Morrison Bowmore Distillers (MBD) has officially announced the appointment of Rachel Barrie to the newly created position of master blender. Barrie will also head up the company’s spirit quality control and laboratory functions. She will join Morrison Bowmore’s operational senior executive group and report directly to Andrew Rankin, MBD operations director and chief blender.

Barrie brings a vast amount of knowledge and experience having served many years in a similar role within The Glenmorangie Company.
Commenting on the appointment Andrew Rankin said: “Rachel is one of the most experienced master blenders in our industry and I am extremely delighted that she will be joining our team here at MBD.

“We have a very strong blending team within the company and this appointment will massively strengthen and reinforce our commitment to producing the ultimate in quality single malt Scotch whiskies.”

Barrie’s background before joining MBD is steeped in the whisky industry. Barrie comes to Morrison Bowmore from The Glenmorangie Company where she held the positions of product development manager and ultimately their whisky creator and master blender and was responsible for creating some of their award-winning whiskies including Glenmorangie Signet and Ardbeg Corryvreckan.

Prior to that, Barrie worked for Macdonald & Muir Ltd as the quality lab manager and for the Scottish Whisky Research Institute as a research scientist.