Meaningless titles

I recently received the following email:

Good Day,

Caught this podcast by one of my favorite food writers.  Not sure about the comments from the "Master of Scotch" John Overslee.  He is awfully fond of Johnnie Walker Black. Thought he would come up with some other names.

 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/podcast/onfood.asp

 

Cheers,

Robert Bruce E.

Thanks for asking the question, Rob. Let's get this straight once and for all.

The "Masters of Whisky" are Brand Ambassadors for the Diageo whisky brands.

Now, I know a number of the Masters of Whisky (formerly Masters of Scotch Knowledge) and, speaking for the ones I know personally, they are knowledgeable people who are great speakers and great representatives for their brands and company.

HOWEVER, I'm annoyed by the fact that there seems to be a concerted effort on the part of Diageo to position them as having had some sort of honor bestowed upon them - while failing to mention the Diageo association. This is not cool.

When asked how one becomes a "Master of Whisky" this gentleman, John Overleese, (whom I do not know) responds in a way that not only obfuscates, but also leads one to believe that he is a member of some rarified group, perhaps the recipient of a hard-earned title the equivalent of a "Master of Wine" or some scotch industry accolade such as a "Keeper of the Quaich". At no point does he admit to being associated with Diageo or the Johnnie Walker brand. He does however talk about Johnnie Walker ad nauseum. At one point he also recommends (in all seriousness) Dalwhinnie for breakfast. WTF??

Here is an excerpt which I transcribed from the podcast:

Hsiao-Ching Chou: So John, you're a "Master of Whisky". What does that mean?

John Overleese: Well there's 14 Masters of Whisky in the country. And the group of whisky masters that we are, are sourced from people who have had extensive restaurant careers and extensive time spending in the industry. I have 35 years starting back in 1972 with United Vintners...(Ed. - I don't understand what he says here)...the last 25-30 years have been directly related to major brands in the Scotch Industry...

Hsiao-Ching Chou: So..do you have any sort of certification or how do you define, like, how do you become a Master of Whisky?

John Overleese: Uh...you have to, first of all, enjoy teaching it. You have to enjoy drinking it. And you have to enjoy being able to share some of this information with people.  Not every one likes to do that. Surprisingly.

There's been a lot of time spent, fortunately, with the companies I work for, taking me to Scotland, Ireland and the rest of the world, where you really do learn, on repeated visits, about products. You talk to distillery managers. You can talk about...you go to Scotland, for example, and spend 3 or 4 days just talking to the people who actually blend the products. You'll look at distilleries. See how the products are made. And when you do this a couple of times you get a lot of answers to your questions, and you can share those answers.

At this point Hsiao-Ching has either been confused enough by the double-talk or has tired of probing and moves on to general Scotch questions.

However, what *I* get from this exchange is that the requirements to be a Master of Whisky are:

1. going to Scotland, and
2. talking to people there.

Based on that criteria I'd hazard to guess there's more than 14 of us out there!

Come on, Diageo. No other company tries to confuse the consumer in this way...Jim McEwan works for Bruichladdich. Richard Paterson works for Whyte & Mackay. George Grant works for Glenfarclas. Sharon Owen works for William Grant (I could go on and on). No one else pulls this bullshit.

On the plus side:

• You have great products.
• You own great distilleries.
• You have great employees who have drank the kool-aid.
• You have great ambassadors.
• You are a publically traded company with a great stock that I am happy to own.

On the minus side:

• You are not so great with the innovation.
• Sadly, in my estimation, you are starting to become a marketing company that happens to produce alcohol; instead of focusing on being the world's largest producer of alcohol and marketing that product honestly and forth-rightly.

And that can only hurt the industry in the long-run.

Comments

[Anonymouse]

It's even worse than what you think. Want to know what it takes to become a "Master of Whisky"?

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mar/306071931.html

"Position Requirements
•Professional individual with at least 5-7 years experience in related field with a strong sales background
•A good knowledge of the wine and spirit market (whisky knowledge preferred but not necessary)
•Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
•Possess strong public and presentation skills
•Strong budget management experience
•Proficient in Microsoft Office
•Self-starter, proactive, able to work well alone and with a team "

For crying out loud you don't even need to know anything about Whisky! If you have sold a lot of cases of Jägermeister that, apparently, is more important in attaining the rarefied title of Master of Whisky!

[Matthew]

Your "WTF" is a little ambiguous. Do you mean "WTF would someone have whisky for breakfast" or "WTF would someone have Dalwhinnie for breakfast." If it's the former, I've written a little bit on breakfast whisky, and posted some recipes for porridge with whisky. Dr. Samuel Johnson's _A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland_ makes mention of the practice of having a morning dram.

[Kevin Erskine]

My WTF? was:
"What The F@#$" is a liquor industry representative doing promoting whisky for breakfast to a food writer for a general population podcast..."

That doesn't sound like it follows the SWA or Diageo's responsible consumption guidelines.

[Tim]

I tried whiskey on top of porridge quite a few times while tooling around Ireland. Good stuff but there was never a ton applied by my hosts. It was used for flavor.