12/05/2023
Chapter 16
A chat with... Daniel Hendry (Murray McDavid) - #12
Murray McDavid, has always been a leading Scotch whisky bottler, since it was established in 1994.
Today their home is Coleburn Distillery in Speyside, from where they bottle a great variety and ranges of bottlings. The distillery is not operational, but the premises were leased in 2014 to Murray McDavid owners, where they have the company’s headquarters and mature their stocks.
The company was originally founded by a very well known trio in the industry: Mark Reynier (currently founder and CEO of Waterford Distillery), Simon Coughlin (currently CEO of Rémy Cointreau) and Gordon Wright (currently head of independent whisky broker Alchemist and former owner and Sales Director of Springbank and Bruichladdich Distilleries).
The same trio was behind the grand reopening of Islay’s Bruichladdich Distillery in 2000, which, after a hefty £58m offer, was then purchased by Rémy Cointreau in 2012, but that’s perhaps a story for another chapter…
Together with Bruichladdich distilley, Murray McDavid was also purchased by Rémy Cointreau, but it was later sold to its current owners, leading Scotch whisky broker, Aceo Ltd. Regardless of its ownership changing over the years, the company has always kept a great consistency and a high quality, and it is still the case today. From the very beginning they quickly gained a reputation for maturing whisky in interesting casks, especially in fine wine casks, given the founders’ backgrounds as London wine merchants.
After meeting ‘Dan’ Hendry (Brand Ambassador and part of the ‘Whisky Creation Team’) to a couple of recent whisky festivals, we decided to interview him and to know a bit more about this brand.
Let’s see what he told us…
Hi Daniel, thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Please introduce yourself, and tell us a little bit about your whisky journey so far.
My name is Daniel Hendry, and I am currently part of the whisky creations team with Murray McDavid.
I have had many roles within the industry, since the age of 18, with summer jobs between my time at university. My first job in the industry was at Macallan distillery and this was where my passion for the industry was really honed into a developing career.
I’ve worked in lots of different settings, from working in the bottling hall at Glenfiddich to now nosing in the whisky creations lab at Coleburn Distillery Whisky Warehouses.
When and how did you join this growing industry?
Growing up in Speyside I was indoctrinated into the industry from a young age. I was practically born with a stave in hand with almost my whole family working in the industry. I am the son of a former Stillman for Diageo and now Cooper for Macallan and a lab worker for William Grants & Sons (Glenfiddich), the brother of a distillery manager and a marketer, the nephew of a Stillman… the list goes on!
One of my first memories of whisky is of a primary school trip to the Speyside Cooperage. My high-school football coach was the well-known former head whisky maker Bob Dalgarno of Macallan. I was lucky enough to work for Macallan as a Brand Heritage Guide at 18, having the opportunity to taste and learn about many exclusive whiskies that most people would not be able to try in their life.
I then studied Applied Social Science at university (I know, random) and funded my days (partly) by buying and selling exclusive bottles of whisky and other spirits. I graduated in 2020 and worked at Macallan and Cardhu as a Brand Heritage Guide again for two years before joining the delightful Murray McDavid Team.
During my studies I really catered my degree towards working in the world of whisky. I wrote my dissertation on the wider socio-economic importance of whisky in Scottish culture and how prevalent it is in the world we live in today.
Now tell us a bit more about Murray McDavid, what is it that makes it stand out in the whisky industry?
I was drawn to Murray McDavid because of the brand’s unique approach to Scotch whisky, it was something I hadn’t seen before, and I felt that I could make an impact on the industry with the company.
Murray McDavid was founded in 1994 by Mark Reynier, Simon Coughlin and Springbank Distillery’s Gordon Wright. Murray McDavid as a brand quickly gained a reputation for maturing whisky in interesting casks, especially in fine wine casks. In 2000, the Murray McDavid team set about reopening the closed Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay, engaging the services of Jim McEwan, Islay’s most celebrated Master Distiller. In 2012, spirits giant Remy Cointreau purchased Bruichladdich Distillery and Murray McDavid. Later, Murray McDavid was sold to its current owners, leading Scotch whisky broker, Aceo Ltd.
The big thing that Makes Murray McDavid stand out from the crowd is the eclectic cask stock utilising around 94 different single malts and maturing them in 120+ cask origins leading the way in Scotch whisky maturation to explore new and interesting flavour profiles.
Can you tell us what Murray McDavid's target audience is?
Our target audience is everyone from the whisky novice to the expert. In our collection we have a range of whiskies to cater to every palate.
Those curious whisky fans who are open to exploring new, interesting and enjoyable flavours that we create by matching specific spirit profiles with complimentary/contrasting cask types. We also create styles that will cater for desires of the traditional whisky drinkers, which may have been matured in classic casks such as bourbon or Oloroso sherry.
And, for those who are taking their first steps into discovering the world of Scotch whisky, we have just introduced our Cask Craft collection, which showcases the benefits of additional cask maturation at a very accessible level.
Can you tell us how you select your casks, and anticipate anything about what we can expect to see next?
Our Whisky Creation Team are constantly working on laying down cask stocks for future releases, whether it’s Mission Gold, a single cask exclusive for a particular market or for our Cask Craft range.
Our Head of Whisky Creations, Dean Jode (pictured below with Dan), forecasts as to when these will be ready for release, and we’ll taste batches of casks to track the progression – highlighting contenders to bottle from single casks and those that will be used for small batch releases.
Most recently we made a decision on bottling a new Mission Gold release for later this year (a super juicy Glenburgie in an undisclosed finishing cask…).
What advice would you give to a beginner that is approaching this world and perhaps starting his/her own collection?
The world of independent bottlers is like an untapped market that is overlooked by the whisky novice.
From my experience if I had known about and was involved with independent bottlers like Murray McDavid I could’ve tried some really fantastic whiskies that wouldn’t have hurt my bank account quite as much!
Also have two collections; one driven by passion for tasting new and exciting whiskies, the other for locking away to appreciate in value and make sure you have a clear line between the two.
(I once opened a Macallan Folio 1 because I wanted to taste it and it’s now a 10 grand bottle!)
Lastly, what is, generally speaking, your favourite whisky style (cask type, ageing, peated/unpeated etc.)? What’s your dram of choice at the moment and/or your go to drams on a Friday evening?
My absolute favourite casks are Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, they wrap single malts up in this thick milky chocolate note that you just don’t get with other casks.
That being said I have been dabbling in Tokaji casks (Hungarian white dessert wine) recently and they are quickly rocketing to the top of my “that’s interesting” list.
My go to dram on a Friday evening up until recently would have had to be an Aberlour 10 but since it’s been discontinued, I’m currently window shopping for the next cupboard filler!
Official website: https://murray-mcdavid.com/
Drams
and more...
Today's drams
- Ledaig 21yo (Mission Gold) – 57.4%
- Benrinnes 14yo (Benchmark) – 50%
- Juniper Hil 6yo (Mistery Malt) – 46%
- North British 14yo (Select Grain) – 46%
- The Speysiders 11yo (The Vatting) – 46%
- Cult of Islay 8yo (Crafted Blend) – 46%