Whisky fest can help retain talent in Moray
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The leading figures of Moray’s most popular whisky festival said the event can be a great platform to help retain local talent.
With less than a month left before the 25th edition of Spirit of Speyside kicks off, the festival’s chair George McNeil and vice-chair Sarah Burgess said the event can raise awareness of the variety of roles in the whisky industry.
“Within Speyside we've got so much industry and we've got beautiful nature. We've got some amazing restaurants and hotels, but lately everyone has really struggled to recruit people,” said Ms Burgess, who has recently become the Lakes Distillery’s new whiskymaker after many years working at Macallan.
“Many have no idea of all of the opportunities that exist on their doorstep, of the breadth of roles with in the whisky industry. Bringing it to the fore and show all of these opportunities, that's really important.
“It’s not good if young people think that there is nothing in this area, thinking that they just want to move to university and never come back again.
“There are people operating in procurement, engineering, management, finance, design and packaging technology, just to name a few. Then there is the tourism aspect, which today is almost as important as the production itself.
“I think the more we are able to show that and talk about that variety, the more we can encourage people to be part of it.”
The nature of the industry makes it challenging to reach younger audiences – but creative solutions can make for an effective introduction.
“It's almost impossible actually to get into schools and be able to talk to students,” Ms Burgess explained.
“A colleague of mine who was a whisky maker went into schools once to speak to them about whisky making. The school and the company that he worked for were saying ‘you can't go and teach them whisky making, you can't give the samples of whisky to smell!’
“So, instead, he took with him apples and peaches – different fruits, different spices, and they talked about the aromas, asking students what they could sense and explaining how that played in whisky. It was a really unique way of approaching the sensory capabilities and responsibility for a job like that.”
With 700 events running this year, around half of the tickets sold at the time of writing – and participants coming from 30 different countries, this year’s event is set to be a record year, according to Mr McNeil, and this reach can help highlight the opportunities in the industry.
He said: “In Moray, we have got one of the biggest immigration rates in terms of people who are looking to come here after they retire. However, we have the biggest loss of young people who want to set up home somewhere else. That is a big challenge.
“With Spirit of Speyside, the beauty is that we can highlight the global brands that are set within the Speyside area, and that allows individuals to recognise opportunities that they can have within industries here.
“It showcases to people that they can have a career to come back to after their studies.”
This will be the third year as chair for Mr McNeil – who is managing director of Johnstons of Elgin – and the last one before he hands over the reins of the festival to Ms Burgess.
He said: “It's been an absolute pleasure to come into this wonderful industry. It has been exceptionally welcoming for me.
“I think it's quite interesting, when you're reflecting on 25 years of the festival – from what was a weekend event created to kick start the whisky showcasing season, we now have 65 different members and partners hosting over 700 events.
“Our former chair, James Campbell, led the festival for ten years. He steered us through the challenges of Covid and lockdown, and he was the right person to do it.
“Coming out of Covid, a new input was needed. There was an element of governance that was needed to be put in place, so in the past years, we focused on the business side of things to take it to the next level. It's something I think we're in a very good place with.“
On the appointment of Sarah Burgess, he said: “I know for a fact, given her experience and the influence she's already had in the festival at board level, Sarah will take it forward and focus on that continuous growth.
“It’s great news also that, for the first time after 25 years, we will have a female chair. This is great news for the industry.”
The festival committee is mainly made up of women, which reflects a profound change in the industry, according to Ms Burgess.
“When I first started out in the industry 27 years ago, it was very different. I recall Lizzie Stewart at Dalwhinnie was a shift operator back then, and she was one of the very few women working on the production side. She opened the door for many others. Now, there are hundreds of very talented women working in the industry.
“There are actually a lot of women on the on the board our exec team is entirely female.
“Maybe we have even taken it a little far! Having a balance is always good, otherwise you don't see all sides of things.”
Spirit of Speyside will return from May 1 to May 6 this year.
For more information on the festival or to book tickets, visit www.spiritofspeyside.com.
