Dr. Emma Walker turned a chemistry Ph.D. and love of Scotch into being a top ‘whiskey scientist’
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Courtesy of Diageo Johnnie Walker is the world’s best-selling whiskey, and its “master blender” job is probably the top job in the spirits world: The master blender is the brain behind a brand’s beverages, and in Johnnie Walker’s 200-year history, Dr. Emma Walker is the first woman to hold the title. A chemistry Ph.D.
“I’m still expecting to wake up and find out that I have just imagined it,” Emma admits over Zoom from her office in Menstrie, Scotland. She’s soft-spoken with a punky eyebrow piercing and a quick smile. She spoke to the Cut about how to handle big mistakes and when to ignore bad advice. Walker lives in Edinburgh with her partner. Here, how she gets it done. I get up at about six o’clock because it takes me about an hour or so to drive to work.
Then I’ll look at data on Excel. I think that always surprises people — that as a master blender, I’m looking at data sets. But Johnnie Walker has one of the biggest inventories of Scotch , and they’re from different distilleries and in different types of wood. You need to look at the data to get an understanding of how the stock is doing and plan for the future. That’s one of the things that makes Scotch different from other spirits: You’re always planning for the future.
The day ends around 5 p.m. I tend to have a couple of whiskeys over the week, but it’s always responsible.I’ve had moments where I think, Something has gone awfully wrong, and I can’t see my way out! But one of the things I’ve learned is that there’s always someone to talk to, someone that’s experienced something similar and knows how to figure it out.
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