THE INTERVIEW
SHARING A LOVE OF SPIRIT
IN THE WORLD TODAY OF CASK INVESTORS PUSHING UP WHISKY PRICES, IS THERE ROOM FOR AN INDEPENDENT WHISKY BOTTLER? VELO MITROVICH REPORTS
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AUTUMN 2021
W
hile the history of
serious enough to even be thought of as
Scottish whisky
a distant great-great nephew of one of
dates to over
the original Whisky Barons.
1,000 years ago, the success
For example, he has some crazy ideas
and refinement of what the world calls
regarding whisky. Get this, Sharpe
Scotch, is more recent when a select
believes whisky is for drinking and
group of whisky merchants took the
enjoying, not investing.
business by storm in the late 18th and
That if you drink your whisky neat or with
early 19th centuries, who are referred to
the smallest amount of water, that’s fine.
as the whisky barons.
Just like it’s fine to drink whisky with ice, with Coke or in a cocktail.
John Dewar, James Buchanan, Alexander Walker, Arthur Bell, Peter Mackie and
Just like it’s fine if your favourite whisky is
pioneer rum runner Captain William ‘Bill’
Haig Club or even Sainsbury’s Blended.
McCoy established their brands and kick-
And, perhaps his most insane idea of all,
started the industry.
whisky enjoyment should be for all, not
ALL PHOTOS: SPRINGBANK
the self-appointed few.
The men had much in common: they were all Scots from humble beginnings,
The original Scottish whisky barons didn’t
served long apprenticeships and
necessarily create whiskey as we know
ultimately set out on their own to build
it today, but they certainly modernised it
their companies.
and turned it from what was considered
Whisky writer David Broom says the
quite a sort of rough rugged northerners
whisky barons didn’t just sell whisky, they
drink to the drink of the modern-day
sold an idea, and in doing so created this
gentlemen.
new concept called ‘branding’. By being seen in the right theatres, race
Prior to the whisky barons’ transformation
meetings, sporting events, hotels, clubs
of whisky, gin, sherry, port and other
and restaurants, they built whisky’s
fortified wines would have been the
credibility as an acceptable drink for
choice of the gentry. It you drank whisky
gentlemen.
it was something you hid.
With whisky’s popularity firmly entrenched around the world, however, is
“The whiskey barons started creating
there a need for a whisky baron today?
blended consistent products that were able to be mass marketed the world over,
Jake Sharpe is not who you’re expecting
some of which we still know and love
when you meet The Whisky Baron. To be
today, creating brands that have really
fair, that’s not what he calls himself, it’s
lasted,” says Sharpe.
the name of his whisky bottling company. “I didn’t really decide to call myself the But when you look at The Whisky Baron’s
whiskey baron. The idea was to create
label, back at Sharpe, then back at the
a brand that sort of paid homage to the
bottle and it is hard not to think there is
whiskey barons. And as a result of me,
a more than passing resemblance. Still,
apparently looking a bit like the guy on
Sharpe seems too young at 27 and not
the label, I have been since dubbed the
DISTILLERS JOURNAL
