Strive to lead a brave life: it sounds like the stuff of TED Talks and motivational podcasts!
But for one week in late June, as we travelled around Scotland for this issue, we met a number of people who do just that. People who are forever searching and learning; people who are driven, determined and single minded; people who constantly challenge themselves to do better, think differently, care more.
People like Iain McAlister who, 15 years ago, left a career as an engineer to run an ailing distillery despite having no experience whatsoever. And Stewart Walker, who grew up on the same street as the distillery he now looks after and who is acutely aware of the vital relationship between the village he grew up in and the eponymous distillery he has done every job in over the last 35 years.
People like Neil McGeoch who, eight years ago, decided to grow barley despite never having done it before, and when he felt he could do that, decided to open a distillery to put that barley to good use. And people like John Campbell, who left his birthplace on Islay – and a three-decades-long career at Laphroaig – to join Neil’s distillery in the very early days of its journey.
“It’s a wonderful thing to care about something,” John says by way of an explanation when we asked why he decided to change almost every aspect of his life to make whisky at Lochlea. And maybe that’s the nub of it. Maybe these people aren’t brave, maybe they just care: about history and tradition, about their communities, about whisky and what comes next. But maybe, in the times we’re living in, there is courage in caring.
The print version of Issue Two sold out a while ago, but we didn’t want anyone to miss out, so we thought we’d make it available to download for free.
Slàinte.
Strive to lead a brave life: it sounds like the stuff of TED Talks and motivational podcasts!
But for one week in late June, as we travelled around Scotland for this issue, we met a number of people who do just that. People who are forever searching and learning; people who are driven, determined and single minded; people who constantly challenge themselves to do better, think differently, care more.
People like Iain McAlister who, 15 years ago, left a career as an engineer to run an ailing distillery despite having no experience whatsoever. And Stewart Walker, who grew up on the same street as the distillery he now looks after and who is acutely aware of the vital relationship between the village he grew up in and the eponymous distillery he has done every job in over the last 35 years.
People like Neil McGeoch who, eight years ago, decided to grow barley despite never having done it before, and when he felt he could do that, decided to open a distillery to put that barley to good use. And people like John Campbell, who left his birthplace on Islay – and a three-decades-long career at Laphroaig – to join Neil’s distillery in the very early days of its journey.
“It’s a wonderful thing to care about something,” John says by way of an explanation when we asked why he decided to change almost every aspect of his life to make whisky at Lochlea. And maybe that’s the nub of it. Maybe these people aren’t brave, maybe they just care: about history and tradition, about their communities, about whisky and what comes next. But maybe, in the times we’re living in, there is courage in caring.
The print version of Issue Two sold out a while ago, but we didn’t want anyone to miss out, so we thought we’d make it available to download for free.
Slàinte.
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