Distilled Wisdom

Your whisky expert meets apprentice coppersmiths in Alloa – another aspect of a booming global industry

- Euan Duguid

I’M no economist, but what always intrigues aboutglobal market forces – especially when it comes towhisky – is how they impact on a local, human level.

Case in point is Diageo Abercrombie in Alloa – Scotland’s oldest copper works with roots stretching back to the 1790s.

Here is where the vital hardware that creates the water of life – the whisky still – is forged, shaped and born in a veritable maternity ward of graft and craft.

Simply put, you can’t automate the building of a whisky still. The shape is created by hand and hammers.

Meanwhile, there’s no let-up in the need to continue to make whisky.

Indeed, Abercrombie, which crafts bespoke stills for Diageo’s sites across Europe, is experiencing one of the largest peaks in demand for its specialist engineering services in its history.

This particular confluence of traditional supply vs. modern demand has recently led to a pivotal moment in this plant’s – and indeed the wider industry’s – history.

Rebecca Weir (18) from Alloa has been recruited by Diageo Abercrombie as a first year modern apprentice. She is believed to be the first female recruit into the coppersmith trade in Scotland.