[Updated April, 2025] Even if you only have a vague interest in Scotch whisky, you’re probably aware that The Macallan embarked on a massive and – literally – groundbreaking construction of a new distillery in recent times. Established on the Macallan Estate, just a short distance from the existing/old distillery, the new production facility is exceptional and unique in its design, its layout, its appearance, and its functionality. The new distillery is also unique in its approach to whisky tourism and how it goes about welcoming visitors. Visiting The Macallan as a whisky enthusiast can be a tricky venture at the present, and it’s not a simple exercise. If you’re wanting to visit the new Macallan distillery and to experience one of their tours, here are a few thoughts, tips, and comments following our recent visit… Continue reading “Visiting The Macallan distillery in 2025”
Category: Wisdom & Opinions
The Whisky Castle at Tomintoul
There’s an old adage when it comes to travelling and being a tourist: Sometimes, the best sights and experiences are found off the beaten path. Similarly, there’s an old truth when it comes to shopping and retail: Years after the purchase, you won’t always remember how much you paid; you might not even remember what it was you bought, but you’ll remember the experience in the shop and how you were looked after by the proprietors. When it comes to The Whisky Castle at Tomintoul, both these truths quickly become evident and play out.
Waiheke Whisky
Waiheke Whisky comes from Waiheke Island in New Zealand. Waiheke is a small island in the Hauraki Gulf, just a 40 minute ferry ride east of Auckland. The island has a strong tourism industry and is renowned for its vineyards and wineries, its beaches, and restaurants. Although it’s popular for day trips or weekend stays out of Auckland, the small island – just 92km2 in area – is home to roughly 9,000 people. As a point of reference and context that many readers will appreciate, Islay is roughly 620km2 in comparison and home to just over 3,000 inhabitants. Islay is obviously well known for its whiskies. One suspects Waiheke isn’t too far behind!
The distillery itself has an incredible story that showcases extraordinary enthusiasm, passion, initiative, independence, and determination by its founders, together with a journey and evolution that belies its years. Indeed, evolution is key to appreciating Waiheke’s story, and it would be an injustice not to outline some of it here.
Whisky Mythbusters – Debunking the whisky myths
There are plenty of articles and videos online that purport to address so-called myths about whisky. What many of them actually discuss are just misconceptions, and the content is aimed chiefly at novices and newcomers to the category. Well-worn examples include “older whisky is better whisky”, or “the smokiness in whisky comes from the charred barrels”, or “you should add water to your dram”. While such content does have value, that’s not what this article is about. What’s more interesting is to look at some of the myths and stories that are so deeply entrenched in whisky’s culture, they’re even believed by seasoned whisky drinkers and enthusiasts. Worse still are those that continue to be reinforced by some well-meaning but misled brand ambassadors. And let’s not get started on the misinformation spread by influ…oops….content creators who are more interested in getting clicks than researching their topic. So let’s knuckle down and tear into some of the deeper myths about whisky that continue to endure… Continue reading “Whisky Mythbusters – Debunking the whisky myths”
Nikka The Grain Whisky
Nikka “The Grain” Whisky is part of Nikka’s Discovery Series, being the 2023 edition in this experimental range. We’ll look at this in more detail in just a moment, but first some commentary on Japanese whisky wouldn’t go astray. As a category of spirit, Japanese whisky has had to ride many waves in the last decade. Prior to the 2010’s, it was (relatively) widely available; it was relatively affordable, and – like every other category of whisky – it would occasionally delight with something spectacular that made whisky drinkers take notice. Founded in 1934, Nikka has always been at the heart of Japanese whisky, but things took a quantum leap for the category in the 2010’s when a series of plaudits and accolades all came at once. Numerous Japanese whisky brands and bottlings won major awards in rapid succession, consistently outpunching and outscoring their more fancied and better-known Scottish competitors.
Glenglassaugh – Three new whiskies
Located up in the north-east of Scotland, Glenglassaugh is yet another of the many previously-obscure Scottish whiskies to have received a new lease on life and be thrust into the limelight following a change of ownership. Like so many others in this category, it has a long if not chequered history that has seen numerous changes in ownership, periods of silence, and stuttered reincarnations. Like its stablemate Benriach, Glenglassaugh is now on the happy receiving end of love and investment from Brown Forman, culminating in the recent launch of a new single malt core-range for the brand. The range now incorporates the Glenglassaugh 12yo, the Sandend, and the Portsoy.
Benriach – The Sixteen
The Benriach distillery and its brand is one of several Scottish single malt whiskies that have gone through something of a re-invention and transformation in recent years. Located towards the northern end of Speyside, not far south of Elgin, Benriach has gone from relative obscurity to much-adored in less than two decades. Attention and interest in the brand is set to further grow with the re-introduction of the Benriach 16, styled on the label as Benriach – The Sixteen.
Women in whisky
It’s probably been more than 25 years since the theme or topic of “women in whisky” first got written about in the modern circles of whisky publishing. By which I mean the new wave of books and magazines that started to emerge in the 1990’s, and the endless number of blogs, forums, and social media outlets in more recent times. Indeed, flicking through my old back issues of Whisky Magazine from the early 2000’s, it didn’t take me long to find articles, profiles, and feature pieces that all revolved around women and whisky, or women in whisky.
It is an interesting topic to write about in 2023. In some ways, there is a valid sentiment that holds this shouldn’t be a thing anymore. Afterall, we’ve had several decades now of articles, interviews, and profile pieces highlighting the wonderful work of female distillers, master blenders, brand ambassadors, writers, journalists, bartenders, visitor centre managers, mixologists, and so on. Women are prolific in so many corners and reaches of the whisky industry these days, one could be forgiven for questioning if gender needs to be an issue anymore. And yet…
Whisky Awards – Who really wins?
You don’t have to search or scroll too far through whisky’s marketing landscape these days before you encounter a reference to an award. Gold medals, Double Golds, Trophy winner, Best-in-category…the list goes on. To anyone marketing a whisky – whether it’s the distillery itself or a retailer looking to promote a particular product on their shelf – being able to say that the brand won an award should be a huge accolade and an indicator of quality. But when it comes to the confusing world of whisky awards, there’s an increasing degree of scepticism creeping on to the podium.
Let’s make it clear from the outset that this piece is not intended to belittle or undermine any distillery or brand that recently won a whisky award, nor to cast shade on any specific awards program or award-giving entity. But given that distilleries and brands are using awards as a selling point in their marketing arsenal and playbook, it’s important that consumers have at least some awareness as to what the badges, tokens, and ribbons might actually denote. So let’s look first at some of the issues and criticisms that are causing concern…
The Malt Whisky Yearbook 2024
In the wide and daunting jungle of whisky literature – that is all the books, magazine, blogs, subscriptions, and even video content – there’s really only one definitive resource that every whisky lover should have a copy of on their whisky shelf: The Malt Whisky Yearbook. An annual publication that has been updated and released every year since 2005, the latest edition for 2024 is out now.