Sarah’s whisky journey so far

Sarah, a member of our distilling team, has been with us for around a year now. She had long dreamt of becoming a distiller and working in whisky. She’s been learning all about process from our other distillers over this past year, and has recently been partnered with a mentor through Becky Paskin’s OurWhisky mentor programme. This programme is for women looking to join or progress in the whisky industry and matches them with an experienced mentor based on their individual experience, skills and goals. It’s no secret that whisky has long been a male-dominated industry, but initiatives like this are helping to improve diversity and bring more women in whisky to the fore.

OurWhisky

The OurWhisky Foundation is a new non-profit organisation, established in March 2022, to recognise, support and empower women working in whisky around the world, while advocating for a more inclusive and diverse industry. Through collaboration with the global whisky community, the OurWhisky Foundation aims to challenge whisky’s outdated gendered image and help women to thrive in their careers. Find out more about the Foundation here.

Brian Kinsman

Sarah’s mentor, Brian Kinsman, is Glenfiddich’s Malt Master. Brian has personally nosed or sampled more than 250,000 casks of whisky to assess consistency and to explore new flavour combinations and is renowned in the whisky world for his remarkable expertise. Sarah and Brian will have mentee-led sessions over a period of six months, focusing on the principles of ikigai and using the GROW model to structure the meetings.

We’re really pleased that Sarah’s grasped this opportunity to learn from someone with so much experience and expertise. As a business, we’re committed to working towards a more inclusive future for whisky, starting with our team here in Derbyshire.