Whisky Voices: Ian Millar

This interview is part of my ongoing Whisky Voices Series, where I sit down with leading voices in the whisky world, from distillers and writers to ambassadors and innovators, to capture their unfiltered thoughts on heroes, villains, surprises, trends, and wishes.

Ian Millar on the left here.

For this edition, I spoke with Ian Millar, a whisky gentleman whose career spans more than half a century. Ian began in hands-on operational roles at distilleries including Blair Athol Distillery and Bladnoch Distillery, before moving into production management and brand ambassador roles with William Grant & Sons, where he worked closely with Glenfiddich Distillery and The Balvenie Distillery. Today, Ian brings that lifetime of experience to his current role as Master Distiller at Lerwick Distillery.

Whisky Hero

“I’ve worked with quite a few candidates for whisky hero,” Ian reflected. “People like Michael Jackson, Charles MacLean, and a number of older distillers who are sadly no longer with us.”

But one man stood out above all.

“My hero was Evan Cattanach,” Ian said. “He was the manager at Cardhu Distillery, but also one of the very first brand ambassadors to take Scotch whisky properly beyond Scotland’s borders.”

Whisky Villain

Ian’s villain was chosen without hesitation, and with more than a little frustration.

“For me, the villains are the various Chancellors of the Exchequer in the UK government,” he said. “They continually increase duty on whisky. It’s often cheaper to buy Scotch whisky in mainland Europe than it is in Scotland where the whisky is actually produced. So for me, the UK government is the whisky villain.”

Whisky Surprise

“One surprise was onboard the Cinderella,” he recalled, “where I tasted a Mackmyra Distillery PX-matured whisky at five years old. To be fair, it was morning and I was a wee bit hungover, but it was a lovely, rounded whisky for its age.”

Another came closer to home.

“Two years ago, I visited one of my old distilleries. The gentleman running the visitor centre asked me to taste a whisky he hoped to bottle for the Speyside Whisky Festival. It was 12 years old and had spent 11 of those years in a European oak cask that had never held sherry. It was amazing, a real surprise.”

Whisky Trend

“I’m not sure there’s a single defining trend right now,” Ian said thoughtfully. “People are drinking less whisky, but buying slightly more expensive bottles, so quality is winning.”

“Small distilleries opening is clearly a trend. I’ve lost count of how many have appeared in the last ten years. I’m currently working at Lerwick Distillery, which will commence production in a few months’ time.”

Whisky Wish

“My personal wish is to see Lerwick Distillery in production,” he said. “I can’t wait to sit down with the team and taste the first whiskies when they reach three years of age.”

But he returned, inevitably, to the bigger picture.

“I would dearly love to see the UK government reduce whisky duty. That would help every distillery in the country, and protect the many thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on this industry.”

Sláinte!
- Thomas