In a blind tasting, our expert panel of ten judges, including whisky writers, industry representatives and specialist retailers, selected two finalists from each Whisky Awards category.
Fergus Simpson
Although Fergus is originally from Aberdeen and has had a lifelong interest in whisky, he only entered the trade later in life. It was only on returning to his native Scotland after many years in the south of England and abroad that he started in the whisky business.
He went to work as a tour guide at William Grant and Sons, Dufftown Visitor Centre, and in two spells, over eight years became a senior guide, leading VIP tours and trade visits to The Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie Distilleries. During this time, he gained GCD technical qualifications from The Institute of Brewing and Distilling.
Between the two spells working in Dufftown, he was Manager of Duncan Taylor's Retail store in Huntly for nearly three years, and also was on the tasting/selection panel for Duncan Taylor. This involved monitoring maturation of whiskies in the cask, and checking samples to plan the bottling schedule.
On retiring from William Grant, he was tempted back to Duncan Taylor, and early in 2017 became their first Whisky Ambassador.
Since then, he has travelled extensively all over the globe attending whisky shows and conducting masterclasses.
Hamish Marshall
A trained chef and one-time Restauranteur, Hamish cut his teeth in the Drinks Business as a Sales Representative with the then Lang Brothers Distillers, part of the Robertson & Baxter Group. His portfolio contained Langs Supreme and Glengoyne along with prestigious brands Remy Martin and Krug. The formation of the Macallan Langs Partnership brought an opportunity to be involved in very exciting times as part of the team that built The Macallan brand into the No 1 Malt Whisky brand on Speyside and Scotland.
After 20 years of spirits, Hamish's next chapter was to be in wine, joining BRL Hardy’s Europe where he would spend 10 years and which would see Hardy’s becoming the No 1 wine brand in the UK and Europe. Hamish became UK Sales Manager departing when the Hardy family sold the business. During this tenure, Hardy’s brand annual sales grew from £7 to £250 million.
His final decade, prior to retirement, saw Hamish consolidate his wide wine trade experience as the UK sales Manager, firstly with Stratford Wine Agencies and then Kingsland Drinks the UK’s largest Wine and Spirit Bottlers following their acquisition of the Stratford vintner.
Hamish has lived within a strolling distance of the River Spey, for almost 50 years and although it was wine that earned him his living for many of those years, whisky and particularly Speyside’s fine offerings, have always been closest to his heart.
Ian Wisniewski
An unexpected assignment from a drinks magazine when he was starting out in journalism steered Ian Wisniewski into the industry where he has remained. His first visit to a malt whisky distillery was a turning point: he found it so fascinating that he decided he had to learn as much about Scotch whisky as he could, and he is still learning, visiting distilleries as often as possible and constantly asking questions.
Ian is a freelance writer, broadcaster and consultant, focusing on spirits, particularly Scotch whisky, vodka and gin, and contributes regularly to Whisky Magazine (UK and French editions) and Malt Whisky Yearbook, has written four books on whisky, including The Whisky Dictionary, as well as contributing to Michael Jackson’s Encyclopaedia of Whisky. He conducts tutored tastings, classes and courses on various spirits, and has given presentations at the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, Craft Expo London and The Worldwide Distilled Spirits Conference, at which he was also the official conference journalist in 2017. He judges spirits in competitions including the World Gin Awards, The International Wine and Spirits Competition and is Chairman of the Vodka judges at the International Spirits Challenge (since 2005). As a regular visitor to distilleries he is always eager to learn more about the production process, which is one of his favourite subjects. He is a Master of the Quaich.
Justine Hazlehurst
Justine Hazlehurst is the founder of Kask Whisky, a whisky events company based in Edinburgh. As a proud citizen of Leith, Justine has recently started the Leith Whisky Trail – walking tours, focusing on the history of the brokers, blenders and bottlers of what was once a thriving whisky district, which culminate in a tasting of some ‘blast from the past’ drams all linked to the area.
Having worked in Fife for many years before giving up her teaching career to pursue her passion to work in the world of whisky, her love of the Kingdom has led her to set up the Fife Whisky Trail as well as jointly establishing the Fife Whisky Festival. In addition to writing for her own blog, Justine is a regular contributor to Malt, offering honest opinions and reviews of whisky.
Although since leaving teaching, Justine now drinks significantly less whisky, she is very much partial to such Speyside delights as Glen Moray, BenRiach and Glentauchers amongst others. Justine is also very much a believer that bottles of whisky should be opened, poured, shared and drunk in good company.
Robert Anderson
After a series of accounting positions in the Malting, Leisure and Timber industries, Robert Anderson took up a similar position with Tomatin, which is a Highland Single Malt, in 1988 just 2 years after the new company at the distillery was formed. He progressed to company secretary in 1990 and in 2009 was appointed MD of J & W Hardie Ltd formed in 2001 to progress the branding side of Tomatin’s business.
In 2010 Robert was appointed CEO of Tomatin and merged the two companies together with a revised strategy of stock evaluation, wood policy, sustainable energy and brand building. Establishing a fresh team around him the company has re-emerged as a well-known brand racking up a series of prestigious Scotch Whisky awards at home and overseas.
At the end of May 2018 Robert stepped down from the CEO position and continued to support Tomatin in the role of Non-executive Director, fully retiring at the end of May 2019. He still keeps in touch with the Board and Staff of Tomatin.
Robert is a Keeper of the Quaich and a supporter of the Worshipful Company of Distillers.
Steve McQueen
Steve joined the industry and First Quench Retailing as soon as he turned 18 years old. He began working with his father and served his time as an Assistant Manager of a Wine Rack off-licence whilst studying Social Sciences at University. The father-son partnership worked and their Aberdeen store was one of the most successful stores in the FQR portfolio. A blessing in disguise came as the entire chain entered administration in 2009.
The father-son team jumped at the opportunity to setup Fountainhall Wines with the backing of an ex-customer of theirs who was keen to see their store back up and running. Working independently brought number of new exciting challenges as they now had to setup working relationships with suppliers and were in full control of the products in their store. They worked away together for years with & then were extremely fortunate to be able to completely buy the business outright in September 2017, making Fountainhall Wines a 100% independent family business.
In 2013 Fountainhall Wines opened an additional store in Stonehaven and this move to a popular tourist town was what pushed Steve to get to grips with all things whisky. Having originally studied and focused on improving his wine knowledge with the WSET qualifications, Steve was increasingly being asked more and more about whisky from tourists who either wanted an introduction to whisky or to introduced to something a bit more special that they could not find back at home.
As he began explore the differences between the whisky regions and individual distillery characteristics, his passion for whisky grew and he has since gained the ‘Diploma in Single Malt Whisky’ from the Edinburgh Whisky Academy. He hosts a variety of whisky tasting events and in his spare time enjoys travelling around Scotland visiting distilleries and meeting the people involved in the production.
Speyside and The Spirit of Speyside Festival has a very special place in his heart and he is truly at his happiest when visiting the region.
Nicola Young
Nicola Young is a long time Ambassador for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society where she travels the country exhibiting at numerous whisky festivals and hosting tastings for their members. Also, Nicola is one half of the blog, father and daughter duo, The Whisky Boys where current global whisky goings-on are reviewed and shared.
Nicola has a very healthy interest in everything Scottish, from holidaying on the fabulous west coast islands, discovering historic literature and generally reading about Scotland's colourful and sometimes tragic past. However, most importantly she is passionate about the history of Scotch. Currently studying Scottish History at The University of Glasgow she has been able to dedicate more time to her passion and is hoping to graduate later next year to take her whisky journey further.
Karen Somerville
Co-Director of The Fife Whisky Festival, The first female lead whisky Festival of its kind.
Scotch Whisky and Scottish Glassware are my most favourite things and being able to create products for the ultimate gifting experience is my goal.
Market leaders in whisky gifting and a passion for promoting our national spirit globally.
Women's Enterprise Scotland Ambassador,
Scottish Whisky Awards Judge
Speyside Whisky Awards Judge
committee member The British Association of Women Entrepreneurs -Scotland
Member of The Scottish Business Network.
Multi Award Winning:
Former winner "Entrepreneur of the Year" Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce Awards. Finalist in The Great British Entrepreneur Awards for Scotland 2021.
Finalist in Scottish Family Business Intl Growth and WIB international Growth. Winners of Worldpay & FSB Small Business Awards product innovation and Family Business.
Best Micro Business and Most Innovative product for the whisky water dropper. Winner of “Best Family Business” 2021 by the Association of Scottish Business Women.
Angels' Share Glass was founded by Father & Daughter, it is very much a family business with my Husband now very much part of the Team.
Karen is co-director with dad Tom Young, Tom Young MBE is a master glassblower and craftsman, manufacturing glass since 1979.
Angels Share Glass ® is a specialist glass manufacturer supplying glass worldwide and designing pieces for many recognised companies. Karen drives Business Development & Growth. Providing customers with Premium hand made glassware and first class customer service.
The Glass studio is growing with additional warehousing and offices our trusted studio continues to be a creative hub. The in-house team offer bespoke designs and consultancy on glass processing and engineering works. Working with an additional 5 glassmakers in Scotland who supply our designs. All finishing and bespoke contracts are done in-house. Offering glass design consultancy on lampworking projects and glassblowing commissions.
Angels' Share Glass ® is the manufacturing agent for distilling glassware such as Spirit Bowls and distilling equipment. We also offer full branding and private labeling on all our products. Angels' Share Glass ® offers a full range of premium whisky giftware and glassware for the spirits industry, Tourist Trade & Corporate gift market.
Penny Ellis
Penny, a former Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Director, jointly owns and runs Knockomie Hotel in Forres. With over 30 years experience in the hospitality industry, Penny has also worked with J&B Rare Whisky and Cutty Sark Scots Whisky, looking after and managing the companies corporate guests. Penny developed a keen interest in whisky through her hotel located near the Western gateway to the Speyside Whisky Trail.
Penny has written many articles about whisky and used to write a regular Whisky Column for the Scots Magazine. She has written a book titled Distinguished Distilleries and regularly hosts whisky tastings at the hotel and other locations.
