Technology can help accelerate complex processes, but when it comes to creating a masterpiece, there is no substitute for the hand of the maker, as the artist Rosie Emerson and the whisky malt master Kelsey McKechnie attest
FOR KELSEY MCKECHNIE, MALT master at The Balvenie Single Malt Whisky in Scotland, there’s a beauty to be found in the time-honoured traditions still practised within the world of distilling. ‘It’s a waiting game,’ she says of the process involved in turning barley into whisky. Rosie Emerson, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Sussex, whose mediums include film photography, painting and printmaking, agrees there’s a magic in the slow, meticulous act of creating. ‘The creative state is like a quest,’ she says. Perfection cannot be forged, nor rushed.
Despite McKechnie and Emerson’s immersion in different artistic fields, there’s plenty of overlap in the nature of their work. Whisky involves a multi-stage process, in which oak casks are filled with the spirit, and left while the flavour develops. It’s similar to Emerson’s film photography, where images are placed in a dark room to expose gradually. The way in which Emerson often later paints atop each photograph only adds to the similarities: her artworks are complex, layered with many different materials, much like the multi-faceted, years’ long process that results in the final bottling of The Balvenie whisky. ‘With printmaking, a lot of the pleasure is in the final reveal – when I lift it off the printing press,’ she says. These sentiments are aligned with opening a fresh bottle, and that first whiff of whisky’s heady, honeyed aroma.
Each is an analogue experience. At The Balvenie, each cask is hand-selected by McKechnie, the cask itself a key component to the overall tasting notes. Such attention to detail is part of the brand’s ethos. ‘Handcraft is a luxury,’ says McKechnie. ‘There is a continuous onus on the need for human touch, which helps us to feel connected and able to learn from each other’s stories.’ And in an increasingly fastpaced world, it’s become even more important for makers such as McKechnie and Emerson to preserve the handmade; to offer an alternative to automatic manufacturing.
For 131 years, since the distillery’s inception, people have been at the heart of The Balvenie – and that sense of connection across generations is prioritised today. ‘Masters have dedicated their lives to our whisky. From their touch, we tell stories that combine process, taste and craft in ways that will truly resonate,’ says McKechnie. Through them, The Balvenie ‘maintains its distinctive character and
