We catch up with Darren McCormick from Lochlea Distillery to find out about his journey in whisky and the drams he’s enjoying.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your journey into whisky and your role at Lochlea Distillery?
I actually came into whisky sideways. I was a vehicle mechanic before this, so it wasn’t something I grew up around. It started with a conversation about the difference between a blend and a single malt, and something about that just sparked an interest for me; the history, the fact that what I was drinking had been quietly sitting in a cask for years before anyone even tasted it. I started reading everything I could get my hands on, and pestering brand ambassadors and sales reps at every opportunity, asking what actually made one whisky different from another.
A tour guide job came up at a new distillery locally, so I went for it and got it – that was my foot in the door. From there I moved into an ambassador role before pivoting into a production role at Lochlea, starting out labouring while the distillery was literally being built, then helping commission the plant. As spirit started flowing through the stills, I kept picking up more knowledge and skills, learning from people who really know their stuff: Malcolm Rennie, our former Distillery Manager, and John Campbell, our former Production Director. I was promoted to Distillery Manager in 2024, and now my role covers the full production process end to end, plus blending.
Did you have any misconceptions about the industry?
Before I got properly into it, I had a few misconceptions like most people coming at whisky from the outside. I thought age was everything – that older meant better. I thought colour meant something too: that a darker whisky was more mature or higher quality, when really that’s just down to the cask. And I assumed single malt sat above blended whisky, that blends were the lesser product. The more time I spent around it, the more that stuff fell apart. I’ve tasted young whiskies that beat older ones easily, and pale drams that are better than plenty of dark ones. None of it tells you anything until you actually taste it.
Can you give us a brief overview of Lochlea and what makes it different to other whisky distilleries?
Lochlea is particularly special as it is one of the very few grain-to-cask farm distilleries in Scotland. We also have a rich Scottish heritage as the farm was once home to Robert Burns himself who worked and lived here during his formative years from 1777 to 1784.
It began life as a 222-acre livestock farm before being bought by Neil and Jen McGeoch in 2006. A successful barley-growing trial in 2015 inspired them to establish a distillery on the estate, converting the farm buildings in 2017 and filling their first casks the following year. Farming has remained a unique part of Lochlea and ensuring full traceability from grain to glass is very important for us. We grow and harvest all our own barley and have made it our purpose to ensure that sustainable farming practices are a part of our everyday life.
Tell us about Lochlea’s whiskies and how has working there shaped the way you think about whisky?
We have our core Lochlea Single Estate range – a permanent collection of single malts launched last summer. It includes Orchard & Oak, Dark Briar and Smoke without Fire alongside our original signature core whisky, Our Barley. We were incredibly proud to see the entire collection awarded Double Gold at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition recently. Double Gold means a unanimous Gold from every judge on the blind tasting panel.
We’ve also just launched our second annual Red Wine Cask release which is inspired by the art of finishing mature spirit in carefully selected red wine casks from different wine-making regions. We have an annual series of limited-edition cask strength bottlings too.
Working at Lochlea, where we grow our own barley right on the doorstep, has completely changed how I see the industries and skill sets that go into a finished bottle. You’ve got the farming side actually growing the crop right through to the maltsters who turn that barley into something we can use. Being this close to it has given me a real appreciation for farming and just how important it is to whisky, something you don’t really think about when you are consuming the final product.
What was the first dram you had that you remember liking?
The whisky I was actually drinking during that conversation about blends and single malts was a 12-year-old Bunnahabhain, but if I’m honest, the one that really got me into whisky was the Glenfiddich 15-Year-Old Solera. I remember sitting there just sipping away at it, trying to properly work out what I was tasting, what was actually going on in the glass. I still drink it now and again, and there’s something genuinely nostalgic about it, even all these years later.
Where is the most interesting or unconventional place you have enjoyed a dram?
It might sound like the obvious answer, but for me there’s nowhere more interesting than standing in the fields where we grow our own barley, drinking a dram of Our Barley. Knowing that Robert Burns farmed this very land makes it feel even more special.
Which whisky are you reaching for most often at the moment, and what bottle do you save for special occasions?
My go to dram at the moment is our Cask Strength Batch 3 – rich and well balanced, it feels like Lochlea whisky in its most natural state. Away from Lochlea, I often find myself reaching for Johnnie Walker Black Label 12-Year-Old – nothing complicated about it, just an easy, reliable dram.
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