I'm not going to post a lengthy article pretending I know everything about the whereabouts of Islay's distillery managers simply because I don't know. I do happen to know however from what they write on Twitter or from what I read elsewhere that they can be very busy and that they are excellent ambassadors for their distillery and whisky brand. And in their role as ambassador they often travel abroad to visit whisky events all over the world. Through a friend in Japan, you probably remember Takeshi Mogi, I learned that Michael Heads of Ardbeg and Billy Stitchell of Caol Ila were in Japan on the 20th of January to attend a whisky event. Takeshi wrote: "I attended a Diageo's whisky event where I met Michael Heads and Billy Stitchell. I chatted with them much as other guests were rather interested in whiskies and were not going to speak with them. But I hear Diageo held the same event at the afternoon on the day just for their bar-owner and bartender guests and many of them wanted to hear from Michael and Billy. I am afraid the evening guests didn't understand what they were.

"Diageo was very generous this evening and didn't hesitate to let guests try rare old whiskies. The fee was just 2,000 yen (15 GBP). Even though, they supplied a wide range of Diageo malts and also some nice snacks. And four distillery managers plus Bill Lumsden and Charles MacLean attended the event. I asked some Diageo people but they didn't know whether the managers will attend the Whisky Magazine Live next month. Anyway we know Diageo will hold no seminar in the Live." It's nice to hear from someone abroad what Islay's distillery managers do to promote their excellent whiskies and I can imagine that it's one the most interesting jobs one can have on Islay.

Takeshi was kind enough to send me some pictures which you can see by clicking here

Tag: whisky distilleries managers events