A PROUD Scot is showing Canada what whisky is all aboot – after starting his own distillery.
Graeme Macaloney, from Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire, emigrated in 1989 and harboured hopes of working in his dream industry.
His first ever job was at Black & White/ Buchanan’s Blend factory in Stepps as a summer student before his academic success resulted in a PhD in fermentation from Strathclyde University.
Despite his passion for all things whisky, he was considered overqualified and instead specialised in bio-pharmaceutical fermentation and moved to Edmonton, Alberta.
He later moved to Victoria BC with his family and crowdfunded to raise the cash needed to start Macaloney’s Distillery in 2013 – with 700 people supporting the cause.
Graeme, 64, said: “I said, ‘do you want to invest in a wee Scots lad?’
“You know, help me build a distillery and make some great single malt whisky.
“And here we are 700 whisky enthusiasts later, all Canadians, all willing to take a chance on a Scots boy living in Canada.
“We’ve built really a world-class facility and gotten some literally world-class, world-leading awards.”
Graeme is one of the most innovative minds in whisky and has earned rave reviews for his creations.
He’s got contacts in America, Canada and even Scotland who ship over peat so that his bottles have unique characteristics.
One of his most successful creations is a whisky which was made by burning sugar kelp seaweed with the peat.
While they recently won the award for the Best Single Malt in Canada with their An Loy offering as well as the Kildara bottling being declared World’s Best Pot Still Whisky at the prestigious World Whiskies Awards.
Graeme, who gets visitors from all over the world enjoying his distillery tours, adds: “The punters, the connoisseurs, they’re yearning for whiskies that are great whiskies, right, they’re not funky, they’re not weird, they’re great classic whiskeys, but they’ve got a story behind them.
“So the whole craft provenance I think is just taking off big time.
“I think it makes sense for some of the big boys to maybe partner with us so that they can tap into that, that craft tidal wave, if you will, or tsunami that’s coming along.
“I’ve got it in the UK and across Canada. I’ve got it in select markets in Europe. The Germans snapped up most of the European supplies that I sent to the EU.
“I’m still waiting to get into China and America. And we’re looking for a strategic partner, maybe a big spirits company to help us get into some of these bigger markets.
“I’d love to find a Scottish partner that could take us international because they’ve got the distribution and we’ve got the product.”
