Distillery Apprentice

A holiday is usually a competition prize for readers, but Gordon & MacPhail along with "Whisky Magazine", turned the idea on its head and gave readers the chance to "Work at Benromach Distillery for a Day". Vincent Ng, from Liverpool - "a very enthusiastic whisky novice in the world of Malt Whisky" - proved to be a very capable "apprentice Stillman". Fitted out in the maroon-coloured Benromach overalls, Vincent set to work with Keith Cruickshank, Distillery Manager and Cyril McLean, Production Supervisor on the first production run of the day.

The Stillman's first task was to take down 1.5 tonnes of mash needed for the production run. After completing grist analysis, he spent most of the morning taking the stills "in" and going onto spirit, adding yeast to the mash and making the cut from spirit to feints. Vincent set the "back" and noted declarations for the Customs and Excise who always take a keen interest in what we do! Accurate manual records were made by our "apprentice"- noting volumes, strengths, temperatures within the production cycle.

Hosing down of the wash backs in preparation for the next day's distillation was carried out and our new man extracted the draff for cattle feed to be used by Morayshire farmers. Filling and stowing casks followed - with Keith on hand to ensure precision and careful storage. A thrill for Vincent was to be asked to sign Cask No 657. We've asked him to be patient as it may need 10 years at least before "Vincent's Cask" is sent to our bottling hall in Elgin and labelled "Benromach Single Malt Scotch Whisky".