The story

The Eorna Oir range of whiskies has been chosen by David to represent and showcase a ‘Lifetime in Whisky’. His life.

Ayrshire born and bred, he grew up in Kilmarnock, the spiritual home of Johnnie Walker – the ‘Striding Man’. As a major employer in the town, many locals found work in the busy blending and bottling halls so there can be no doubt this sowed the seed which led to the career that Eorna Oir celebrates.

He started working in the early 1980s at White Heather Distillers (Pernod Ricard) as a blending analyst, where he was schooled in the dark and mysterious art of whisky production. After several years training in whisky stock management, blending, distillation planning and wood management, he was appointed Chief Blender at the renamed Campbell Distillers, responsible for the Clan Campbell, White Heather and House of Lords blends as also the Aberlour and Edradour Single Malts.

In 2002 Pernod Ricard acquired part of the Seagram spirits business and David was appointed Deputy Production Director for a portfolio which now included Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, 100 Pipers and the Glenlivet and Glen Grant Single Malts. By 2005 David was responsible for several million maturing casks in over 200 warehouses and across 13 distilleries.

In his blending heyday, David’s contemporaries at other companies were such Scotch Whisky luminaries as Richard Paterson, David Stewart, Jim McEwan, Bill Lumsden and Ian Macmillan to name but a few. He also worked closely with the legendary Billy Walker on several distillery projects including GlenAllachie. He respectfully pays tribute to them for the role they played in his remarkable career.

Of the whiskies he helped create he is most proud of Clan Campbell Legendary a sublime 18 year old blend. It is however the amazing Aberlour A’ bunadh that he is perhaps best known for.