Dream weavers
Blend friends: Woven co-founders Pete Allison and Duncan McRae
Anna Lou Larkin meets the maverick mixers from Woven who are turning whisky blending into an modern-day artform from their funky Leith HQ
Full disclosure: I am a proud member of the Woven whisky fan club. I have been to the parties, enjoyed the whisky, and literally bought the T-shirt. Their capacious branded tote bag is currently the best thing in my life (and I have a charming baby son and an air fryer). So, what is it about these Leith whisky blenders that ignites my inner fan girl?
Founded in 2020 by friends Pete Allison, Duncan McRae and Nick Ravenhall, this group of mild-mannered mavericks are on a mission to bring blends blinking into the limelight from their studio in an old biscuit factory in Leith, Edinburgh. Once one of the busiest ports in Europe, Leith itself has a rich history of whisky blending, being a former epicentre of the industry and home to historic blends such as MacKinlay’s and Bailie Nicol Jarvie. Today, blends make up 85% of the global Scotch whisky market so it’s hard to ignore the importance of the category and reasonable to expect that there should be real quality within it.
Leith has a proud whisky heritage and was a former epicentre of some of the world’s biggest blends
Speaking to blender Pete Allison, it’s clear Woven is striving for excellence. “Nick, Duncan and I, who had been friends from working in bars, become fixated on the idea that blends should be better, that blends should be amazing, that 1 + 1 can equal 3.”
Inspired by Compass Box, the pioneering Scotch whisky makers founded in 2000, Woven aspired to something more fun and less industrialised than the commercial blends snugly occupying the market. “We started taking a real interest in what Compass Box was doing because it was different from everyone else.”
‘We became fixated on the idea that blends should be better, that blends should be amazing, that 1 + 1 can equal 3’
The friends knew they wanted to create a blended whisky company in Scotland, they just had to work out how to do it. Cue classic business start-up tales of begging, borrowing, and plenty of hard knocks to make it happen, after which their logical approach to blending itself came more naturally.
I caught up with the team at Lind and Lime Distillery, just a stone’s throw from their Leith HQ.
Allison proceeds with a systematic eye and lays samples out in what is affectionately named “The Grid.” This consists of a number of whiskies in small bottles with pipettes for dipping in and out, and nosing glasses for the all important tasting. Blending in small batches, he’ll find a grain whisky first and blend it 50:50 with a malt that he thinks can work with it.
Pete and his pipette: Woven’s master blender works his magic
Then the fun begins: finding the sweet spot in the communion of the two before layering other whiskies on top to create something with balance and clarity of flavour.
“You want to taste a whisky that isn’t just three or five whiskies in a glass but is one whisky that takes the best of each of those distilleries,” explains Allison. “Flavour is an arc and I always want that top one to be tangible, something that everyone can taste.”
Each Woven expression is indeed full of flavour. Their love letter to Leith, Homemade, is bursting with bruised apple and has a nutty complexity, while their New Zealand collaboration, Hemispheres, is a celebration of subtle smoke and depth.
This cross-border blending also makes for intriguing individual stories. The most recent release, Pastures New, is the first ever blended English whisky and ripe with quince, honey and elegant spice. The story certainly piques curiosity but it is the flavour that holds your attention. So, which really comes first?
“Each project is very different,” Allison explains, “The concepts tend to start before the blends. We have a database of ideas but there are some that capture a moment in time, an idea, a thought or feeling.”
‘Their love letter to Leith, Homemade, is bursting with bruised apple and has a nutty complexity’
The idea for global blend, Superblend, came from a desire to create a “super-band”. The all-star line-up sees American whiskey lending sweetness and spice, smoothed out with some old Irish, bright fruit from the Scotch with Germany bringing the funk. Cleaned up by some Japanese malt and all brought together by the English. The result? A bright fruit pastry drenched in fermented molasses.
These are whiskies rich in story and high in concept and yet flavour remains paramount. Brand ambassador, Lara Farrow, tells me: “Blends are exciting because they are truly the spirit of collaboration. Whisky doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so being able to showcase the efforts of whisky makers across the world and bringing them together is super exciting.”
They choose the whiskies for flavour but also like to work with distilleries whose ethos they share and who work in the spirit of innovation: contributors to Woven’s Nordic blend, Friends in The North, include the cutting-edge Agitator Distillery in Sweden whose high-tech approach enables them to preserve particularly delicate flavours.
Woven’s cool branding and inspiring story appeals to the discerning younger drinker
Woven are of course following in the footsteps of some illustrious innovators. The history of blending is rich and varied with big brands like Diageo’s Johnnie Walker being early pioneers. A grocer from Kilmarnock, Scotland, John Walker started mixing together the single malts in his shop in 1820 when he realised the quality of his stock on its own was sometimes lacking. By blending he could create something better and more consistent. Blending for quality and uniformity soon became established globally.
From the 1950s, single malt whisky took over as the prestige choice, partly owing to George Urquhart of Gordon and McPhail. Described by writer Charles MacLean as “the father of single malt whisky”, Urquhart championed single malts that were hitherto destined for blends and confirmed the category as a premium option for connoisseurs.
‘Like a blend, or indeed a band, the team at Woven is all about finding the perfect match of complementary characteristics to enhance the potential of others’
Today, blending is increasingly capturing the curiosity and imagination of younger whisky drinkers who don’t want to be told how they should enjoy their whisky – and who appreciate flavour and stories over rules and regulations.
Woven’s cool modern branding and inspiring start-up story focus speaks to this open-minded yet discerning younger drinker.
The Mother Superior Perfect Pear highball: Woven Hemispheres, lemon juice, pear cordial and honey topped up with soda
Like a blend, or indeed a band, the team at Woven is all about finding the perfect match of complementary characteristics to enhance the potential of others. McRae and Ravenhall initially took on the sales and marketing, with Allison in the blending room. Operations manager Ciaràn Russell has a masters in brewing and distilling from Heriot Watt University and has previously focussed on gin flavour development. He tells us he is no scientist but his detailed explanation of flavour congeners suggests this is a guy who knows his way around a petri dish.
This human assemblage continues in the community Woven are creating. Their monthly open studio in Leith, where anyone is invited to join for chat, pizza and whisky, is a great way to find out what the team have been up to. Last month they challenged local bars such as Edinburgh’s Uno Mas and Glasgow’s Absent Ear to come up with their best highball creations using Woven expressions.
For me, a highball has always been the wet handshake welcome at the awkward company away day – I generally like my whisky cocktails like I like my medieval verse: short, intense, and with a sweet whispered promise of suffering. Can they convert me?
‘The Perfect Pear is probably the best highball I have ever tasted – it has balance and acidity as well as a clove-spiked fruity intensity’
The Perfect Pear at Mother Superior bar on Leith Walk may just do it. Woven Hemispheres – lemon juice, pear cordial and honey topped up with soda – has balance and acidity as well as a clove-spiked fruity intensity. As Farrow explains: “The thing that makes highballs so great is they are greater than the sum of their parts.” Cocktails also appeal to those younger drinkers who want to enjoy something because it is delicious, not because of its heritage or prestige. I think this could be fundamental to the exciting resurgence of interesting blends.
Home is where the dram is: Woven whisky is sequestered in the port of Leith
The Perfect Pear is probably the best highball I have ever tasted. Though with competing versions vying for attention at Scottish bars like Leith’s Nauticus and Glasgow’s Daddy Marmalades, further research is definitely on the cards.
A great highball starts with a great whisky. And these are great whiskies, meticulously composed by a carefully formed super band. Super bands need super fans and Woven continue to rock the world of blends with beguiling flavours and intriguing stories. These are whiskies that are defined by what is delicious and fun and indisputably greater than the sum of their not inconsiderable parts. We are all invited to “come for the whisky, stay for the party” – and that’s why I’m packing my Woven tote bag and gearing up for the stadium tour.
All Woven’s expressions are available to buy at wovenwhisky.com
Five to try from Woven
Homemade
A blend of two Speyside single malts and one Lowland grain whisky, this entirely Scottish expression is inspired by the Leith whisky and wine merchant hub. Married in both PX and Palo Cortado Sherry casks as a nod to that past and a hint of the future. This lends a vibrant profile with bruised apple and a soft nutty finish. £45
Superblend
An entirely global blend including whisky from Scotland, England, Ireland, USA, Germany, and Japan. A true “blend across borders” where each cask is chosen for flavour and harmony. The result is a richly textured dram reminiscent of funky molasses poured over a warm fruit Danish. £50
Hemispheres
A union of two very different distilleries each expressing their own environment: North British Grain Distillery in Edinburgh and Thomson Whisky, New Zealand. Thomson’s Manuka smoked single malt brings a gently spiced smoke with citrus fruit and honey while the North British Grain is favoured for its body and softness. Pete Allison calls this “a celebration of smoke without peat.” £55
Pastures New (Experience N.22)
The first ever English blended whisky, born in Woven’s London studio. Pastures New shows the diversity of the English scene and offers an enticing sweetness with ripe orchard fruits and a jolt of spice provided by Fielden Distillery’s Rye. £54.95
Friends in the North (Experience N.20)
An exciting blend of Scandinavian whiskies, combining distilleries from Norway, Sweden and Finland. Tasted whilst toasting marshmallows on a fire pit and flirting with cute strangers, I still maintain that it’s a pretty special dram. Serving up Nordic fire and ice with subtle hints of smoke and spice, this complex number has my heart. £75
