Growing up, Dr Rachel Barrie was just like other girls. She watched Audrey Hepburn step out of a cab in front of Tiffany & Co. in New York in the film Breakfast At Tiffany’s, danced along to Ann Margret in Viva Las Vegas, and listened to Carly Simon belt out her smash hit ‘You’re So Vain’ repeatedly.
She also had two other overarching influences in her young life. “My father enjoys drinking and collecting whisky, and my grandmother cooked with the liquid. They were my first introduction to the wonders of the whisky world.”
Her relationship with the golden nectar deepened after a day of swimming and hill climbing. Her father brought out a few bottles of single malts. Sitting in the fields of barley with the salty winds whipping her hair, she fell in love with whisky and its connection with nature. She studied chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and collected whisky miniatures to understand the different distilleries. Naturally, after graduation, she joined the industry as a research scientist in 1992.
Over three decades later, she’s still very much in love with whisky and has collected a distillery’s worth of stories she’s happy to share with anyone willing to listen. Being the master blender for Benriach, Glendronach, and Glenglassaugh helps. “I have analysed over 5,000 whiskies annually for 32 years. My cup is full of sensory stories from the whiskies I’ve nosed and tasted, and the people I have been fortunate to meet travelling the world,” she says.
She’s also scooped up a plethora of awards. Her latest was for Glenglassaugh’s Sandend whisky, which won Whisky Advocate’s 2023 Whisky of the Year. Many would consider it an upset. Usually, the list, determined by a panel of whisky experts blind-tasting samples, is dominated by the usual names, then a smattering of lesser-known distilleries. Sandend, however, won unanimously.
Dr Barrie reckons it’s because Glenglassaugh has spent more time being closed than open in its 150-year history. Few people know about the distillery. Founded in 1875, it closed in 1907 for 53 years, opened for brief periods of time, then shuttered its doors again in 1986.
Thirty years later, Brown-Forman acquired the distillery in 2016 and restarted production. In 2023, Dr Barrie finally deemed the whisky good enough to release several new expressions, including a 12 Year Old, a Portsoy, and the Sandend. ‘Good enough’, it seems, is an understatement.
She is also proud to be leading the way for women in the whisky industry. Traditionally a male-dominated field, the recent years have seen the scales tip equitably in the other direction. Currently, Dr Barrie is mentoring Kirsten Ainslie, who joined the team as an assistant blender.
“She’s a rising star in the whisky world. Nurturing and mentoring Ainslie is an important part of what I do every day, helping her to learn the theory, discover her strengths, and shape her future influence.” Dr Barrie thinks about the future a lot.
She’s seen the rise and fall of Scotch, the mothballed distilleries that are now restarting operations, and the speculators gobbling up whisky casks to flip in the future. Yet, she is quietly confident about the longevity of the industry. “Much of the world, especially Asia, is just discovering the richness and complexity of single malt Scotch whisky, which is continuing to grow year on year.”
According to the Scotch Whisky Association, revenue increased 37 percent to £6.2 billion (S$10.5 billion) in 2022, thanks to the post-pandemic boom. It’s only expected to grow further. That’s why thoughts of retirement haven’t crossed Dr Barrie’s mind. There’s still so much more she wants to achieve before she takes one last sip from her quaich.
