to see them all

14:59 doing so well and still out there promoting Scotch whisky.

15:04 So what are the most significant changes you've seen in whisky over the last

15:07 20 years?

15:10 Certainly going back over the last 10, 15 years, just the rate of new

15:13 distilleries that are coming on. There's so many new projects, it's really

15:16 hard to keep up with them all, which is brilliant that there's such a boom in

15:20 the industry. I also think just the popularity of Scotch whisky generally,

15:25 we run a monthly training school here and the number of people who are just

15:30 genuinely enthusiastic about Scotch and want to learn more from a hobby

15:36 perspective. There was a time, like a decade ago, when it was only people

15:40 working in the hospitality or the whisky industry that would come and pay to do

15:45 a course, but now it's just people with a passing, this is just their hobby and

15:50 they want to come and learn more. Scotch whisky or whisky generally has really

15:54 been boosted by things like Mad Men or Boardwalk Empire, all these things made

15:59 whisky very cool again and I think that's really positive. And I think the

16:04 other big shift is just the focus on sustainability as well. Scotch whisky has

16:11 made a number of commitments and a lot of the distillers are all about promoting

16:15 this and the fact that they are themselves sustainable.

16:19 What are your future plans? How do you see the next 20 years?

16:22 We've got this constant plan for reinvesting here at the Scotch whisky

16:27 Experience, so whenever we do one area of the business, we turn to the next to see

16:31 where we can look to improve things and just always offer the best experience to

16:37 our visitors. We want to continue to be an employer of choice, so investing more

16:43 in our team and the training and development opportunities that we can

16:47 give to our team. We launched an apprenticeship programme about eight

16:52 years ago now, I'd love to see that develop further, so we offer managerial

16:57 apprenticeships, so we have four that we can offer at the moment across different

17:00 departments in the business. I'd love to see that develop further as well. So

17:04 there's a real commitment to our people and to training here at the Scotch

17:09 whisky Experience.

17:11 Well thank you very much.

17:12 You're very welcome.

17:13 And what we do at this point is cut the spirit into three sections, commonly

17:17 known as the head, the heart and the tail. The heart is absolutely perfect, this is

17:23 what we want to collect. There's too many heavy congeners in the head, there's not

17:27 enough in the tail. But what we do, we take the head, we take the tail, put it

17:31 back through the distillation process and collect it as the heart the next time.

17:35 When we've collected the heart, it will be pumped through into an oak barrel for

17:40 the next part of our whisky making called maturation. Would you like to sit in the

17:45 barrel?

17:47 Hi, my name's Michelle Pizzi, I am site director for North British Distillery.

17:52 My name is Alex Thompson, I'm visitor attraction manager at the Glen Turret

17:56 Distillery.

17:57 Michelle, do you want to just tell us a little bit about your job just now?

18:00 We are the third biggest grain distillery in Scotland. We have roughly just shy of

18:06 150 people on site working across whether that's manufacturing, maintenance,

18:11 engineering and various other support functions. It's a site that has been there

18:16 since 1885, it's one of the older ones.

18:19 And it's based here in Edinburgh, isn't it?

18:21 Alex, do you want to just talk a little bit about your role?

18:23 Yeah, so I'm, as I said, I'm visitor attraction manager at the Glen Turret

18:26 Distillery. We're actually the oldest operating distillery in Scotland. We've

18:30 been making whisky since at least 1763. My job kind of encompasses everything from

18:35 visitors coming on site to do the tour, the shop, anyone that's looking to sort of

18:39 engage just with the whisky itself, so coming on and having a dram. We've got

18:43 quite a big offering on site, we've got things like a cafe and we happen to be

18:47 the only distillery in the world that has a Michelin-starred restaurant as well.

18:50 So we're a small place tucked away just right at the start of the Highlands, but

18:54 we've got quite a lot going for us, so it's a busy old place.

18:57 When you started out, did you know you wanted to work in whisky?

18:59 No, is the honest answer. My background's actually in tourism first. I was a tour

19:05 guide at Blair Castle while I was still at school and then tourism brought me to

19:09 Edinburgh. I studied travel and tourism at Edinburgh College and then tourism

19:13 management at Napier University. While I was studying, I was looking for a job

19:17 that was sort of relevant to my degree and ended up getting a job as a tour guide

19:20 at the Scotch Whisky Experience. It was the whisky experience that brought me

19:23 into whisky rather than whisky that brought me into the whisky experience,

19:26 essentially.

19:27 Could you see that happening or was it a bit of a surprise to you from this role

19:30 here at the whisky experience?

19:31 No, I could totally see that happening. I was already a whisky drinker. My family

19:36 have quite a long history in whisky. My ancestors used to have an illicit

19:40 distillery on the farm that was later a legal distillery, so there's a lot of it

19:44 in the family background. I knew I liked to dram when I started here. I didn't

19:48 really know anything about it and then the whisky experience kind of gave me that

19:51 knowledge to show that it could be a realistic career, essentially.

19:55 So was that your experience of your colleagues or were you a bit of an anomaly?

19:59 It was kind of, yeah, I would say it was the colleagues, certainly. There was a lot

20:02 of people that I worked with who, again, maybe were just looking for a student job

20:07 and sort of discovered a passion for it while they were here. For me, a lot of it

20:10 was the sort of people who were maybe just senior to me or the people that had

20:14 been the sort of whisky experience generation before me. So someone like

20:18 Christopher Coates, who was later editor of Whisky Magazine, he worked here just

20:22 before me and has sort of been a bit of a mentor for me throughout my time in the

20:26 industry. I met Chris as an 18-year-old working at the whisky experience and

20:31 seeing his journey was kind of, okay, the industry is a realistic career option,

20:36 essentially.

20:37 I did not know he worked here.

20:39 Everyone worked here at some point.

20:42 And Michelle, what about you? Did you start out thinking, I want to work in

20:46 whisky or was it just a complete fluke?

20:49 So I originally came to Scotland after having done my wine degree in France and

20:54 I'd done vineyard science and management and wine and the idea was I'd come to

20:59 Heriot-Watt, do distillation and go back to France. And throughout my course at

21:04 Heriot-Watt, I actually discovered the joys of whisky and decided that's it,

21:10 this is where I want to be. And then was looking for a role in the industry and

21:14 actually that's what brought me to the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre at first

21:18 because that's what the Scotch Whisky Experience was called in those days,

21:21 quite a while back. So by that point, I really knew that I wanted to be in the

21:25 whisky industry and obviously during my time here, got to get different

21:30 experience, got to meet different people and has stood me in great stead in terms

21:34 of the journey I've taken since then.

21:36 What was your role here or roles here?

21:38 So I did a number of different roles when I was here. So I started off as a

21:43 visitor centre guide and with some stock controlling in the way. I then worked my

21:48 way up to supervisor and even had experience in terms of matching food with

21:55 whisky in the restaurant, which I enjoyed thoroughly. So yeah, various different

22:00 roles here which gave me different experience, different insight, which has

22:04 really stood me in good stead through the different roles I've gone on to do

22:08 since leaving.

22:09 And working in grain whisky as well is quite interesting because it's one of

22:12 those things that people don't really know a lot about at all. Whereas if you

22:15 don't know a lot about whisky, you know something, but when you start to break it

22:18 down into the different sort of types like that. So have you found that quite

22:22 interesting as well, especially with your background in wine?

22:24 Definitely. So I have to say I've been really, really lucky in the time that

22:28 I've been in the Scotch whisky industry. So I've covered a number of roles,

22:33 whether it's from cereal to malt distilling to projects to various different

22:37 things. I think like any role, each of them have just so many different aspects

22:42 to them. So grain whisky is very different again, as you say. Very, very

22:47 different process, different cereals you can use, different distillation and

22:53 very, very different characters which then go into various blends. So yeah,

22:57 it's really fantastic learning through each of the roles. It's really

23:01 fascinating. There's so many different facets to the Scotch whisky industry.

23:04 Anybody could really find something that could be of interest really.

23:08 And sort of the same question to you as Alex, when you first started, was a lot

23:12 of the people you started with knowledgeable of spirits or drinks or was

23:16 some of them quite no idea?

23:18 There was a mix. Some individuals that had obviously worked here for a number

23:21 of years, very passionate about whisky. There were people like myself just

23:25 starting off in the industry, still very passionate about whisky. And then

23:29 those that came on the journey, became passionate about whisky. So there was

23:34 a real mix, which was really great. Totally different mindset and very

23:38 international from all around the world, which was another real great benefit.

23:43 You got to learn so much about whisky and different parts of the industry when

23:46 I was here, but also about so many different cultures and what was popular

23:50 in their country from a whisky perspective and how they drank it. So yeah,

23:55 just really great, great crowd and still friends with a number of individuals

24:00 that I worked with back in the day.

24:03 You like to save the cask. I went for the cask and sped it wheat.

24:10 They produced something truly remarkable.

24:19 Okay, so here we are sitting inside the old cask. We always use oak because

24:25 oak is...

24:26 Do you remember any sort of light-hearted anecdotes that are safe for work?

24:31 That you could tell us about?

24:32 You caveat that was safe for work, so that's probably taken quite a lot of them

24:35 out of it. One, so Swee's renowned for its parties. One year we did an awards

24:41 ceremony and they were called the Drammys. I don't know if this is a thing they

24:44 still do, but it was, people were given branded glasses that they'd won a

24:48 Drammy. I remember one year they put up on the big screen in the function room

24:52 that the Drammy for best entertainment was won by the Scotch Whisky Experience

24:56 dance crew. We were all thinking, "What's this about a dance crew?" None of us

25:00 knew what this was about. It turned out that about six months before, one of the

25:05 girls was in the foyer on a really quiet day and had just started doing a really

25:08 stupid little dance. About five or six other members of staff happened to just

25:12 walk past and all decided to join in. So they had about seven different tour

25:15 guides in their tweed waistcoats all just doing this really stupid dance in a

25:18 completely empty foyer. Unbeknownst to us, the maintenance team were watching us on

25:22 the camera and had hit the record button. So they put this up on the big screen at

25:27 the Christmas party and we were all presented with a glass that said, "Scotch

25:31 Whisky Experience 2015 Drammy Award Winner." I still have that in my cabinet

25:35 and I still use it to have a whiskey every so often, but it was just a fun

25:39 place to be. The tour guides when I was here, and it's pretty much the same

25:44 now, but it was either young professionals or it was students. It attracts a

25:50 certain type of person. Everyone's very outgoing and very chatty and very fun.

25:55 It was a really, really fun place to work. Much like Michelle said, I've still got

26:00 lots of friends that I met here. This year I'm groomsman at a second wedding

26:05 from someone that I met working at the Whiskey Experience and stuff like that.

26:08 So you make those kind of friendships working here.

26:11 Are you going to do the dance at the wedding?

26:13 We might have a reunion of the Scotch Whisky Experience dance crew, who knows?

26:16 But we'll see how much whiskey is taken beforehand.

26:19 So you've obviously both left the role that you had here to move on into your

26:23 career, but what relationship do you have with the Scotch Whisky Experience now?

26:27 I've always stayed relatively connected to the place. I've still got a lot of

26:30 friends that work here, so on a personal level from that. But from a professional

26:34 level, I've stayed in the industry since leaving the Whiskey Experience and being

26:38 in the visitor experience side, especially of the industry, has kept me

26:42 connected quite well to the Whiskey Experience. Really since taking up my

26:45 role with Glen Turret, that's ramped up quite a lot. One of the benefits of being

26:49 a distillery that is connected to the Whiskey Experience is you get to come in

26:53 and do promotional days in the shop. So three times last summer I think I was

26:57 stood in the shop at the Whiskey Experience feeling like an 18-year-old

26:59 again, selling Glen Turret to the public. Just at the end of last year I had the

27:03 opportunity to come in and present a training session to the tour guides on

27:07 the distillery that I work for now. That was something really special for me.

27:10 I really enjoyed that. I was kind of thinking back to being an 18-year-old

27:14 tour guide and being really excited because a brand ambassador was coming in

27:17 and getting to hear about this. So getting to be that from the other side was

27:21 really special. So it's been quite important for me in my career to sort of

27:24 keep that connection to where it all started, definitely.

27:27 Michelle, what about you?

27:28 So it's just great being back in Edinburgh, maintain the relationship with

27:32 the Scotch Whiskey Experience. So like Alex, I really remember how much it meant

27:36 getting to meet people in the industry and just also not underestimating what

27:41 an important role guides have in terms of not only from inspiring customers and

27:46 the public in terms of the wonders to Scotch Whiskey. And so from my side, now

27:51 that I'm working on a site, we've had the guides come round to the grain whiskey

27:55 distillery. So grain whiskey distilleries aren't often open to the public, but

27:59 it's such a vital part of the industry and for the world of blends. And unless

28:04 the team get to understand that and have it brought to life, it's a bit more

28:08 difficult. So it really helps set the team up for success if we can maintain that

28:12 relationship and help them in their understanding and their continued passion

28:16 for the industry. The other example I'd say is I've now been twice with groups of

28:20 people on the tour in terms of it's showing a different side to the industry

28:25 that when you're in manufacturing, sometimes you get to go to visitor centre

28:28 and sometimes you don't or it's only a visitor centre for one brand. Whereas

28:32 this is really you get exposure to so many different whiskeys and brands, which

28:37 there's something for everybody's taste. So from that side, I really enjoy still

28:41 being connected with the Scotch Whiskey experience. It's really helped me on my

28:46 career and it's about giving back and how I can help those coming up through the

28:50 ranks as well. So what would you say to anyone who was thinking of looking for a

28:54 job in the whiskey industry that maybe doesn't have sort of experience or maybe

28:57 the knowledge they think they could get a job? What would be your advice? If you're

29:01 passionate about something, you know, Scotch Whiskey experience is obviously one

29:05 place that you can start. But the Scotch Whiskey industry as a whole is really,

29:10 really welcoming. And unlike many other industries, even though they are

29:15 competitors, they still help each other and there's a great camaraderie. Even if

29:20 you don't have any experience, I mean, the Scotch Whiskey experience is a great

29:23 place to start because you get such exposure to, you know, different brands

29:27 and manufacturers and people in the industry. Whatever experience you start

29:32 off with, don't underestimate just how much you can learn and who you can meet.

29:36 So if that's what your passion is, go for it.

29:39 [Sounds of a machine]

29:59 Surprise! And welcome to heaven.

30:03 Okay, right. So welcome to one of the largest unopened private whiskey

30:08 collection in the world, also known as heaven.

30:11 Hi.

30:12 [Laughter]

30:14 First of all, versatility. How versatile is your whiskey? Okay, well it's very

30:19 versatile, okay? A lot of people come in and they say, "How should I drink my

30:23 whiskey?" And the answer to that is, any way you like. If you want to connoisseur,

30:29 you're going to be smelling and tasting in just a little minute or two. But if you

30:32 like it with cola, ginger, lemonade, that is perfectly acceptable. It's your

30:37 whiskey, it's your enjoyment, and that's how you have it. Now nobody tells you not

30:41 to put sugar in your tea, but a lot of people very quickly tell you what to put

30:45 in your whiskey. For a connoisseuring, to get the true story, it is just a little

30:50 drop of water. Okay. Right, so we're going to go through the five steps of

30:54 appreciation.

30:55 Alex, have you found the sort of broad initial knowledge that you got from

30:57 working at the Scottish Whiskey Experience has stood you in really good stead for

31:00 the rest of your career?

31:01 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, as Michelle said, the sort of benefit of the whiskey

31:05 experience is it covers the whole industry, essentially. You have that

31:08 understanding of the entire whiskey industry, whereas sometimes if you, and I

31:12 guilty of this where I work now, if you work at a distillery, you laser focus on

31:15 what that distillery does, whereas the whiskey experience gives you that focus

31:19 of the whole industry. And a couple of jobs that I did afterwards, I worked for a

31:23 Royal Mile tour company for a little bit, and I wrote a history of whiskey walking

31:27 tour while I was there, and I had that background knowledge of the whole

31:31 industry going into it, and it made the research so much easier. And even when I

31:35 started at Glen Tarret, I came in day one with a pretty good knowledge of Glen

31:39 Tarret as a malt already just from working here. Just touch briefly on what

31:43 Michelle was saying as well, the industry is much more accessible now than I think

31:46 it's ever been, which is brilliant. And speaking to someone recently about, even

31:50 when I joined the industry just over 10 years ago now, brand ambassadors were

31:55 sort of lofty, distant people until they came in, whereas now, if you want to

32:00 speak to a brand ambassador, you just ping them a message on Instagram, and they're

32:03 all very good at sort of being accessible like that. So if someone is

32:08 considering the industry as a career, I'd say absolutely go for it, but reach out to

32:12 people. I've had people message me out of the blue on Instagram, and I've always

32:17 been happy to meet up with them if they come to the distillery, or meet up with

32:20 them for a dram and stuff like that, because yeah, it's an awesome industry,

32:24 and the more people that work in it, the better.

32:26 If somebody hasn't had the exposure, they can often think, okay, it's about

32:29 drinking, it's about what's in the shop, it's what's in the bottle, but there's so

32:33 much more that goes into making Scotch whisky, and it's depending on what your

32:37 passion is, there are so many different aspects you could go into. Whether you're

32:41 into working outdoors with growing cereals, whether you are into manufacturing,

32:46 supply chain, projects, marketing and brands, sensory and technical, R&D,

32:53 digital, there's so much, and obviously the industry has a massive focus on

32:57 sustainability. So I think it's great because it's one of those few industries

33:02 that has such a heritage. I mean, it's been here in Scotland for so many years,

33:08 and there's all that history that goes into it, but at the same time, it's all

33:11 cutting edge as well, in terms of some of the new things. So there's really an area

33:15 that everybody could find an interest in, that you wouldn't necessarily first think

33:20 about when you just see a bottle of whisky. So it's really, it's a great

33:24 industry, and I second what Alex says.

33:27 Well, you've sold it to me. Thank you very much.

33:30 Thank you.

33:31 Thank you very much.

33:32 Okay, so while you're enjoying your whisky, I'll just tell you a little bit

33:36 about the collection here. This actually all belonged to one man. His name's

33:40 Clive Eureth, this is him here. He comes from San Paolo in Brazil. Now, back in the

33:46 1970s, malt whisky was not widely exported, and a gentleman from Scotland

33:51 visiting Clive gave him six bottles of single malt. And he said, "Clive, hold on

33:56 to these, give to those who appreciate and share." Well, he was so overwhelmed

34:00 with this gift, he decided he wasn't going to open it, he wasn't going to share it,

34:04 and that's your six original bottles up here. So this is the very six that started

34:09 this whole collection. Now, he collected for a period of 35 years and amassed

34:14 approximately 3,400 bottles. Hitting saturation point, family not that

34:20 interested, he thought he was going to have to split and sell. But our largest

34:25 drinks company, Diageo, they bought the collection from Clive. He was happy that

34:30 the whole family has come back home. So, if you want to have a wee look round

34:35 about, it's blended alphabetical as you come in the door to this point here.

34:40 So, blended malt in the centre section here, and your single malts around the

34:45 back here, they are regional and alphabetical thereafter.

34:48 Do you know what the oldest bottle is in the collection?

34:51 Yes, if you want to come round this way, I'll just show you.

34:53 There we go. 1897 and 1904. Now, the 1897 one is a Buchanan's. It is a 25-year-old

35:04 whisky, because if you remember back to what I was saying, it doesn't mature in

35:07 the bottle. So, although it was in here in 1987, it's still a 25-year-old whisky.

35:13 It's amazing to see. It's like a library of, because you're never, I mean, there's

35:19 brands that you've never even heard of, and then there's brands you have heard of,

35:22 and to see the old bottles, it's just amazing.

35:25 There is no addition to the collection. It's closed. If there were to add to it,

35:30 it wouldn't be the Clive collection. So, when it came in here, it was set out that

35:34 it was closed, so there's nothing been added to it since it arrived here, and I

35:38 don't think anything will be added to it.

35:40 He must have had a massive house, or a big garden, should I say.

35:43 Well, as far as I'm aware, he had a massive extension on his house, and I think that

35:47 was the whisky home.

35:49 Thanks to all my guests on this episode, and thanks to the Scotch Whisky

35:57 Experience for welcoming me. If you're interested in opportunities with them,

36:01 check out their website, where you can find out more information.

36:05 [Music]

36:15 [Music]

Scran: Bonus Episode - The Scotch Whisky experience and its career-launching history

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