What it feels like to…make your living drinking whisky

I WAS born on Colonsay but moved to Islay, which has eight working distilleries, when I was a baby so I suppose whisky has always been a part of my life. Whisky comes out of the landscape – it’s like the island in a glass.

When I was young and went to dances we’d come back late and go into the local distillery and visit the boys working on the night shift. We’d all sit and blether but I always wanted the tour became fascinated by the process of making malt.

I was working as an architect before I set up a travel company to bring people to the island, and as part of that I offered whisky tours. Whisky has always been my drink but it was a German visitor who inspired me to make it more attractive and accessible for women – we were enjoying drams and talking about malt when he asked why more girls didn’t drink whisky. The next day I came up with the idea for Whisky For Girls and got to work on the website.

Sometimes the world of whisky can be a bit intimidating and some of those involved want to make and keep it rarefied and exclusive. I don’t agree with barriers like this. I wanted to take whisky out to all people, but especially women.

Being a woman working in whisky, I have experienced sexism, especially on social media. Things are changing these days, thankfully. The whisky community knows who I am, obviously. But I sometimes wonder how they might respond to two young blonde girls choosing a whisky in a bar. It’s that sort of attitude I’m totally against and try to change. Nowadays I tell young girls they can have a career in whisky if they want one – I never thought for a minute it would be possible for me but here I am.

I hate whisky snobbery. I think it’s silly when people get all upset if someone wants to put some ice in their single malt – that’s their choice. And if you want Coke in an 18-year-old Laphroaig or Bowmore, that’s up to you.

Some insist that whisky is an intellectual journey but for me it is primarily a sensory experience – I once described a Bruichladdich dram as like diving into a swimming pool naked but the swimming pool is made of velvet.

I like to write about the connections between whisky, music and art and appeal to people who might not normally read about whisky. My Whisky for Girls website is presented in quite a girly way but the content is very practical. As an architect I’m very rooted in the process of how whisky is built. The drams don’t just exist in isolation and I try to educate people on how they are structured and engineered.

I’ve also been running a very theoretical and in-depth course for the last two years, aimed at industry professionals and geeks, but I enjoy spreading my knowledge of the drink with as many people as possible.

That’s why events like the National Whisky Festival are so great – they bring people with a love of whisky together in a fun and informal setting but also give them the chance to learn something new about the drink we all love. I’ll be giving two lectures focusing on the construction of whisky, but I’m looking forward to learning about new processes and distilleries too.

I think Scotch whisky has a very bright future, especially now that it is gaining popularity around the world with different types of people, especially the younger, hipper crowd. The marketing demographic these days for whisky is a 28-year-old male, which is one of the reasons craft distilleries are getting so popular. I love craft distilling and think there’s room for everyone. People nowadays have more disposable income and they are looking for a different experience – quality, homemade craft products. It’s wonderful that whisky is responding to that.

The National Whisky Festival is on today at SWG3 Glasgow, from midday. Tickets are £35. See www.nationalwhiskyfestival.scot