THE company developing a £20 million “cathedral of whisky” in Inverclyde has appointed industry stalwart Paul Currie, co-founder of the Isle of Arran Distillery as its new chairman.
Mr Currie joins an increasingly experienced team at Ardgowan Distillery Company, which is being assembled as it prepares to launch its new distillery by the end of the year.
With 30 years’ industry experience Mr Currie, who also co-founded The Lakes Distillery in Cumbria, was heralded by Ardgowan with bringing an “extensive” understanding of the sector to the emerging distillery.
READ MORE: Darkness falls on hospitality after high-profile closures
He said: “There has been great change in the malt whisky industry over the last 30 years, as many new independent distilleries have opened. I have been fortunate to have been involved as co-founder of two of these, Isle of Arran and The Lakes, both of which continue to grow and prosper.
“A new wave of distilleries are now opening both in Scotland and in the rest of the world and Ardgowan Distillery is set to be at the forefront of these, with a terrific location, innovative ideas, and an outstanding team.
“From the cutting-edge technologies helping the distillery reach its sustainability goals to the commitment to quality made through Ardgowan’s investment in its unique Infinity casks, everything to date has been planned to the highest standard.
“With construction now underway on site, it is a pivotal time to be joining the team. I am particularly looking forward to supporting the development of the Clan Ardgowan programme which allows whisky lovers from all over the world to become part of Ardgowan Distillery’s journey. I am also enthusiastic about bringing my knowledge and experience to the team to help Ardgowan to become a leading single malt brand.”
READ MORE: Dunoon firm makes case for change to Scottish ferry network
The appointment comes shortly after Ardgowan, which is headed by chief executive Martin McAdam, hired David Keir, a founding director of The GlenAllachie Distillers Company, who arrived with 25 years’ industry experience, as sales and marketing director. The senior team also includes ex-Macallan master of wood Stuart Macpherson and master whisky maker Max McFarlane, previously lead whisky maker at Edrington.
Mr McAdam said: “As a start-up distillery it is so important for us to be able to attract great people. With Paul’s experiences from both Isle of Arran and The Lakes Distillery, he is someone who has built distillery businesses from the ground-up it is a real pleasure to bring him on board as our chairman.
“We share a lot in common with Lakes Distillery and what Paul and his team have done at Lakes is similar to the visitor experience that we wish to bring to Ardgowan Distillery.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here