Neil's Biography
Neil’s first real introduction to malt whisky came after he left St Andrew’s University in 1977 (where he "studied" alongside that great whisky connoisseur, Charlie MacLean - that'll be right) and went to work in the Middle East. The curious relationship that some of the Arab countries had with alcohol meant that as an expat it was possible to purchase large amounts of legal Scotch from the African & Eastern stores in Bahrain, but not drink it in public. Everything was behind closed doors ... unless you were being served in a hotel of course. A request from a friend in Kuwait to bring a 1-litre bottle of Glenfiddich to Kuwait (where it could not be purchased legally) meant that on the next Bahrain RFC trip up the Gulf, a bottle of William Grant's finest was packed in with the kit. A good time was had by all and Neil returned home in a frame of mind to find out more about malt whisky. (Bahrain lost the game.)
And so began his gradual move away from the oilfield into writing and eventually publishing. On his trips away from the rigs in Saudi Arabia and Qatar he began to look more deeply at the history of distilling in Scotland and on a trip to Islay he decided to write the history of the Hebridean distilleries. So in 1984 he chartered Tony and Anya Gill’s 48-ft ketch Alystra out of Ardfern and in the company of business partner Mike De Luca (formerly publishing director at David & Charles), Lincoln Rowe (Marine Society Artist), Steve Johnston and Allan Wright (photographers) sailed off to discover the island drams. The trip was eventful to say the least, but out of it came the first of many whisky books, Scotch and Water: An Illustrated Guide to the Hebridean Malt Whisky Distilleries. By 1986 he had given up on the oilfield and was working fulltime as a writer and publisher in partnership with Mike. Wallace Milroy’s Malt Whisky Almanac soon followed and gradually his publishing interests grew. In 1992 Mike and Neil parted with Mike going off to do management consultancy and Neil deciding to set up in Glasgow. Never one to miss out on a whisky connection his trade publishing house operated for 18 years out of the old WP Lowrie bonded warehouses in Washington Street (see pic) before he joined the growing number of creative people who now work from home, which is in the West End of Glasgow.
His output is focused on whisky, food and cookery (of a Scottish nature) outdoor pursuits (mountain memoirs, hillwalking etc), humour and true crime and his titles sell mainly through the book trade. But recent developments and the growing size of the retail conglomerates have forced him to look at how to reach his end-users better (that could mean you, by the way) and after a series of discussions with Ian Buxton over the scarcity of classic whisky books, Classic Expressions was born. The rest, hopefully, is history in the making ...