This is a special partnership episode of Scran with the Scotch Whisky Experience.
Nestled on Castle Hill, within a stones throw of Edinburgh Castle, the Scotch Whisky Experience has been welcoming visitors from all over the world since the late 80s - a time when the world of whisky was very, very different to what it is now.
Rosalind went along to experience this popular tour and speak to some of the people in the know about how it came about, what it has to offer and how it has played a not insignificant role in nurturing much of the talent found in the whisky industry today.
Rosalind chats to Angela Dineen, Operations Director about the history of the experience as well as modern undertakings, including the recent investment of £3.5m into a new tour and how it houses one of the world's largest collections of scotch whisky.
She also speaks to Michelle Pizzi, Site Director of The North British Distillery and Alex Thomson, Visitor Attraction Manager at The Glenturret Distillery who share their memories of their time working at the Scotch Whisky Experience and how it helped shape their future careers in the industry. They offer some great insight into working in this thriving industry and how the Scotch Whisky Experience has played its part in their careers.
If you're interested in opportunities with them, check out their website where you can find more information.
Nestled on Castle Hill, within a stones throw of Edinburgh Castle, the Scotch Whisky Experience has been welcoming visitors from all over the world since the late 80s - a time when the world of whisky was very, very different to what it is now.
Rosalind went along to experience this popular tour and speak to some of the people in the know about how it came about, what it has to offer and how it has played a not insignificant role in nurturing much of the talent found in the whisky industry today.
Rosalind chats to Angela Dineen, Operations Director about the history of the experience as well as modern undertakings, including the recent investment of £3.5m into a new tour and how it houses one of the world's largest collections of scotch whisky.
She also speaks to Michelle Pizzi, Site Director of The North British Distillery and Alex Thomson, Visitor Attraction Manager at The Glenturret Distillery who share their memories of their time working at the Scotch Whisky Experience and how it helped shape their future careers in the industry. They offer some great insight into working in this thriving industry and how the Scotch Whisky Experience has played its part in their careers.
If you're interested in opportunities with them, check out their website where you can find more information.
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LifestyleTranscript
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]