As far as job titles go, ‘master of wood’ is pretty hard to beat. “It looked great on business cards,” smiles Scotch whisky industry veteran Stuart MacPherson. “Some of my colleagues may have said it was more along the lines of ‘lump of wood’, though,” he adds with a self-deprecating laugh.
MacPherson spent 43 years at Macallan owner Edrington, becoming master of wood in 2012, a title that put him on par with the industry’s master blenders and master distillers. During his tenure, The Macallan became synonymous with whiskies aged in sherry casks, trumpeting its use of both American and European oak on its labels and in its marketing. One of MacPherson’s lasting achievements was building an audit trail that allowed The Macallan to trace the provenance of its casks from the forests in which the trees grew through to their locations in Scotland’s warehouses, via sawmills and cooperages.
He spread his wings in 2021 to become
