Diageo has announced a new manager for its world-famous malt whisky distillery, Talisker, on the Isle of Skye.

 

Willie MacDougal took over from Charlie Smith, who is retiring after a long and distinguished career in the whisky industry including spells as manager at Dufftown Distillery, Cardhu and Glenkinchie before spending three years at Talisker. A native of Aberfeldy, Willie comes from a family with a long association with the whisky industry. Much of his youth was spent in Speyside, and his first job in 1983 was at Cardhu, with Evan Cattanach. After spending time at several other distilleries to expand his experience, in 2000 he was appointed site operations manager at Oban, the celebrated Classic Malts distillery on the West coast. Willie spent six years at Oban then in 2006, after a brief spell outside the company, he moved to Blair Athol Distillery in the picturesque town of Pitlochry, while actually living at Dalwhinnie, the Highland distillery in the Classic Malts Selection.

 

Willie says he is “totally thrilled” to be moving to one of the world’s most famous distilleries. “It’s great to be moving back to the West Coast anyway, but Skye will be magic. Talisker of course is one of the most successful single malts in the world, even though   -  or maybe because  -  the distillery’s output is deliberately a good deal lower than some other top-selling malts. It’s a distillery with massive heritage and an amazing future, with fans all over the world. It will be very exciting to be part of all that. And if there’s any spare time, I look forward to improving my piping skills with the help of Skye’s famous piping teachers.”