Industry insider: Willie Phillips

It’s not uncommon for people to come across whisky later in life. The same can’t be said for industry titan Willie Phillips, who’s had whisky play a role in his life since he was a boy growing up in East Ayrshire during the 1950s. Born in Kilmarnock, the local Johnnie Walker site ensured the former Society chairman was no stranger to Scotch, as he explains: “Johnnie Walker was a big part of when I went to visit my great grandparents. My great grandfather worked for Johnnie Walker and one of my dad’s friends was an exciseman. Just seeing the activity in Kilmarnock around that Johnnie Walker hub made me think it might be good to work in something that's very Scottish in Scotland. I thought maybe the whisky trade would be quite good, but I never thought about it again. I don’t know what it was about whisky, it was in my soul I think.”

It wasn’t until 1970 that Willie landed his first position connected to the industry. Working as a management accountant with Scottish & Newcastle, he helped look after the Mackinlay-McPherson portfolio. Though his knowledge of the industry was still minimal, he adds: “I was the secretary for the board’s capital expenditure committee, and I couldn't understand why Mackinlay-McPherson asked for more wood at almost every meeting. At that time, I had no idea what the wood was for. I kept wondering, very naively, ‘surely they don't heat the stills with wood.’ But no, it was the purchase of casks. So that was my first connection to the industry.”

Willie admits he landed the most significant move in his career by sheer coincidence: “I played in an indoor football league in Edinburgh, a businessmen's lunchtime league. One day I had a bit of an argument there with someone over a sporting fact. I can't remember its relevance, but when I got back to my desk the person I was arguing with had left a newspaper cutting there to prove that his opinion was correct. Having acknowledged my erroneous opinion, I proceeded to discard the cutting but, very fortuitously, turned it over and there was an advertisement for an accountant at Macallan.”

In the 1970s, Macallan was almost unrecognisable from what we’ve come to know today. So much so that when Willie tried to taste the spirit before his interview, he found it kept aside from all the other single malts and being offered as a cheap optic. Having landed the job, Willie became Macallan’s first ever accountant and quickly fell in love with the distillery. He adds: “Macallan was very different at that time, it principally sold spirit to the blending trade. It was well known in some quarters, mostly in Speyside, where it was the most asked for malt, but it was very different.”

After Willie had settled into his role for a few years, managing director, Peter Shiach received a terminal cancer diagnosis. The coming years saw Peter quietly prepare the unsuspecting Willie to take over his role. Willie explains how Peter handed over the reins before passing away: “He said to me ‘we have a vision to make Macallan well known throughout the world. I've given you my vision for it. You go and do it now.’ Macallan became my baby.”

During Willie’s 18-year tenure as managing director he solidified Macallan as a reputable single malt, gaining worldwide recognition at a time when the industry was struggling heavily. He explains that a belief in the quality of the spirit was at the heart of the brand's success: “I think the whisky didn't change at all, that was a goal I had. I knew that the whisky was successful in Speyside, we had to take that whisky and teach people about it around the world. I didn't want to complicate matters, it was so simple.

“I had no budget. What I had was bucketloads of enthusiasm for the company. I did a pretty good job I think, but it was a lot of teamwork; you’ve got to get the whole team behind you. Of course, it wasn’t just one man, and I would never claim it was one man.”

Sadly, Willie’s role at Macallan came to an end when the company came under new ownership: “There was so much of me there, so much of my life. But in 1996 Macallan left me, I had many tears I can tell you.”

After parting ways with Macallan, it wasn’t long before Willie received a call from Richard Gordon, who was the Society’s chief executive officer at the time. He adds: “When the news came out that I was no longer at Macallan, Richard Gordon phoned me and said, ‘how would you like to come down and see me?’ I came down and he asked if I would like to be chairman of the Society.”

Having been a member since the early days, Willie was already well acquainted with the Society – though he didn’t always see eye to eye with Pip’s vision: “Obviously, the Society was totally different to everything else that was happening in the sense that it was producing unnamed bottles. When Pip came to me at Macallan and told me what he intended to do, I said he wouldn't be able to do it.” Thankfully, Pip prevailed!

During his 10 years as chairman, Willie became passionate about the Society and delivering the best experience possible to its members. “The Society has to make sure that everything it does, not just the bottling, but everything it does is quality,” he explains. “You have to make sure that nobody comes in here and gets a bad experience. That means the people welcoming you, the people behind the bar, all of that is part of the parcel of what we do. I just enjoyed it (being the SMWS chairman). It was a nice, pleasant place and I met lots of lovely members.”

Willie left the Society in the mid-2000s and has since helped shape the Isle of Harris Distillery as a non-executive director and Ardgowan Distillery as chairman. Reflecting on his career in the industry Willie continues: “We were very proud of what we did, and when I came here, I was proud of what the Society did. I think because it was so fundamentally Scottish. I was very proud of the fact that I could have this really good occupation with a really excellent product that belonged to Scotland.”

With over three decades’ experience in crafting and marketing Scotch whisky, Willie has simple advice for those hoping to start a career in the industry: “Learn a little about it, care a lot about it.”