Summary
As the world's thirst for a dram grows, a generation of boutique distilleries promising an artisan approach to the water of life are springing up. In this market worth billions, Scotch whisky is innovatively re-inventing itself
In a couple of weeks' time, a tubby gnome-like little fella will get off the plane at Edinburgh Airport on yet another leg of his marathon journey from Down Under. He'll go through his usual ritual of smelling the Scottish air before steeling himself for the final leg of his long journey, by car to the Fife coast. Tasmanian Bill Lark couldn't look more like an Aussie if he tried: bearded, laid- back and with the perpetually sunny outlook that seems to be his national birthright, the 55-year-old from Hobart looks as if he's wandered out of the Outback. But he says he's not lost. On the contrary, he's coming come.See the full content of this document
Extract
Proof Positive
His eventual destination is Kingsbarns, the twee little conservation village that's become better known as the home of one of the best links golf course in Britain. Just down the road from St Andrews, its fairways draw Americans like moths to a flame. But he's not here for the golf: here's here to tell us how to make whisky and, more importantly, how to make money from making whisky. He is not, he laughs, bringing coals to Newcastle; more like delivering haggis to Holyrood Palace.
Lark is the guru of the 'small is beautiful' movement which is sweeping the whisky world right now, and is a hearty advocate of the boutique distilleries that are revolutionising the industry in the same way that micro-breweries transformed beer-making as few years back. The return to home-spun artisan values is partly a reaction from true aficianados to the large conglomerates which dominate much of the drinks sector. Outfits like micro-...See the full content of this document
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