ME & MY DRAM

The Hobbit and Outlander actor Graham McTavish believes whisky is a drink best served beneath the stars

Interview by Rosie Morton

When did you first try whisky? My dad gave me whisky whenever I was ill. Any time I had a cold he would just give me a hot toddy. That was his cure-all for absolutely everything: ‘You need a hot toddy.’ He would make one up and I remember that I would always love it. I would just think, ‘This is the best.’ That was really from a very early age. Before I was ten I would have tried that.

When did you start to really appreciate whisky? That was later on, at university. Early university was just all about the beer. Massive quantities of beer. Then I started to accidentally get into whisky at parties, and then think, ‘Oh, actually this is quite nice.’ That’s when I started buying it myself, although I didn’t really have drink in the house until I was in my forties (and now I’m never without it). It was incredible restraint. I mean, I was in the pub every night, but it just wasn’t at home. I remember pints when they were sixty pence. People talked about rumours of a pound a pint and people said, ‘No, that’ll never happen. They could never charge a pound per pint.’

Left: Graham McTavish [Credit: Dave Foster Photography]. Above: Graham and his Outlander co-star Sam Heughan enjoying a dram while fiming for Men in Kilts [Courtesy of STARZ].

Where’s the best place to partake in a dram, whether that’s beside a riverbank or round a Christmas tree?

What is it that you love about whisky so much? Compared to my co-star Sam Heughan I am a mere dilettante when it comes to whisky. Sam is the real deal. I’m the guy that stands there nodding and sniffi ng going, ‘Yes, yes, yes. I can tell those notes. Very interesting.’ But I do know what I like. The one I’m into at the moment is Springbank which I had never tried before. It’s really great. The fl avour is a combination of the Highland fl avour and the island fl avour. What’s your favourite whisky bar? I love having a whisky in the Blue Blazer in Edinburgh. It’s not a whisky bar, per se, but they have a decent selection. I just like the ambience. It’s a proper old pub. I used to go in there all the time when I was working at the Royal Lyceum and at The Traverse and doing The Fringe. I have a soft spot for it.

I love having a whisky outdoors. I’ve really enjoyed some whiskies with Sam [Heughan] just in a fl ask when we’ve gone to the top of some ridiculous mountain or we’ve just survived a day of fi lming. I remember the millennial New Year – I had made a promise to myself many years earlier that when we went from 1999 into 2000 I would be somewhere in the ‘Compared to my co-star Sam Highlands on a beach, not surrounded by hundreds of Heughan I am a mere dilettante people. I just wanted to be when it comes to whisky’ there and to refl ect on what was happening. I was there with my then girlfriend. Of course, one thing I forgot was that being on a beach on the Isle of Skye at the end of December, it was so dark that we were constantly falling over. But it wasn’t raining and I was able to see the stars. That was my favourite place ever to have a whisky. We had a whisky to commemorate the turning of the century.