Selling Whisky with HazeyDrams

Whisky Stories most downloaded episode

At the time of writing this, Hazel’s episode is the most listened to of our full catalogue. Which I’m really chuffed about because it was only the third episode that we recorded.

When Hazel came in to record, she was working as a Business Development Executive for William Grant & Sons. Since then, she’s moved on to work with Woven, the Edinburgh-based blenders and ‘friends of the pod.’

Hazel is also (to our knowledge) the first and only Gaelic speaker we’ve had on the podcast.

Growing up on the Isle of Harris, she shared how the Harris Distillery has greatly impacted the local community.

While studying Hospitality Management, Hazel wrote her dissertation on the impact of distilleries on local island communities.

Her curiosity about why people travel to remote islands for distilleries sparked her interest in whisky. Which led to a career in selling life insurance…

Starting out in whisky

It was only for a while until she got the opportunity to take a summer job as a tour guide at the Deanston Distillery.

From there, she started learning more about whisky-making and the stories and connections behind it.

Hazel combined her hospitality degree, sales skills, and passion for whisky to secure a sales role with Distell Group, representing Deanston, Bunnahabhain, and Tobermory.

Having worked and started her journey with the Deanston Distillery, Hazel gave us a great explanation of what the distillery is like.

A “proper working Scottish distillery” where “what you see is what you get” which gives visitors a real insight into what an authentic distillery is like on a day to day basis.

Deanston has been a firm favourite of mine and despite enjoying plenty of drams, I knew little about the distillery. In whisky terms, it’s a fairly ‘new’ distillery having been transformed from a cotton mill to a working distillery in 1966.

Luckily our Head of Research – Angus the Whisky Fan was on hand to confirm that Deanston is actually the most southern Highland Distillery despite geographically being nowhere near the ‘Highlands’.

William Grant & Sons

When Hazel moved from Distell to William Grant & Sons, it highlighted the scale of one of the industry’s largest businesses.

Despite its global reach and world-famous brands like Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Monkey Shoulder, and Grant’s, William Grant & Sons remains family owned and run.

Form all the people that we have met who work with or for William Grant & Sons, the general feeling we get is that working for the family makes people feel like an extended member of the family.

Maintaining that authenticity of a ‘small’ family owned business has meant that despite having world renowned brands which are sold all over the world, there is still a very close connection with the people who make and sell the whisky and the people who buy and drink it.

We talked about the challenges of selling big-name brands like Glenfiddich in a market that often favours boutique or ‘craft’ whiskies.

Hazel explained how she tackles this by focusing on the weight that a globally recognised brand like Glenfiddich carries. It’s a whisky that most people recognise and trust, whether they’re in Scotland or halfway around the world..

Glenfiddich may be ‘mainstream,’ but 9 out of 10 whisky drinkers will recognise a bottle in any bar worldwide, unlike unfamiliar brands.

As the ‘Sherry Tart’ of the podcast, I can hold my hands up and say that the Glenfiddich 15 Solera is one of my all time favourite whiskies and the dram which led me onto my wonderful exploration into whisky that has been matured or finished in sherry.

Challenging perceptions

Whisky is often full of perceptions. We hear about how whisky is supposed to be drunk.

We hear about the perceptions people hold towards blends.

Unfortunately there are still so many challenges and perceptions of women working in whisky.

As a female working in a heavily male orientated environment,  there are so many challenges and assumptions that whisky is a ‘man’s drink’ band that a female wouldn’t know as much about Scotch Whisky as a man would.

Thankfully there is a lot of great work going on to combat these challenges and Hazel explains the support that she had from her employer if she was ever in a situation where she was not comfortable.

Hazel’s What3Drams:

Famous Grouse

Within the first 3 episodes, The Famous Grouse was already a heavily featured drama in our What3Drams segment.

A staple bottle in so many people’s drinks cabinets and still a dram enjoyed by millions of people.

Like so many of us, this was a dram Hazel became familiar with by just seeing it in the house with family during parties and special occasions.

Deanston 19YO Muscat Finish

The first cask strength whisky that Hazel could drink and enjoy with needing water.

Glenfiddich 15

Hazel describes this as her ‘every day dram’ and it was the first time she had an aged malt in a cocktail.

This was so much fun to record with Hazel and listening back, I can see why it’s up there as our most listened to episode so far.

You can listen back to episode here – https://linktr.ee/WhiskyStories

And follow Hazel on social media on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/hazeydrams/