Nine Twenty Engineering & Manufacturing are proudly partnering with the Loch Lomond Group in their search for new talent within their Cooperage.
We recently placed their new Head of Distilling, Stuart Cains and recently met up with him to hear about his plans for the future.
Can you give us some insight into your background and why you joined LLG?
I have worked most of my life in the drinks industry, involved in whisky and gin distilling, brewing and even some time in soft drinks. My whisky experience was built up over 20 years working for companies like Chivas Brothers and I have a passion for great whisky. When the opportunity came along to join LLG it didn’t need considering for very long, the last ten years have seen the brands and business grow fantastically and the chance to get involved in the Loch Lomond story was not one I was going to pass up.
The distillery is remarkable comprising of a malt distillery and a grain distillery, and within it we have different types of stills that allow us to be innovative and creative while maintaining our traditions. We have an ability to craft the most incredible new make spirits, all of which require gifted coopers to work on the casks that our whisky will mature in over the coming years.
My job encompasses all parts of the process up to blending operations before we send our finished products for bottling and they are all contained in one facility at Alexandria. This affords me the opportunity to bring some of the skills and experiences I have gained from global companies such as Coca Cola and use them to improve what is already a great business. We have already started on this journey with changes to our working practices allied with training and development of our teams.
Can you share some of your plans for the future?
I want to make Loch Lomond’s Alexandria site a place where people will feel part of something bigger than a job, feel a pride in our products and their place in making our wonderful whiskies. To do this we need to have a workforce that is engaged and armed with the skills to deliver everything that our consumers demand. I want to ensure that everyone has the skills to do their job today and to then build everyone’s capability to do this in the workplace of tomorrow.
You have talked about transformation and building your teams for the future with us, how does this apply to the cooperage? What are you looking for in this area?
We are one of the few distilleries in Scotland to have a working cooperage on site, so our coopers are an integral part to our process, I want them to feel pride in Loch Lomond whiskies and not just their skills in rejuvenating and repairing the bourbon casks that we use. Cooperages are by their very nature traditional, the skills and tools of the coopers have been used for hundreds of years and to watch our coopers in action is always the highlight of anyone’s visit here. Many cooperages are PBR (paid by results) and this drives a individualistic approach to the working day. I want to make our cooperage a workplace that maintains its traditions but is a workplace with modern working practices and where coopers can feel part of a team delivering their part of the journey of Loch Lomond Whiskies from grain to glass.
Tell us why this is a great place for coopers to want to come and work?
Successful candidates can look forward to being part of the Loch Lomond team, delivering our whiskies to global consumers. The nature of the team we are trying to build means that they will get to be part of a team that at its core can deliver the essential casks for maturing our whiskies but can be part of a journey that can involve preparing the casks for our partnership with the Open golf championship, to carrying out demonstrations for visiting customers and journalists. We are moving the contracts away from PBR in our cooperage and offer a salary that covers all that we expect a cooper to do.
You can apply for the roles here:
https://ffi.sh/lAXlD
Or if you would like to discuss in confidence then please contact Karen Stewart on kstewart@weareninetwenty.com