Why Scotch is for golf, not rugby, and manifesting the perfect ‘19th hole’ dram

Over the past few years, Glen Moray has swung hard at its new golf angle… and has landed firmly on the green. 

This perhaps isn’t a surprise. After all, many would argue (including some of us here at the Whisky Magazine Australia office) that sharing a dram at the “19th hole” is an essential part of any day out on the golf course. 

As the global ambassador for the Scotch distillery experiencing something of a renaissance down under, Iain Allan fervently agrees: “Golf was a no-brainer and is working really well,” he says. 

Now it’s worth coming clean and stating that Glen Moray’s history sponsoring rugby teams was never a bad fit. After all, as Allan puts it, “a lot of the rugby players are golfers in Scotland … there is probably a Venn diagram where there are quite a few that will do both.”

It’s just that golf fits even better. 

A similar story can be said about Glen Moray’s latest whisky portfolio changes taking the distillery in a number of new directions. This includes unique cask finishes (the Australian-exclusive ex-shiraz cask is one example) and greater age statements, with the distillery hoping to soon have some 30 year olds and above.

The motivation? “To create the whisky journey.” 

Iain Allan continues: “We're filling out the range a little bit more, offering different kind of views on Scotch whisky, from changing strengths, changing ages, adding older ages … We’ll never rest on our laurels and say we’re done. We’ll look at what we can introduce, what we can bring out, what keeps it exciting.” 



This approach appears to be working. Glen Moray is currently rapidly gathering momentum in Australia, its second biggest market – no mean feat for a distillery founded in 1897. 

Perhaps part of the reason is its willingness to borrow from the Australian experimental playbook. 

“We did a maple syrup cask,” says Allan. “Nobody else had ever done it before in Scotch whisky. In fact, we weren't allowed to call it Scotch whisky. [We’re] breaking down boundaries and being as experimental as we can with casks as well.”

This approach is embodied in the way it is bringing golf down under as well; via an immersive whisky and golf competition at Sydney’s Golf Space. Towards the opposite end of the golfing spectrum to its Senior Open Championship partnership that kickstarted its new approach. 

For Iain Allan, it has served as an excuse to reignite a longstanding passion:

“When I was younger, I did play a lot of golf, but now, if I was to come home from my trip to Australia and say to my wife and daughter that I'm off to the golf course, I think I'd be divorced. Something like [digital golf], it's maybe not an age thing, it's maybe just a time thing. You can go there, you can hit a few golf balls, play a few holes … You don't have to be out in the golf course for five, six hours and taking up time.” 

Expect more info on Glen Moray’s new portfolio additions to be published to Whisky Magazine Australia soon.