On an unusually warm day in Speyside, Scotland, the sun was shining brightly over the warehouses and trademark pagodas that dot the grounds of the Glenfiddich distillery. Scotland is renowned for being foggy, gloomy and cold – in the most wonderful and atmospheric way. But there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and not a drop of rain in sight.
It might not have seemed like whisky-sipping weather, but after touring the distillery grounds, I visited one of the oldest warehouses on site, where Glenfiddich malt master Brian Kinsman shared whisky tastings straight from the barrel.
Of the more than 150 distilleries in Scotland, Glenfiddich is one of the largest and most popular. The distillery is owned by the family-owned William Grant & Sons, which also owns The Balvenie, Hendrick’s Gin, Reyka Vodka and blended whiskies such as Grant’s and Monkey Shoulder. Glenfiddich surpasses them all in terms of size and scale. The brand’s hugely popular core range includes single malts aged for 12 to 18 years, experimental releases such as Fire & Cane and much older whiskies finished in a range of casks as part of the Grand Series.
Kinsman and I retreated to a quiet corner after the tour to talk more about the Glenfiddich DNA. A quiet presence but clearly an expert in all things whisky—as one might expect after more than two decades in the business, thanks in part to the tutelage of The Balvenie’s legendary, now retired malt master, David Stewart MBE.
Kinsman has been at William Grant & Sons since 1997, but even this far into his career, he still feels the urge to experiment: “You have to push the boundaries and try to be a little innovative and see where it goes,” he says. “I see my role as constantly being provocative, thinking long term.”
Here’s what Kinsman has to say about the “conscience” of single malt production, the stewardship of a “living whisky” and the delicate balance of blending innovation with proud tradition at the world’s largest Scotch whisky brand.
Courtesy of Glenfiddich
Men's Magazine: How did you get the title of malt master? What does that actually mean?
Brian Kinsman: I think it was originally a title from William Grant because my job title is master blender. The words “blending” and “single malt” can be confusing, so malt master is the single malt version of master blender and it's to make it clear that we don't do blending.
Simply put, my role is to make sure every drop that goes into the bottle is exactly what we want. The final approval of “Is this right and are we happy to release it?” is my call.
How would you describe the essential defining character of Glenfiddich?
A constant balance of fruit and oak notes. The intensity of both gradually increases throughout the age expression – starting with a light, delicate, surprisingly tasty new drink, without any big, heavy notes.
The analogy I always use is cooking. If you're making a sauce, you intuitively know that as you reduce the sauce, it gets deeper, richer, more intense. It's the same with making whiskey—but instead of 30 minutes, it takes 30 years. So it's a process of gradually intensifying the flavor and controlling how that happens over decades.
How to ripen Glenfiddich?
The biggest building block we have is what I call refill wood, or wood that's been in our system for 10, 20 years. It could be American oak or European oak, but it basically gives a delicate, light touch and the Glenfiddich character is very big in it.
Then, you have ex-bourbon barrels. Ex-bourbons tend to have big vanilla, toffee, sweet notes—it really stands out with that vanilla note. Then, you have European sherry oak, where you have a dark, ruby character that's so strong in the barrel that you almost have a hard time telling which distillery it came from.
Simply put, that's how you make Glenfiddich 12, 18 and 30. Refill cask is great on its own, but a little thin. Ex-bourbon cask is great on its own, but very one-dimensional vanilla. And sherry cask doesn't represent Glenfiddich because it's too dense. The marriage is better than every single part.
Courtesy of Glenfiddich
How are the casks used in the Glenfiddich batch chosen?
I am part of a team of three whisky blenders. We select all the casks and tell them exactly which cask we want to put into each batch. We also do random sampling to make sure everything is on track.
Then, there's a sensory panel at the distillery. They take a sample right after it's poured and batched. The lab at the distillery does the initial checks.
Blends get the same treatment. What you fear is drift. It's very easy to slowly drift away from what you think is perfect, so you should always try to bring yourself back.
Solera vat is a vital part of preserving the true character of Glenfiddich. How does it work?
We first filled the Solera cask in 1998 and it has never been emptied. It has been in continuous operation for 26 years. The original premise was to create a vibrant whisky where 50 percent of what is in the bottle comes from the previous batch, creating consistency from batch to batch.
Today, the 15-year-old whiskey we bottle contains a very, very, very small amount of the first batch that was put in in 1998. There really is no more consistent way to make a product than to continually build on the previous one. And we've now expanded into a number of different products.
Courtesy of Glenfiddich
Do consumers understand that blending, despite its connotations, is part of single malt production in terms of cask selection?
The average consumer doesn't do that. Sometimes I'm surprised that even a whisky enthusiast doesn't know much about what's going on. I don't think the concept of combining different barrels is very well known at a consumer level.
True whisky enthusiasts understand this, but everyone else doesn’t. I don’t think consumers have made the leap since realizing that a bottle of whisky potentially comes from 100 to 200 barrels in a batch selected by a malt master.
How do you balance consistency with experimentation while staying true to the brand?
You have to wear two hats. This distillery is 140 years old and single malt has been around since the 60s, so it's our responsibility to protect that. Don't compromise quality. Keep everything right. Fill the warehouse with barrels that we know will produce 12, 18 and 30 year old whiskies without any risk.
If you do that right, you gain the freedom to do other things – just the fun parts of trying something. You might get something out of the ordinary, you might do a slightly different distillation one day to see what happens in experimental distillations. You have the freedom to play around with a distillery of that size, but you have to earn the right to preserve the essence.
Is there a limit to what you can do with barrel linings, or are there more avenues you can explore?
Every time I think we're done, something else comes along. People are making spirits, using barrels, and doing unusual things in a lot of places. There are little nuances like the winemaker doing something unusual, and we can lean on those to see if that barrel works for us. So there's definitely more to come.
We finished it in a Tabasco cask, and I was really intrigued by it. It wasn't Glenfiddich, it was a blend—and it didn't taste anything like Scotch, but I absolutely loved it. It makes you smile.
Courtesy of Glenfiddich
The Scotch Whisky Association's guidelines have recently been expanded. Can you tell us how these have changed?
They've expanded, but more importantly, they've clarified. They haven't really introduced much new. They've just made it very clear: prove that these casks are from a traditional source; prove that you've done traditional maturation with it; and prove that it still retains the traditional characteristics of Scotch whisky. If you do all of those things, then you're home and dry.
Brand ambassadors are all over the world seeing and tasting things. We have a great network of people feeding things in and the next thing will come eventually.
How do you ensure that future generations at the distillery have access to quality whisky?
Don't compromise and be the conscience of the distillery. It would be very easy for an accountant somewhere to chip in some money and say, “Let's not do this. Let's not use wooden wash backs. Let's use stainless steel because it's cheaper. Let's stop the marriage process because it's just torture.”
But I see my role as an instigator, constantly saying, “No, keep it.” Think long-term. We're filling warehouses full of whisky that people are going to bottle 30 or 40 years from now, so we need to make sure they're not disappointed. It's about passing it on to the next generation.
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