【Exclusive Interview】Julie Trevisan-Hunter – The Scotch Whisky Experience

The Scotch Whisky Experience has thrived as the biggest Scotch whisky attraction and promoter for over three decades. Their impeccable enthusiasm and commitment towards the Scotch whisky industry have been appreciated not only by their locals but also by their audience and fans worldwide. The back story of The Scotch Whisky Experience shared by its marketing director, Julie Trevisan-Hunter reveals this organization’s true devotion towards the Scotch whisky and everybody who works within this industry.

This interview article would consist of a back story of The Scotch Whisky Experience and its philosophy in the words of, the marketing director of this organization and the Master of the Quaich, Julie Trevisan-Hunter.

About the Scotch Whisky Experience

Company’s Name	Scotch Whisky Experience
Year of Establishment	1988
CEO	Susan Morrison
Location	354 Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NE, United Kingdom
Official Website	Scotch Whisky Experience

About Julie Trevisan-Hunter

Introduction and career path

Dear WHISKY：
Could you introduce yourself?

Julie：
My name is Julie Trevisan-Hunter, and I am a marketing director of The Scotch Whisky Experience. I have been with the company for 27 years, and I also am the Master of the Quaich (explained later). I am originally from here, Edinburgh and even went to the University of Edinburgh for my degree in languages.

Dear WHISKY：
How did your career here start?

Julie：
I began because I was studying languages, and I was interested in the career that would allow me to converse with people from all over the world. Since I wanted to utilize the languages I had studied at the university, I began to work from the tourism angle rather than the whisky production side of the industry.

Dear WHISKY：
How has your role within the company shifted over the years?

Julie：
First, I started as a tour guide when I joined this organization straight out of the University. Then my role developed into managing our shop stock and then to a member of the first whisky bar we opened then, to facilitating the tasting and private events, and managing as of now.

Passion and goals to strive for within the Scotch whisky industry

Dear WHISKY：
What do you like the most about working at The Scotch Whisky Experience? 

Julie：
A passion of mine working here is to help the world fall in love with Scotch whisky. That very much aligns with my working experience here for over the decades now. My role is to interact with people personally on a daily basis, and look after hosting a lot of media visits and journalists. Most of those media visit us from other countries as part of the travel documentaries about Scotland and Edinburgh. So often we are covering the Scotch whisky aspect of travel and tourism in Scotland. Therefore, fulfilling that part ultimately means helping the world fall in love with the Scotch whisky.

Dear WHISKY：
How exactly would you approach that?

Julie：
Letting people see Scotch whisky in perhaps a different way. There are lots of myths and stereotypes about Scotch whisky. A lot of people find it quite inaccessible because there are so many different whiskies and so many people drink whisky in quite an expert fashion that it can make it feel quite difficult for somebody to approach it. So our job here is just to make it feel very friendly, very inclusive, very accessible, breaking down the barriers about how you can drink Scotch whisky, what you can mix it with, who drinks Scotch whisky, and make sure that everybody feels that there is a whisky ready to be discovered that could be the perfect one for them.

Title of the Master of the Quaich

Dear WHISKY：
You told us earlier that you are the Master of the Quaich.
Could you explain to us what that is?

Julie：
It’s an organization for the recognition of people that have done something significant during their career for the international promotion of Scotch whisky. Taking the story of Scotch whisky to a larger audience and changing their perception about it. Fortunately for me, that is literally what our company does and our whole reason for being here.

Dear WHISKY：
How do you get chosen as the Keeper or the Master?

Julie：
In order to become the Keeper of the Quaich, you have to have worked in the whisky industry for a minimum of 10 years and your role has to have made a significant impact on the world’s understanding, knowledge and connecting people with Scotch whisky. Once you have been a keeper, after 5 or 10 more years, you can be elevated to the rank of the Master of the Quaich. There are only a couple of hundred people in the world that are the Master of the Quaich, and it’s just an elevation of the title which represents a continuation of effort and contribution. 

Dear WHISKY：
What is being a Master like?

Julie：
The ceremonial and spiritual home of Keepers and Masters of the Quaich is Blair Castle in Perthshire. Banquets are held there twice a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn. It is a very restricted event, where new Keepers and Masters are welcomed into the organization. Due to a predominantly restricted space inside of the castle, unfortunately not many people are able to attend this event even though they are the Master. That is why each and every banquet is so precious and exceptional. My role here is to ensure that I am available for the other Masters or Keepers of the Quaich, from all over the world, to look after and host them when they’re in Edinburgh. Around autumn or spring, there will be some people coming to the UK to become the Keeper or the Master, so I’ll meet them here and show them around the Scotch Whisky Experience to enhance their whole experience.

About the Scotch Whisky Experience

Connecting the Scottish tourism industry and the Scotch whisky industry

Dear WHISKY：
What does The Scotch Whisky Experience do?

Julie：
We are an organization specializing in the promotion of Scotch whisky to quality makers in Edinburgh. We represent the whole whisky industry, instead of promoting one specific portfolio or the brand. Our organization is unique in the sense that it sits in between two of Scotland’s biggest industries; the Tourism industry and the Scotch whisky industry. It gives us a wonderful network in both of those organizations. I began from a tourism and language position, and everything I have learned about Scotch whisky is a consequence of being here in this organization. Since we represent the whole of Scotch Whisky, we have the opportunity to learn from literally every single distillery, every single blender, and every single Scotch whisky company.

Relationship within the Scotch whisky industry: Close relationships with distilleries

Dear WHISKY：
How did you build connections with so many distilleries?

Julie：
When we first set up, the biggest distillers companies were all approached and they came together to put the investment in to purchase the building and to refurbish and set up the first visitor attraction. They still are the shareholders of the company. Since then, the whisky industry has been more fragmented and there are various small distilleries. Therefore, we came up with a membership scheme that new distilleries can become a member here. Member distillery’s bottles would sit behind the bar and also be used in the tours.

Dear WHISKY：
How many distilleries are you partnered with currently?

Julie：
We currently represent 90% of the Scotch whisky industry. And the vast majority of the distilleries, which are in commercial production or have bottling, almost all of them are available here. We aspire to represent as large a sector of the Scotch whisky industry as possible. We often begin our relationship with a start up, and once their whisky is ready, we would officially work together as a member on their behalf to help promote it to the public. 

History

Place of origin

Dear WHISKY：
Where did the Scotch Whisky Experience start?

Julie：
This exact same building, that we still operate in today. We first purchased this building in 1987, it was owned by Edinburgh council. It previously was a school building which closed down in the 1950s. At the beginning, we were only allowed to purchase half of the building. And in the 1990s, we purchased the remainder of the building, allowing us to expand a little bit.

Evolution/Development of services and technologies: Accommodating each and everybody

Dear WHISKY：
How has the organization changed since then?

Julie：
Most of the changes that have happened over the 35years are to do with updating and upgrading the visitor’s experience. So the story that we tell of the Scotch whisky, how it is produced, the history, the heritage, the culture of Scotch, the Scottish landscape, the ingredients, the regions, and how they influence the flavor and character, and so on. All of those things have been part of the story that we have told consistently for 35 years. It’s just the technologies that have been developed, and we utilize those audio and visual technologies to really enhance the experience.

Dear WHISKY：
What are the examples of technology you have?

Julie：
On top of guides being fully committed during the tour, we have a smartphone device audio guide. People could use this device to listen in their own languages. As of now, we have 18 foreign languages and 2 sign languages.

Dear WHISKY：
Since Dear WHISKY is a Japanese media, we are curious if there is a Japanese option?

Julie：
Yes, absolutely. Japanese was one of the six different languages we prepared very first, since even back in the 1980s, Japanese people were a strong market for us. Scotch whisky has always been so popular in Japan that the Japanese visitors to Scotland all wanted to be able to discover it thoroughly.

Services

Dear WHISKY：
What types of services does the Scotch Whisky Experience offer? 

Julie：
There are a number of different aspects to our business, but our core element is the guided whisky tours. This tour is our purpose and what we are here for. We are open every day of the year except Christmas. We also have a whisky shop where we represent all of the member distiller companies. Additionally, we have a restaurant called Amber Restaurant just below the tour facility, as well as event spaces for a number of occasional events and private group tastings.

Informative guided tour and exclusive tasting experiences

Dear WHISKY：
What does the tour look like?

Julie：
Our standard tours would have five regions to choose from: Lowland, Highland, Speyside, Campbelltown, and Islay, as well as blended Scotch whisky. As part of the visit, the customer gets to decide what type of whisky they would prefer to experience, rather than just being given random whisky on site.

Dear WHISKY：
What is the private tasting for?

Julie：
There are whole ranges of reasons. It could be a larger group of people wanting to experience it together, or alternatively to that, some people want a very exclusive private experience. Also, we have corporate groups that have an incentive travel to Scotland to create their own blended Scotch whisky, which could also be done through private tasting sessions.

Customers’ experience at the site and impact on them for the rest of their lives

Dear WHISKY：
Is it always the whisky enthusiasts who visit the Scotch Whisky Experience?

Julie：
Not at all. Majority of people who come here are not already whisky enthusiasts and perhaps don’t even like Scotch whisky. Many of them visit us even though part of their party doesn’t really like Scotch whisky, just because they are in Scotland, they have to do Scotch whisky. With that being said, we have to ensure that what we deliver is really entertaining, fun, accessible and changes people’s minds about their impression of Scotch whisky by finding an aspect of Scotch whisky that really resonates with them. And that starts their journey to becoming the next whisky enthusiasts or collectors.

Dear WHISKY：
Does the tour have that big of an influence on people?

Julie：
Yes, absolutely. We actually send a survey out to people after their visit to ask questions regarding their experience of the tour and its impact afterwards. A vast majority of the visitors show that their interest in Scotch whisky has increased post-tour. We are proud that we are able to help open customers’ eyes and maybe change their minds or intentions as part of our job.

Overcoming Covid-19 and its impact to this date

Dear WHISKY：
How did Covid-19 impact the business?

Julie：
Out of all of the attractions in Scotland, we were within the sector that was most affected because of our subject matter and the fact that our core audience is international markets. Compared to parks, zoos, gardens, or castles which have more of a local market and are outdoors, due to 80% of our audience coming from foreign countries and tours taking place indoors, our business particularly had a hard time and took a massive damage.

Dear WHISKY：
Has there been any change in the types of customers you get?

Julie：
The main change for us has been the booking pattern and the platform for online bookings. Prior to the pandemic, the majority of our visitors, about 85% of them made the decision to visit on the day and came as a walk-ins. However, now all the tours we have are sold out online in advance. That accelerated our technology and system side to develop faster in order to match the needs.

Scotland’s economy and whisky market

Dear WHISKY：
How popular is the Scotch whisky industry within Scotland?

Julie：
I think that in Scotland, the general public isn’t quite aware of the impact commercially and economically that both the whisky and the tourism industries have within the country. Since 90% of the Scotch whiskies are exported outside of the country, there is no actual physical visibility for people in Scotland. However, there are increasing numbers of distilleries newly opening in rural areas all across Scotland.

Brand new distilleries rapidly spreading all over Scotland

Dear WHISKY：
What sort of influence do they have on the Scottish economy?

Julie：
These are creating such a huge impact on the socioeconomic benefits for small rural communities. This is a big change in the past 30 years, on account of these new distilleries having visitor centers. Modern distilleries having cafes, restaurants and shops add unique tourism elements to it. Historically speaking, distilleries were built for production, and perhaps they had small add-on elements for visitors because production was the only thing important to them.

Dear WHISKY：
Why do you think that a shift in services and business styles had occurred?

Julie：
Distilleries are being built often by small companies or single investors nowadays, and there is no return on investment for the first few years because of the maturation period. In that situation, often the tourism and hospitality can be a driver of revenue and an income stream in these initial profit-less years. It also can build up the brand even before the brand can actually sell whiskies in the markets.

Message for Dear WHISKY Readers

At Last

Despite their enormous audience and especial services, The Scotch Whisky Experience never quits aspiring to develop its customer experience even further, making it impossible for other competitors to even catch up. Julie’s simple yet ultimately profound goal to “help the world fall in love with Scotch whisky”, truly speaks for this organization’s spirit to spread the greatness of Scotch to the world.

The Scotch Whisky Experience would continue to attract people worldwide due to its unwavering passion and determination to grow and entertain.