June 23, 2021
Raasay Revival
There were beads of sweat running down our ever-reddening faces. Not because of any crisis, or misspoken words,…
March 9, 2021
Labels and Trust, the new Japanese agreement
Sone thoughts on the new labelling agreement for Japanese whiskies. A positive move that has been deservedly welcomed,…
August 19, 2020
Native Grains
Whisky is a cereal-based drink, but the majority is made from two types: corn and barley, with some…
August 4, 2020
THREE STEPPS TO … (part 2)
The continuation of my first whisky job. Part one is here. We pick up the story as…
August 3, 2020
THREE STEPPS TO … (part 1)
THREE STEPPS TO … This piece about my introduction to the whisky world appeared in a festschrift for…
July 13, 2020
Glasgow: rum and slavery
As part of this week’s look at rum and in anticipation of the first Scottish Rum Festival, a…
June 16, 2020
Bloomsday: soap, whiskey and Ulysses
Today is Bloomsday, so let’s wash our hands with lemon-scented soap, pour ourselves some whiskey, pick up Ulysses…
May 5, 2020
Agave and Cinco de Mayo
It’s Cinco de Mayo today, so it seemed the right time to write something about agave. It was…
May 2, 2020
Virtual Speyside Whisky Fest 3: Walking the Speyside Way
Yesterday’s musings on this virtual Speyside Whisky Fest looked at what ‘Speyside’ means. It brought back memories from…
May 1, 2020
Virtual Speyside Whisky festival 2: Identity
‘What is Speyside?’ I asked George Grant at the recent DramFest. He gave me a slightly old-fashioned look.…