Jill Boyd, master dlender at Lochlea Distillery in Ayrshire.
Lochlea is an independent family owned farm and distillery, one of the very few fully grain-to-cask distilleries in Scotland.
Despite growing up in Speyside I never even considered a career in whisky until after University. I was so fortunate to land a role in the distillery lab at William Grant’s in Dufftown and I just fell in love.
The work, the people, and the opportunity for creativity were everywhere, and I knew I wanted to be part of such brilliant energy .
My entire career has been so much about being in the right place at the right time. I was looking for a new challenge just as Lochlea were looking for a new master blender, it just seemed too good to be true!
Everyone knows about the really fun stuff, the tastings, the experimentation, the opportunity to connect with people over something delicious, and that is such a big part of the role.
But no one ever thinks about the sheer number of spreadsheets I have to manage!
Lochlea’s new make has such beautiful character and I always want to make sure that our “house style” continues to run through our mature stock. Whenever I create a new release I want the fruit and cereal to be prominent enough to play against the casks it has been matured in.
Farming is the very heart of everything we do here at Lochlea, we grow, harvest, and use all our own barley giving us full traceability in every whisky we release. Sustainability is also a keystone of the distillery. blended into the heart of our everyday operations.
I think it was either a Laphroaig or Lagavulin (it’s been a while!) I just remember thinking it was the hottest, smokiest thing I’d ever tasted!
Lochlea new make is full of juicy stewed fruits, rich cereal, and biscuity notes which help give it the backbone. It’s richer and bolder than some if the classic Lowland styles, making it unique in style.
This has been such a rollercoaster year, with the release of our permanent core range of single malts: The Lochlea Single Estate Range, which sits alongside Our Barley, the first of our core whiskies. The three new expressions: Orchard & Oak, Dark Briar and Smoke without Fire, build on our seasonal releases while adding a twist to our classic casks.
Earlier this year we also released Cask Strength Batch 3: the latest in our limited edition bottlings. This was a particularly special release for me, having joined the distillery in December last year, this was the first Lochlea whisky I was able to fully curate from start to finish.
Even with all the other projects I’ve had going on there might still be a few surprises over the next few months, which I hope will get people really excited as they are announced!
Stephanie MacLeod. She’s probably everyone’s whisky hero and for good reason, an incredible blender, and so generous with her time and knowledge.
I hope it’s not too unpopular anymore, but I love mixing my whisky. Highballs on hot sunny days, and whisky in my mulled wine as the autumn nights roll in!
Florence Pugh. Like her I think our whiskies are modern classics: elegant, bold and playful.
Sweet, malty, elegant.
Effusive, curious, hungry!
