Bidding farewell to an industry icon

Dedicating nearly half a century to the world of whisky, Alan Winchester entered the industry in 1975 as a Distillery Guide at the Glenfarclas Distillery and over the following decades held positions at Strathisla, Glen Keith, Aberlour and many more distilleries. In 2002, he was promoted to Distilling Manager at Chivas Brothers.

Throughout his career, Alan Winchester has represented Chivas Brothers in various industry bodies, in which his roles have included; President at the Management Committee of Malt Distillers Association of Scotland, Chairman of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling Scottish Section, and Director of Combination of Rothes Distillers.

In 2009, he took on the highly esteemed position of Master Distiller of The Glenlivet which he held for 9 years, before taking a step back from production and distilling duties to focus on representing the brand in an ambassadorial capacity. Since 2018, Alan Winchester has fervently promoted The Glenlivet and the wider Scotch industry to new people and markets around the world.

Leaving behind an impressive legacy, Alan Winchester, comments:

“Taking on the role of Master Distiller of The Glenlivet was truly an honour. Representing such a revered, quintessential Single Malt has been nothing short of a privilege. It has been a real joy to promote Scotch around the world especially to a new generation of drinkers who have enabled us to broaden the boundaries of what Scotch whisky can be. Our audience is constantly evolving their ideas and attitudes which in turn pushes the industry to diversify and innovate the craft in new and interesting ways. The future of Scotch is very bright and I look forward to watching what happens next – with a dram in hand of course!”