The Isle of Skye is an exceptional range of Scotch whiskies, starting from the age of 8 Years Old and going all the way up to 30 with 12, 18, 21 and 25 in between. It is a remarkable range with whiskies coming from the Islands, Highlands, Speyside and The Lowlands. When I do tastings of these whiskies I talk about our blending team taking whisky from the four corners of Scotland and expertly crafting them into this unique proposition. As I write I am on a train heading to Edinburgh to do a whisky tasting. In the past all my tasting talks have showcased Ian Macleod’s wonderful range of Single Malt whiskies and of course I still do that, but I now include at least one Isle of Skye, to showcase how impressive a blended Scotch can be.
The response has been wonderful. Not only is our range smooth, delicious and full of complex flavours, but it gives me a chance to talk about the actual island itself and the man Ian Macleod who created this blended Scotch on Skye on October 26th 1933. This was the year Prohibition in the United States was finally abolished and the economic global meltdown that began on Wall Street in 1929 was receding into the past. The carnage of the previous decade that nearly wiped out the Scotch whisky industry was also a thing of the past and Ian and others looked to a brighter future.
Sadly, his optimism of growing a successful business was short lived, as WWII was on the horizon, but he had enough time to establish this brand and grow it sufficiently to see it through the war years and into the 1950s, before selling it on to Peter Russell in 1963 who would take this brand and make it something very special. Peter and son, Leonard would restructure and rename the whole business in honour of the great man, becoming Ian Macleod Distillers. I’m sure Ian would be proud of his name being immortalised but I’m sure he’d be even prouder of the expansion of the range and maybe a little intrigued about what we’ve planned next.
- Gordon Dallas, Whisky Experiential Ambassador, Ian Macleod Distillers
