MASTER DISTILLER, GRAHAM COULL, GLEN MORAY

What industry changes have occured in the last five years?

The whisky business is much faster moving these days and the days of a consumer drinking the same blend or single malt all their life have gone. Consumers are much more willing to move out of their comfort zone and try something different.

What’s going through your mind when you are creating a new blend?

I start at the end by trying to understand exactly what the end consumer is looking for in the blend. The answers to my questions will give me clues as to the components I should use. Once I have the ‘ingredients’ in my mind I then play around with the quantities to achieve the desired result. The challenge is when you need to substitute one ingredient for another but achieve the same final taste. That is where the magic comes in…

Every master blender has a different nose and palate. How do you ensure consistency?

It’s all about getting things right at the beginning of the process. Careful distillation of the spirit and selecting the best casks for maturation is the best start in life a blend can get. If I get that correct, then creating the blend is just a case of fine-tuning.

What are your personal concerns in moving the brand forward?

To continue to grow, we need to continually innovate to keep consumers on board without compromising on consistency and quality.

What do you think the ‘Next Big Thing’ in whisky will be in the coming year?

I would like to see a resurgence in the popularity of drinking blended whisky. We have all been at fault of dumbing down blends and encouraging consumers to switch to single malts at the earliest opportunity. To reverse this trend, we need to send out different messages and educate the consumer of the similarities between single malt and blended scotch.