Former Macallan whisky maker Sarah Burgess has made a return to Scotch whisky after two and a half years at the Lakes Distillery. Ms Burgess has been appointed master of whisky creation at International Beverage.
In this newly established position she will spearhead a team of spirits makers and drive International Beverage’s pursuit to crafting high-quality, flavour-led whiskies.
Ms Burgess will also collaborate closely with the company’s global brand advocacy team, sharing her technical expertise and creating connections through International Beverage’s portfolio of premium Scotch whisky brands including Old Pulteney, Balblair, Speyburn and anCnoc single malt whiskies as well as Hankey Bannister blended whisky.
Ms Burgess, formerly the whisky maker at The Lakes Distillery, brings more than 25 years of industry experience to the role. Originally from Speyside, she began her career at Cardhu Distillery on her 21st birthday.
In 2003, she joined Diageo’s Auchroisk Distillery on a full-time basis overseeing maturation operations for the North while concurrently pursuing a BA (Hons) in Management from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
Over the following two decades, she managed operations at Diageo’s Oban, Glenkinchie and Clynelish distilleries before joining The Macallan in 2017 as their lead whisky maker, where she focused on range creation, innovation and quality control.
In 2022 she became the creative director of The Craigellachie Collection before moving to The Lakes Distillery in 2023 as whisky maker. She was responsible for all elements of distillation and maturation, the visitor facility, creating new whiskies, and developed the distillery’s first permanent range for both the duty free and domestic markets.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Ms Burgess said: “I’m so delighted to have the change and I think International Beverage has so much potential. They want to step into the premiumisation of all the whisky brands and I am right there for it. I think it’s a really, really good opportunity.”
When it comes to the range of whisky brands in the portfolio, Ms Burgess said that she’s “excited by them all” but one in particular is “reminiscent of my Macallan days.”
She said: “Each of them (the distilleries) have their own wee stories and something brilliant about them. When I lived in Brora, I was driving past Balblair daily, with its shed full of sherry casks. It being so sherry focused is reminiscent of my Macallan days.
“With Old Pulteney turning 200 next year, that’s exciting. I think Speyburn is such an unsung whisky. I think it’s got a lot of positive attributes and it’s such a beautiful wee distillery. Then you’ve got anCnoc with all the experimental elements. It feels like the fun place where you can do a little bit more - it’s for the whisky enthusiast.
“With Balmenach, it’s predominantly going in blends so there’s a lot of whisky people who haven’t seen anything coming from Balmenach since Diageo owned it, so there’s a lot of opportunity there. And having Carroun, there’s a big appeal there too with my flexibility with drinks (Ms Burgess created the Spey Soda range for the Craigellachie hotel in Speyside).
While Ms Burgess is remaining tight-lipped about when whisky fans can start to buy her creations, she did talk about her love of sherry, saying: “Getting to work with sherry again is exciting. I did a sherry educator course about three years ago so I am really enthusiastic about sherry styles and types and I think Balblair has got that richness, dried fruit, lushness because of its time in sherry.”
As for her time at The Lakes creating English whisky, where there’s not the same rules and regulation as Scotch whisky, Ms Burgess said: “Being in England and spending the last two and half years there has been absolutely amazing because, having an opportunity to trial and play about with different wood types that are not permitted in Scotland was a great experience. It would be lovely if we could play a little bit more with wood types (in Scotland) but we can’t so the party is over and I am back with my own people.”
