Gillian Macdonald: My 20 years in whisky is down to luck
Twenty years after joining the whisky industry under the tutelage of the legendary Jim Swan, Glenmorangie and Ardbeg master blender Gillian Macdonald reflects on how her career can be boiled down to a ‘sliding doors moment’.
If it weren’t for Welsh whisky, Gillian Macdonald may not have found her way into Scotch.
“I didn't have whisky on my radar,” the now master blender of Glenmorangie and Ardbeg explains. “I felt quite jealous of people who had a specific career choice because they had a direct path to follow, but in hindsight it actually worked out well because if I did have one, it probably wouldn’t have been whisky.”
Macdonald had her degree in Chemistry from Cardiff University, but it was down to luck and good timing that she happened across a Welsh government scheme matching graduates with small businesses for 10-week internships.
“I joined thinking I could do 10 weeks at different companies to find what I want to do,” she says. “My top match was to be a trainee distiller for Penderyn distillery and I thought, ‘who wouldn't want to do that?’”
A distinctive dram: Macdonald’s first taste of Ardbeg single malt was ‘an awakening’
It was fortuitous timing as, unbeknownst to Macdonald, she’d be mentored by one of the most accomplished and respected people in the whisky industry, the late Jim Swan. “He was such a lovely man, almost like my second father; such a caring, gentle chap. He was very knowledgeable but put it across in a kind, easy way so you almost didn't realise you were learning from him. He was the person who introduced me to the big, wide whisky world.”
Being a small distillery operating on a skeleton team, Macdonald was no stranger to pitching in – her role encompassed ‘glamorous’ jobs like blending, spirit assessment and ambassadorial work, through to more manual tasks like forklift driving, cleaning and barrel stacking. “There wasn’t a job I didn’t do,” she says. “I could have had several job titles… they employed three people to replace me when I left.”
Sliding Doors Moment
But it was the blending and whisky creation she felt an affinity with, mostly thanks to the influence of her mentor. So, in 2012 when a blending role emerged with Glenmorangie Company, Macdonald took the leap into Scotch, joining Bill Lumsden’s team as head of analytics and whisky creation.
Twelve years on and although the core of her role is still the same (albeit with a new job title of master blender), Macdonald and the team are busier than ever with prestige releases, Ardbeg Day specials and limited edition Glenmorangies. “The biggest challenge is the ever-growing demand to come up with new things,” she laughs. “Everyone expects each release to be massive and ground-breaking, which realistically you can’t always do. Being the first at something is nice to have sometimes, but you can’t do that every time.”
This year marks Macdonald’s 20th in the whisky industry. It’s a milestone she’s particularly proud of considering whisky wasn’t initially on the cards. “My arrival into the whisky world was a bit of a sliding doors moment – right place, right time and not really on my radar,” she muses. “Looking back on my career I think discovering the world of whisky in the first place was one of my biggest achievements.”
Ardbeg Twenty: Macdonald’s unique Demeter Collection donation is inspired by Ardbeg Uigedail
To mark the milestone, Macdonald has created a unique 20-year-old Ardbeg inspired by Uigedail, her first interaction with the smoky Islay malt while at a whisky show almost 20 years ago.
“The inspiration was to travel back in time to my first encounter in my first year of the whisky I now work on. It uses the same combination of oloroso and Bourbon-matured whiskies as Uigedail, but this is much further on; the youngest spirit is 20 years old. It’s glorious, it’s got all you'd expect from an Ardbeg – the pine resin notes and zesty citrus – but because of the extra age the smoke is maybe more subtle than Uigedail itself. There’s a high percentage of oloroso and as a result it’s all Demerara sugar, cherries, sultanas, dates and chewy peat oil.”
The Demeter Collection
Just one single bottle of the whisky has been created for the inaugural Demeter Collection, a new online whisky auction held in partnership with Whisky Auctioneer to tell the untold stories of women in whisky while raising funds for the OurWhisky Foundation. As a mentor for the non-profit’s mentorship programme, Macdonald said she was delighted to donate a unique creation.
“For the Foundation to continue it needs to be funded, so I don't see why we wouldn't want to support it,” she explains. “Anything that enhances the careers of future people in our industry should be invested in. Personally, it’s also given me an opportunity to pause, look back and reflect at what I’ve achieved over the years.”
‘Do you actually like whisky?’: It’s a question Gillian is tired of people asking female whisky makers
Macdonald recalls that when she first began showcasing Penderyn at whisky shows in the mid-00s, people were shocked to see a young woman representing whisky. Has anything changed since then?
“The amount of women in different roles has changed dramatically, although women have always been there; they just haven’t been visible. That’s the key thing. Seeing is believing; it’s critical and not just in our industry but within wider society as well.
“Overall there’s been a sea change of who whisky companies are marketing to. Some, not all, have moved the dial and are now representing different walks of life. In past marketing most women were an accessory or a scantily clad decoration. There’s been a big difference in the past 10 years, but that’s also a long period of time.
“There’s more to be done to tackle the way women are treated too, though it’s harder to get people to discuss that outwardly. I was asked on the tube yesterday by a guy sat next to me if I actually like whisky. If I were a man, the next question would have been ‘how long have you done that for?’, not ‘do you actually like it?’”
With whisky becoming gradually more inclusive, what advice does Macdonald have for the next generation of aspiring whisky makers?
“Just like whisky, things take time, so be patient. Certainly with sensory work nothing can replace the practical nosing and tasting of samples and the build-up of knowledge you get over the years of sampling thousands upon thousands of casks annually, so start this as soon as you can if you wish to progress in that direction. Creating, monitoring quality and blending new products is super fun, so take time to enjoy it!”
The Demeter Collection auction will run 29 March - 8 April 2024 at whiskyauctioneer.com.
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