Malt master Kelsey McKechnie
Cover Malt master Kelsey McKechnie

McKechnie, who was appointed The Balvenie’s malt master last October, talks about her apprenticeship, mentor and carrying on the distillery’s heritage

Last October, The Balvenie malt master David C. Stewart MBE celebrated his six decades in the whisky industry with an anniversary dinner at St. Pancras Hotel Renaissance London. At the end of the meal, the brand’s global brand ambassador Charles MetCalfe announced that apprentice malt master Kelsey McKechnie would be taking over as the distillery’s new malt master, much to the applause of the guests who have become familiar with the expressions she and Stewart have released over the years.

It was a four-year journey for 30-year-old McKechnie, a science graduate who started her journey as a technical graduate at Girvan Distillery (its sister company) in 2014. She volunteered to be a part of the nosing panel to “measure the flavours I was analysing” and once she started picking up flavours, she was hooked. Her natural talent was spotted by Stewart, who appointed her as apprentice malt master in 2018. 

With her new role, we caught up with McKechnie in London to chat about passing her probation to become The Balvenie’s malt master, what she thinks about trends in the whisky industry, and the lessons she learned from her mentor, Stewart—the longest-serving malt master in the Scotch whisky industry.

Read more: How The Balvenie’s David C. Stewart MBE celebrated 60 years in the whisky industry

How does one become a malt master? Do you need to have a talent for nosing and tasting or can it be taught?

Kelsey McKechnie (KM): 99 per cent of the time, the skills to become a malt master can be taught. I think anyone has the ability to learn over time what aromas are we looking for, how to describe them and use their nose (to pick up the flavours). It’s like learning another language; you just have to keep doing it to make sure you continue to grow, evolve, and learn about the flavours.

Being a malt master takes years of training. What was your apprenticeship like with David C. Stewart?

KM: Four years seem quite long on paper, but it feels like you need more time we learn more and more every year. We often talk about how whisky-making is such a slow process, but oddly enough, when you’re doing it, the years seem to pass by very quickly. Before we know it, we are already bottling the stocks from last year. But I feel fortunate that the whisky industry is interesting and to put it this way: it hasn’t felt like a slog.

What challenges you more as a malt master: creating new expressions or maintaining the consistency of your core products?

KM: Both. The role of a malt master has always been bound by quality, but being a family-owned company, we have enough flexibility to create new expressions. Producing our core range of products has given me the chance to grow my sensory palate incredibly and allowed me to understand what's required of the oak and the spirit to make a certain flavour profile.

Of course, we bring a lot of innovations to whisky-making. We don’t bring innovation casks in with the intent of releasing every single one. We have a lot of freedom to learn from these casks, and if they are good, we will launch them. If not, you won’t ever see them.

What do you think of trends in the whisky industry?

KM: In the whisky industry, nothing happens overnight. If you’re constantly watching trends, by the time you jump on it, you have missed it. It's such a long time to make expressions that we almost march to the beat of her own drum. We are lucky that the people who drink The Balvenie know a lot about us and are intrigued by how we do things.

We like to think of ourselves as an open book. When people are into whisky and they want to learn a little bit more, typically that's when people come to The Balvenie. We're fortunate that the people who drink it typically drink it for life; they enjoy it and want to learn as much as we do.

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The Balvenie Sixty
Above The Balvenie Sixty, crafted by Kelsey McKechnie to honour David C. Stewart's six decades in the industry

When it comes to innovation, how much wiggle room do you have to push the whisky-making boundaries?

KM: We want to push it. But at the same time, we have tight regulations to follow. We want to continue working with the Scotch Whisky Association and make changes when we find out new things like new cask types that are actually traditional, and we haven’t worked with before. We want to be the first one to do it.

What can you say about your mentor?

KM: David is personable and kind. He has created a fantastic culture within our blending team to understand the work better, and that’s what I love the most. When I had very little knowledge of how to blend spirits, he and Glenfiddich malt master Brian Kinsman valued my opinion. They were inclusive and loved to ask what I thought of (of the spirits). There’s a free environment that David created and that is the style he has passed down to us.

Do you feel pressured to live up to David’s storied career?

KM: I think it speaks to David’s nature and the culture that he and Brian had built up over time, but I don't feel apprehensive about it. Actually, I feel encouraged by it. The fact that they have challenged the industry so much and they've done so many amazing things, I feel a bit fueled by it that I almost want to trump them a little bit and do something even bigger. We don't know what the future hold. I look forward to it.

What do you want your legacy to be like in the next few decades?

KM: It’s amazing what David has achieved over the last 60 years. I don’t know what my legacy would be like, but I would love to push the whisky industry and enhance people’s understanding of whisky the same way David has.

I hope for the next releases, people will love them the same way they have loved all our products. I have been fortunate to have worked on so many different The Balvenie products and up to this point, the way that I blend whisky is very similar to the way that David has done. People shouldn't pick up the difference, but it's exciting that we get to bring in exciting casks and I look forward to releasing these for everyone in the next few years.

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