In February 1996, the Society ranthe first of its 'Whisky Schools'. Charles MacLean records hisimpressions. In February 1996, the Society ranthe first of its 'Whisky Schools'. Charles MacLean records hisimpressions.
The delegates began to trickle into the Members Room shortlyafter nine on a Sunday morning. A chemist from Germany; a whiskyexpert from Holland; a student from Edinburgh; two members fromCheshire; the owner of a whisky shop in Inveraray; the editor ofScotland's leading business magazine... Nine of us in all,gulping coffee, mumbling introductions, in my case clearing athick head from last night on the town.
Our hosts and mentors - Jim Swan and Trevor Cowan - wererelaxed and confident. This was the second day of the schools;yesterday's session had been a great success. There was a keenair of anticipation about today's programme. Which began with asimple odour recognition test: eight pots filled with cotton woolsaturated with substances as diverse as malt vinegar and treacletoffee, lavendar and ginger oil. The purpose was as much toidentify any 'odour blindness' in our nosing ability as to namethe scents. Everyone scored over 75% (the pass rate for blendersis 70%).
Then into the Tasting Room. Trevor Cowan, former MasterBlender with Invergordon, warmed us up with some statistics aboutScotch's performance in world markets, then Dr. Jim Swan - theleading sensory chemist who was profiled in the Christmas issueof this publication - introduced us to the physiology of sensoryperception: how we smell and taste, what we can smell and taste,the chemical compounds which hold aromas and flavours together,and how sensitive these are to dilution [one up for cask strengthwhiskies!].
After coffee we launched into production, and the contributionmade by the simple ingredients from which malt whisky is made -water, barley, peat, yeast. We learned how the role of water hasbeen exagerated; the secrets of milling and mashing; themysteries of fermentation (I had no idea that there are two, thesecond, biological, one is crucial to the flavour of good malt);what happens during distillation. Macallan had given the Societysamples of new spirit, drawn off at twenty minute intervals, andit was remarkable how you could smell quite clearly when thevarious flavour groups - esters, aldehydes, feints - came in ordeclined or vanished. Such is the quality of Macallan new-make,and so narrow their cut, that the still-man had to draw his finalsamples a good hour after he had stopped saving spirit, in orderto present us with something which was truly feinty!
Then we broke for lunch - a proper, sit-down affair, withdelicious and unusual dishes, prepared by the Society's MasterChef, Angela Jaques.
The afternoon session was opened by Dr Harry Rifkin, JimSwan's partner in R.R.Tatlock & Thomson (AnalyticalChemists). His subject was pot still distillation - the differentstyles of spirit produced by different shaped stills, the scienceof distillation, the importance of copper and the craft of thestill-man. He did not shirk the chemistry - this wasauthoritative stuff, not the kind of information you can get frombooks - delivered at break-neck pace.
The experts reckoned that about half the ultimate quality of awhisky derives from the quality of the new-make spirit. The otherhalf comes from maturation, and after tea, Jim Swan took the headof the table again to consider the mysteries of wood, warehouseand micro-climate. He is arguably the world expert on thissubject and his talk was enlivened with first-hand experiencesand discoveries, supported by his own slides of forests inCentral Europe and America and elucidated by samples of maturespirit from various distilleries.
During the hour before dinner Trevor Cowan conducted usthrough the history of the whisky trade: full of revelation andcurious anecdote - as only someone who has spent their whole lifein the trade could have delivered it - and supported by manyunusual samples of fine malt whisky. Discussion and anecdotecontinued over the four-course dinner which Angela served to usin the Members' Room, and we tottered to our taxis about 10.00p.m.
With this article in mind, I lobbied the views of some of thedelegates on the Whisky School. One summed it up perfectly whenhe said: "Not since I ran into George Mellie in Bannerman'sBar, have I spent such an engaging, informative and stimulatingday."
Charles MacLean
If you have comments about thissite, please contact the