The Dram Queen
The Dram Caddy
Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about how you became The Dram Caddy
I’m a born and bred Invernessian who ‘stumbled’ into banking straight from school—and ended up staying in banking and finance for 38 years! In early 2024, I felt the time was right for a change. That change came in the form of combining caddying at Castle Stuart with working in the Highland Whisky Shop. At the shop, I began doing more whisky tasting sessions, as well as advising on bottle sales. After a few months, the concept of a whisky tasting where all the drams have a link to golf started to develop—which led me to The Dram Caddy!
What does it mean to you to be ‘The Dram Caddy – and how did your passion for whisky become a business?
It’s incredibly satisfying to give visitors to the Highlands a unique experience with whisky and golfing stories—especially when it’s at the end of a good round of golf and in some amazing venues.
I’m completely independent when it comes to choosing whiskies, and I’m not tied to any particular golf course, so I can give honest opinions on the pros and cons. I think my clients find that refreshing.
How do you see whisky as a reflection of the Highlands — not just in flavour, but in culture, history, and landscape?
One of my favourite quotes about Highland whisky is from a book by Dave Broom, who describes our region’s whiskies as a “loose bag of possibilities.” With his permission, I now try to crowbar that into every tasting I do! Alongside the history of so many distillery locations in the Highlands, there really is something for everyone—from light and fruity Glenmorangie 12, to peated Raasay or Cù Bòcan from Tomatin, to highly sherried Dalmores. I’m a big fan of independent bottlings, such as Inverness Whisky Shop’s cask-strength Glen Ord, and pretty much any indie bottling of Teaninich or Royal Brackla.
What excites you most about the future of whisky in the Highlands — and what role do you see yourself playing in it?
I speak to a lot of whisky enthusiasts from all over the world at events, and they genuinely see the Highlands as a fantastic place to visit—with a great mix of old and new distilleries. For visiting golfers, the courses are world-renowned. If I can carve out a small niche where post-round drams all have a golfing connection—and may well be from distilleries they’ve never tried before—then there’s honestly not a day that it feels like work!
When guiding others through a dram, what surprises you most about their reactions — and what do you aim for them to take away?
As for surprises during tastings—the list is endless! Bourbon drinkers often discover new flavours in sherry-matured or peated whiskies that are totally unfamiliar to them. There are so many different styles and distilleries now, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever run a tasting where I haven’t managed to ‘break new ground’ with at least one of the whiskies. In terms of takeaways, I want people to leave with an appreciation for the great value in blended malts, and to stay open to whiskies from newer distilleries—like GlenWyvis, Ardnamurchan, Dornoch, Raasay, 8 Doors, Kingsbarns, Badachro… amongst many others! Alongside the drams, I like to get a bit of debate going within groups about glass shape, and the pros and cons of ice vs. water vs. neat.
Can you describe your favourite whisky and what makes it stand out for you — is it the flavour, the story, or something else entirely?
Ooh, this is the toughest question! Right now, I’d say my ‘desert island’ bottle would be a 19-year-old Moine Oloroso distillery exclusive from Bunnahabhain. I picked it up on the final distillery tour (led by the force of nature that is David Brodie) of a pretty full-on trip in 2023, which involved 7 distillery visits in 4 days—all in the name of market research, of course! It’s an amazing whisky that always reconnects me with that trip—which, in retrospect, was when I first started to picture myself ‘working’ in whisky, even though I had no idea what it would look like at the time.