The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival is indebted to the Whisky School Committee of volunteers who develop and deliver the programme. Its members are:
Alan Winchester, Headmaster and Chairman
Richard Beattie, Robert Fotheringham, Mark Kinsman, Colin McKenzie, Ann Miller, Matthew Porritt and Jim Simpson
Alan J. Winchester, Dip Dist, FIBD
Headmaster
Lectures – Overview of the Scotch Whisky Industry & Wood for Scotch Whisky Maturation
A Master of the Keepers of the Quaich, Alan was Whisky Magazine winner of Master Distiller of the Year in 2017 and received the coveted International Spirits Challenge Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival named Alan its Ambassador of the Year in 2012 and honoured him with the Spirit of Speyside Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
Alan has spent over 45 years in the whisky industry and began his professional whisky journey in 1975 as a distillery guide, just for the summer, and progressed to a full-time production role by the end of the year. During his career, Alan was involved with over 21 distilleries and when in 2002 he was named Chivas Brothers’ Distilling Manager he was responsible for 14 malt whisky distilleries. He represented the company on various industry bodies, including president at the Management Committee of Malt Distillers Association of Scotland and Chairman of the Scottish Section of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.
In 2009, he was named The Glenlivet Master Distiller. In response to the industry’s recent growth, his responsibilities included undertaking significant expansion projects to meet demand across the globe and he played a key role in, amongst others, the re-opening of Glen Keith and the building of a new distillery on Speyside, Dalmunach.
Alan retired from the role of Distilling Manager for Chivas Brothers in 2018 but continues to share his knowledge and expertise as a consultant to a number of distillery projects. He has a strong personal interest in the history of the industry, often trading thoughts and discoveries with industry colleagues and journalists around the world, some of whom seek approval on points of fact and myth. His ultimate accolade is that his passion for and knowledge of Scotch whisky is rated second to none.
Richard Beattie, BSc, FIBD
GlenAllachie Distillery Operations Director
Lecture: Scotch Whisky Mashing and Fermentation
Richard Beattie joined GlenAllachie Distillery in 2018 following its purchase by Billy Walker. He was previously Director of Distilling at Mossburn Distillers Ltd, parent company for Torabhaig Distillery in Skye and Akashi Distillery in Japan.
Richard began his career as distillery manager at Speyside Scotch Malt Whisky Distillery and has almost 30 years’ experience within the industry. His past roles include Distilling & Technical Sales Director for Crisp Malting Group and Business Development Director at Briggs of Burton, where he was involved in developing distilling projects in Scotland, Ireland, and the US.
A Fellow of the Institute of Brewers and Distillers, Richard is a former Chairman of the Scottish section of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling, a member of the Education and Training committee of the Malt Distillers Association of Scotland and has chaired the commercial committee for the last five Worldwide Distilled Spirits Conference.
Graham Eunson
Distillery Operations Director, Tomatin Distillery
Lecture - Maturing and Nurturing Scotch New Make Spirit
Born and brought up in Orkney, a group of islands off the north coast of Scotland, Graham was educated at Kirkwall Grammar School. He started in the whisky industry at Scapa Distillery, one of the two distilleries on Orkney, initially as a warehouse operator before progressing into production roles in both the mash house and still house. In 1992 he moved into the office to become a trainee brewer before being transferred to Glendronach Distillery in Aberdeenshire in January 1994 as a brewer. At the time Glendronach still operated their own floor maltings and also used coal-fired stills.
In October 1996 he moved to Glenmorangie as assistant manager before taking on the role of Glenmorangie Distillery Manager in 1998. During the next 10 years, he oversaw all aspects of production and maturation, increased the distillery’s capacity, and spent time carrying out the brand's ambassador role.
In 2008 he departed Glenmorangie to take on the project of re-opening Glenglassaugh Distillery after 22 years of closure. The first 10 months were spent refurbishing the plant and buildings ready for production to commence later in the year.
In 2011, having overseen the resurrection of Glenglassaugh, an opportunity arose to join the Tomatin team in the position of Distillery General Manager. Graham’s responsibilities include all aspects of distillery production, maturation, wood management, strategy and future planning - an interesting and challenging role. In May 2019 he joined the board as an executive director responsible for Distillery Operations.
From 2018 until 2021 Graham was President of the Malt Distillers Association of Scotland. He continues to sit on various committees and working groups within the Scotch Whisky Association.
Robert Fotheringham, BSc, FIBD,
Global Technical Manager, Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits
Lecture: The Science of Flavour in New Make Spirit
Robert has 40 years’ experience of the distilled spirits industry and possesses qualifications in both analytical chemistry and brewing and microbiology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.
Robert’s career has seen him hold positions as a laboratory assistant at Distillers Company Limited, technical brewer at The Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, research scientist and laboratory manager at The Scotch Whisky Research Institute, Edinburgh and for 16 years he was Chief Chemist for Chivas Brothers, Pernod-Ricard, based in Scotland. He is currently Global Technical Manager at Lallemand Biofuels and Distilled Spirits.
His experience covers process troubleshooting & optimization, spirits analysis techniques and extensive knowledge of flavour chemistry, new product development, maturation, and regulated analytes. He has presented papers internationally on the authenticity of Scotch Whisky at the AOAC Florida, IWABA Cyprus and was the author of a chapter on spirits analysis in the Alcohol Textbook. Through the Ethanol Technology Institute, he presents lectures on topics as diverse as flavour control, maturation, and analytical techniques in spirits laboratories.
Mark Kinsman, Dipl.Malt, BSc, FIBD
Distilling and Export Customer Manager, Bairds Malt (Retired)
Lecture - Barley, Malting and Malt
Mark first worked in the malting industry for Moray Firth Maltings on a student placement starting in January 1981 and returned to the industry after finishing university in 1983 as a laboratory manager.
Mark joined the Bairds team in 1988 when he took up the role of Process Manager at their Arbroath Maltings. In 1990, he took on role of Plant Manager at their Inverness Maltings and has been based in the Highlands for the last 30 years. Mark has been the face of Bairds for many of their distilling customers in the time since he joined their commercial team in 2005, representing the business across Scotland and the Far East until retirement in 2020.
“When I first took on the role as Plant Manager in Inverness it was owned by Moray Firth Maltings, but in 2000 when I became the Production Manager for Scotland, both Hugh Baird and Moray Firth had merged to become Bairds Malt as it is known today,”
Mark was elected a Fellow of The Institute of Brewing & Distilling in 2018 after over 10 years of committee work with the Scottish Section of The Institute of Brewing and Distilling, which included Chairman of the World-Wide Distilled Spirits Conference held in Glasgow in 2014 and Chairman of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, Scottish Section in 2015 and 2016.
Ann Miller, MA Hons
The Dram Queen
Lecture and Exercise with Jim Simpson – Blending Speyside Malts
During her long career as an International Brand Ambassador at Chivas Brothers, Campbell Distillers and again at Chivas Brothers where she worked altogether for over 30 years, Ann was responsible for communicating about a wide range of whisky brands in Scotland and around the world. An important part of her role was managing the delivery of in depth and bespoke training for industry guests from many countries as well as media visits.
Ann was one of the founders of the Festival which she served as a volunteer Director for 20 years and is a Lifetime Ambassador. She was honoured to be made a Keeper of the Quaich in 2012.
Since 2020 Ann has been independent as the Dram Queen, and offers entertaining and informative bespoke Scotch whisky experiences in which she shares her passion, knowledge and behind the scenes expertise. Ann is an Accredited Educator and Provider of a range of training courses throughout Scotland for the Edinburgh Whisky Academy.
Jim Simpson
Distillery Production Control and Quality Control Manager [Retired]
Lecture and Exercise with Ann Miller – Blending Speyside Malts
Jim joined Chivas Brothers in January 1977 in the Yeast Laboratory at Glen Keith distillery.
He spent the early years of his career gaining knowledge and experience of analytical techniques, yeast production, fermentation, distillery processes and in particular distillery hygiene control. During this time, he studied part time and gained an HNC in Biological Sciences from RGIT in 1982.
In 1985 he moved to Production as trainee brewer with spells at Glen Keith, Strathisla and Glen Grant distilleries. He also spent some time as team leader at the cask filling operation at Glen Keith. Returning to the laboratory in 1988 he looked after the analysis of malt and production process samples.
In 1990 he joined Campbell Distillers as Distilleries Chemist with responsibility for building a new laboratory to support production at Campbell’s three distilleries, Aberlour, Glenallachie and Edradour. The main objectives were to improve yields and improve compliance in wastewater discharges.
During the 1990’s he introduced analytical and organoleptic quality control, worked on, and implemented a major project with Pernod-Ricard Research to remove copper from effluent, developed computer-based accounting for distilleries and was involved with the implementation of SAP in production.
At the beginning of 2000 he took on additional role of Quality Manager for Campbell Distillers whilst continuing as Distilleries Chemist, dividing time between Glenallachie and the bottling hall at Kilwinning. His main objectives included maintaining quality standards in bottling, developing quality control, improving efficiency, and reducing waste.
Jim returned to Glen Keith Technical Centre as Production Control Manager in 2002 when Pernod-Ricard purchased the Chivas Brothers’ Scotch whisky business from Seagram. He continued to work with the team at Glen Keith to provide support for distillery management at all 14 distilleries in Chivas Brothers. He worked closely with Maltsters and yeast suppliers on product quality and was involved with raw materials, processing and NIR groups at SWRI. He was honoured to become a Keeper of the Quaich in 2016 and retired in 2019.
Dr Stuart Watts, BSc,
Distilleries Director, Wm Grant & Son Ltd.
Lecture – Distillation
Stuart has worked in the Scotch Whisky industry for over 20 years. He originally trained at Glasgow University where he completed his BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry, before carrying out a PhD in association with the SWRI. Sponsored by Suntory plc., Stuarts' PhD examined the derivation of flavour within Scotch Whisky, specifically looking at how sulphur derived flavours were formed during the production process.
On completion of his studies in 2003, Stuart moved to WM Grant’s Technical Support function working on a number of production efficiency, spirit quality and new liquid development projects. In 2005 Stuart moved to production as Distillation Team Leader for the company’s grain distillery at Girvan, working as part of the team who designed and built a completely new grain still as well as their gin distillery where Hendricks’s gin is produced.
In 2007 he became Production Manager at Girvan, responsible for the complete grain and newly completed malt distillery, Ailsa Bay, on the Girvan site. Stuart moved to the Dufftown site in 2009 as Site Team Leader, responsible for WM Grant’s operation in the north. From 2010 – 2013, while based in Dufftown, Stuart was one of the Directors of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.
In 2013 Stuart returned to Girvan to take up the post of Team Leader for the Girvan site. His responsibilities included operations on the Girvan distilleries site, including grain and malt whisky distillation, gin distillation as well as the site's extensive spirit handling and warehousing operations. In 2021 Stuart was appointed Distilleries Director and is responsible for the supply of all liquid production from its distilleries across the group.
He is currently the Chair of the Scottish section of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, a board member of the Scotch Whisky Research Institute [SWRI] and a Council Member of the National Cooperage Federation. In 2019 he was made a Keeper of the Quaich.
The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival is indebted to the Whisky School Committee of volunteers who develop and deliver the programme. Its members are:
Alan Winchester, Headmaster and Chairman
Richard Beattie, Robert Fotheringham, Mark Kinsman, Colin McKenzie, Ann Miller, Matthew Porritt and Jim Simpson
Committee Members who are not also speakers:
Colin A. Mackenzie BSc. (Hons), Dip. Arch., RIBA RIAS
Colin is an Associate Member of Archives & Records Association (ARA) and a Chartered Architect with over 35 years of experience in the design of military, pharmaceutical, industrial & retail, leisure, healthcare, educational and residential buildings, working in the UK and abroad. In 2010 he retired as Technical Director of DCa architects Ltd. in Buckinghamshire to undertake his own development project in NE Scotland.
He is an expert in researching historic buildings and sites in order to inform. This involves the identification and analysis of evidence, archive research, record drawings and reporting to recognised standards.
Colin is the great-great-grandson of Alexander Mackenzie, an illicit distiller and whisky smuggler in the early 1800’s, who lived in the famous Glenlivet region of Scotland. Alexander’s son Peter (Colin’s great-grandfather) managed The Glenlivet Distillery from 1901 until his death in 1929.
Colin has a lifelong interest in the unique history of Scotch whisky spirit - its rich and multi-faceted story and all surviving items and records associated with it. He has a reference collection of historic bottles accumulated over 35 years that includes examples dating back to the mid 1700’s and a range of related artefacts illustrating many different ways that Scotch whisky has been packaged and promoted over the years. He is a former Trustee of The Cabrach Trust.
Matthew Porritt
Brand Homes Manager, Inver House Distillers
Matthew grew up in New Zealand but moved to Scotland in 2015, following a passion for whisky. He landed at Glenfarclas, intending to gain work experience for four months working in the warehouses, in mashing and then distilling. Four months turned into eight years as he was offered a job at Glenfarclas as a summer tour guide and then a permanent role, managing the Visitor Centre.
During the pandemic, with the Visitor Centre closed to the public, Matthew was asked to re-train as a Mashman to cover for an operator who was shielding. He says this is a worthwhile experience to have behind him, but not one he wishes to repeat!
In 2023, Matthew accepted a position with Inver House Distillers, responsible for the visitor experiences at Speyburn and Knockdhu distilleries and for Caorunn Gin.
Matthew has more recently taken an interest in the history of distilling in Scotland. His spare time is often spent walking in the hills, searching for the remains of illicit distilling sites from the early 1800’s.
