Douglas Murray
Douglas Murray: The whisky process and the flavour creating steps
Born in Scotland, Quaich Keeper Douglas has been involved in the spirits industry since 1972. A specialist in the production of spirits from raw material to finished product, he is a Master Distiller and Master Blender and is now a technical consultant. He studied Chemistry at the Open University and obtained a BA (hons) Fellow and is a Past President of the Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers and Lead Member of the Board of Examiners.
Before retiring to a consultancy role, Douglas led a select team of distilled spirits specialists based at the Diageo Global Technical Centre, where his chemical background and process knowledge was used to deliver technical developments for distilled and matured spirits across the global business. This includes whisky, rum, tequila, vodka, gin, Chinese spirit baijiu, raki.
He is an expert in production design, conversion efficiency, process impact on quality, environmental impact and analytical methods, specializing in spirits efficiency and quality. Worked in neutral spirits production and quality alignment in North America, Europe and Turkey.
Douglas has been a representative on the Diageo Quality Panel and a judge at the International Wine and Spirit Competition. He is a past Chairman of the Scottish Section and has been involved in the last 4 World Distilled Spirits Conferences. Douglas is a past member of the Scotch Whisky Association and Spirits Europe Scientific Committees Keeper of the Quaich.
Outside of work, he is a passionate, with his family, supporter of Hibernian FC as well as being a volunteer with the British Red Cross for almost 50 years, serving on its Scottish Council. As part of his work with the Red Cross, he gained SCOTVEC qualifications in mentoring, training and assessment.
Douglas answered a few of our questions:
- Do you remember the first whisky you had in your life?
Talisker
- Do you remember the last one?
Johnnie Walker black
- Why do you think the topic is so fascinating?
We are only just beginning to understand the science
- The best setting to taste whisky?
After a really good dinner
- Your favourite bottle and why?
Clynlish - full of flavour and memories
- Whisky pairing, if you really have to pair whisky with something?
Cheese
- We usually limit whisky to a few countries, have you tasted great bottles from unusual countries?
First come first serve. there are good Aussie and Japanese malts