Female Disruptors: Master Blender and Malt Master Stephanie Macleod On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
I’ve been given lots of good advice along the way — but the best piece of advice I’ve been given is always around never giving up, don’t quit, keep going, you matter. We all get disheartened sometimes and we need to hear encouragement to help us remind us of our potential.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry,I had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie Macleod.
Being highly qualified for this prestigious role, Stephanie Macleod is accomplished in the sensory analyses of whisky, with specific training in the fine art of blending.
She began her career in whisky as a Sensory Analyst at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, working on a project which attempted to unlock the maturation secrets of Scotch whisky. Stephanie has also studied rum, olive oil, wine and cheese, publishing a number of scientific papers.
In 1998, Stephanie joined John Dewar & Sons in the Spirit Quality Laboratories at the Company’s head office in Glasgow. Becoming Blender Designate in 2003, she began her official three-year training with the then Master Blender, Tom Aitken, before stepping in to the role herself in 2006 to become the first female Master Blender for Dewar’s.
With the expansion of the Scotch whisky portfolio in 2014, John Dewar’s & Sons launched multiple age expressions from all five of their malt distilleries and Malt Master was added to the Master Blender title. Stephanie overseas the quality of the maturing casks from each of the single malts of Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Craigellachie, The Deveron and Royal Brackla, from the barley to the bottle.
Painstakingly nosing each cask to monitor maturation and flavor development within John Dewar’s & Sons extensive cask inventory, the traditional use of her expert sensory skills ensures that every whisky bottled is complex, balanced, and brimming with distillery character.
Stephanie’s knowledge and expertise in whisky making was acknowledged by Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky Scotland in 2018 by awarding her Master Blender of the Year. In 2019, Stephanie made history by becoming the first woman to be awarded Master Blender of the Year in the International Whisky Competition and then retaining this prestigious title in 2020. Most recently in 2021, their Single Malts range was awarded an astounding 11 double gold medals in the San Francisco Spirits Competition, further testament to her expertise and the long-standing commitment of John Dewar & Sons to the craft of whisky making.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
In the Scotch whisky business, every day is a learning experience. Any preconceived ideas that you may have, need to be left at the door to allow the flexibility to learn from your mistakes.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
My first work mentor was Dr. John Piggott. He encouraged me to join his whisky research group, taught me about flavor and sensory analysis, and kindled the fire that became my passion for Scotch whisky. Along the way, I have had many other people who have been generous with their time and their advice and who have given me food for thought.
It’s important to have people tell us the things that are hard to hear, but necessary for our growth.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
As a scientist, training the techniques of experimenting, testing, thinking, and then repeating is part of how my team and I approach creating new expressions. The Scotch whisky industry is very much perceived as traditional, but as an industry, we constantly embrace new techniques, in order to more efficiently and sustainably create Scotch whisky. I once read a quotation by Gustav Mahler ‘Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.’ This made a huge impact on me, “we don’t abandon the elements that have made us great, but equally we’re not afraid to lose the parts that could hold us back.”
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
I’ve been given lots of good advice along the way — but the best piece of advice I’ve been given is always around never giving up, don’t quit, keep going, you matter. We all get disheartened sometimes and we need to hear encouragement to help us remind us of our potential.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
I’m planning a new building dedicated to whisky making — planning, experimenting, educating, and inspiring. I can’t say any more about it yet, but it makes me smile whenever I am working on it.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Everyone has challenges but what we do to overcome them and use them to our advantage makes the difference.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
The Alchemist, with its ties to gold (much like ABERFELDY) and message that we make our own good fortune through hard work and determination, is a novel that has had an extraordinary impact on my life.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I hope that I’m visible to students and graduates as they think about what they should do with their career. I want them to see me and believe that they could be part of the whisky industry and then pursue that goal.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t.” — Michelle Obama.
We often don’t take a chance in life because we are afraid that it will lead to failure, we need to instead think not of the fear, but of the possibilities it could bring. I’ve made some ridiculous decisions in my life based on fear of making a mistake — as you get older you realize the folly of being led by fear.
How can our readers follow you online?
ABERFELDY official website: https://www.aberfeldy.com/
Follow ABERFELDY on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/aberfeldy/
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Disruptors: Master Blender and Malt Master Stephanie Macleod On The Three Things You Need To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.