By 
DIANE STUART HAS a rather unique approach to decoding the exquisite alchemy that occurs when complex flavours comingle on the palate, as they do when you sip a finger of The Macallan Scotch whisky. The iconic whisky brand’s senior whisky maker relies on her training as a forensic scientist and something more intuitive: her gut.
“Having a science background, I do approach things in a very methodical manner,” says Stuart, who grew up close to The Macallan distillery in Speyside, Scotland, where she worked as tour guide in her summer holidays, while completing a degree in forensic science at The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. “I am very evidence driven. When I look at whisky in a glass, I’m thinking What’s the colour of that whisky? What cask has it come from? How long has it been in that cask for? And then making a sensitive assessment of it. But then instinct will kick in and you’ll say, Is this right? It [instinct] will raise a question and I’ll then have that desire to understand why it doesn’t feel quite right. There’s got to be a reason for that. Then the forensic side comes out again and I’ll try and seek out that evidence for it.”
Before she joined The Macallan, Stuart worked at the Scotch Whisky Research Institute in Edinburgh, which is where her passion for the craft was truly ignited. “It took the elements of the forensic science degree that I’d studied, plus the whisky knowledge I’d built up from being a tour guide and just brought both of them together,” says Stuart, who was recently in Australia for The Macallan x David Carson In the Studio event at ArtSpace in Sydney.
Of course, whisky demands contemplation and invites scrutiny. Provenance, aging, seasoning and perhaps a little intangible molecular magic meld in the cask to create nuanced, complex flavours that are open to interpretation – it’s an art as much as it is a science. Who better, then, than Stuart, who draws on both her empirical background and intuitive instincts to decipher and grapple with these flavours to create expressions that can not only withstand critical examination but take flight on the palate.
There’s one other factor Stuart must take into consideration in her work: legacy. The Macallan celebrated its 200th birthday in 2024 and is distinguished by an obsession with quality and craftsmanship. The distinctive character of each of the house’s whiskies is influenced by the use of exceptional oak casks seasoned with sherry wine – a commitment to natural colour underpinned by mastery. The brand even crafts and seasons its own European and American oak casks in Jerez, Spain.
That heritage means Stuart and her colleagues on the brand’s Whisky Mastery Team not only have a proven template for success, but also a responsibility. “There are many, many people who have come before us, real characters that have done exceptional things,” she says, recalling the influence of Roderick Kemp, who took over the distillery in 1892 and championed the use of Spanish sherry casks. “That’s something that’s carried through from that point all the way through to now. The people that have come before us are a great source of inspiration in what we do going forward.”
Indeed, Stuart finds it fascinating to look at the age of a whisky and think about those that conceived it. “One of the things I love in our role within the Whisky Mastery team is that the whisky that we look at on a day-to-day basis at the bench was laid down by people 12, 24 years ago,” she says. “Our oldest whisky is an 84-year-old. If you look at how long ago that was laid down, it was a completely different group of people who were working at the distillery at that time. You’re always looking back at what those people have done before you.”
At the same time, Stuart is conscious that one day it will be her team’s work that informs the brand’s future whisky makers. “There’s that element that the decisions we make today will shape The Macallan of the future,” she says. “In many years’ time, once I’ve taken my pension and retired, there’ll be whisky makers that come after us and they’ll be using the whiskies that we laid down.”
Some of those will include expressions Stuart has worked on recently, including The Harmony Collection Vibrant and Guardian Oak, Classic Cut 2023 and Distil Your World Mexico. Each has had their own rewards, she says, citing the Classic Cut’s stronger alcohol content, which allowed her and the team to “play with higher flavours”. The Harmony Collection, meanwhile, was distinguished by the use of repurposed materials in its packaging.
Talking to Stuart, her passion for her work is obvious, which probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. In the nexus between art and science, is often where you’ll find love.
