Kentucky and Scotland may be separated by an ocean, but when it comes to whiskey, the two places have more in common than you might think.
Sixteen University of Kentucky students got an up-close look at that relationship this summer when they traveled to Scotland for three weeks of distillery visits, hands-on learning and a real-world spirits industry project through UK’s James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits and Lewis Honors College.
The experience took students from Kentucky bourbon country into the heart of Scotch whisky country, where they explored how Scotland produces, markets and builds its identity around one of the world’s most famous spirits.
And they quickly discovered that Kentucky is never very far away.
“Everywhere you go in Scotland, Kentucky comes up,” said Ilka Balk, associate director of the Beam Institute, who traveled with the students. “Distilleries over there use our casks for aging and are always friendly and warm to our students. Feels like a little piece of home for us while we’re visiting.”
That’s one of the great connections between bourbon and Scotch.
By law, bourbon must be aged in new charred oak containers. Once those barrels have done their job in Kentucky, many begin a second life aging Scotch whisky. Used Kentucky bourbon barrels have consequently become an important part of Scotch production and one of the most visible links between the two whiskey traditions.
For the UK students, however, the trip went well beyond touring distilleries.
One group partnered with Ballindalloch Distillery, a Scottish producer and recent member of the Estate Whiskey Alliance, to develop a plan for promoting a new estate product to American consumers.
When Ballindalloch representatives learned the students working on the project would actually be in Scotland, they invited them to the distillery.
“It was a real pleasure to welcome the students to Ballindalloch,” said Aidan Dunn, international sales representative for the distillery. “Their enthusiasm, curiosity and willingness to get involved made them a pleasure to work with, and it was refreshing to see them applying their academic knowledge in a real distillery environment.”
The collaboration gave students something difficult to duplicate in a classroom: the opportunity to take what they have learned about spirits production, branding and consumer behavior and apply it to an operating distillery in another country.
Among them was Jacob Keaton, a landscape architecture student at UK’s Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment who is also pursuing the university’s Distillation, Wine and Brewing Sciences Certificate.
“The program was wonderful in exploring the industry as a whole and understanding the different pieces that make up Scottish whisky,” Keaton said.
Ballindalloch’s involvement is particularly interesting for whiskey enthusiasts because of its connection to the Estate Whiskey Alliance.
The organization promotes the concept of estate whiskey — spirits that maintain a strong connection between agriculture and distillation. For EWA certification, production must occur at the estate distillery and at least two-thirds of the grains in the mash bill must be grown on estate-owned or estate-controlled land.
Ballindalloch is currently working toward certification and is the Estate Whiskey Alliance’s first member in Scotland.
“Opportunities like this are exactly why the Estate Whiskey Alliance was founded: to foster connections that advance the estate whiskey community,” said Alexa Narel, associate director of the organization.
The alliance hopes the Ballindalloch collaboration will be the beginning of additional partnerships pairing distilleries with UK students for research and experiential learning.
That’s good news for Kentucky whiskey.
As bourbon continues to evolve from a regional product into a global industry, the people entering the business increasingly need to understand more than what happens inside a Kentucky rickhouse. They need exposure to international production traditions, agriculture, maturation, branding and the consumers buying whiskey around the world.
Scotland provides one of the best classrooms imaginable.
Kentucky can teach the world plenty about bourbon. But sending the next generation of Kentucky spirits professionals abroad also recognizes something equally important: there’s plenty the world’s great whisky regions can teach Kentucky.
And when Kentucky bourbon barrels are already waiting for you when you arrive in Scotland, it turns out home isn’t quite as far away as it seems. For more information, click here.
