Cara, 27, takes charge at Tobermory Distillery

One of the youngest distillery managers in the Scotch whisky industry has taken charge at one of its oldest distilleries.

Cara Gilbert has been appointed to lead operations at Tobermory Distillery on the Isle of Mull. Founded in 1798, the distillery is almost two centuries older than its new manager, who is just 27.

In her new role Cara will be responsible for the production of more than one million litres of whisky and gin each year at the facility, which is owned by international drinks group Distel.

After graduating from Heriot-Watt University in 2017 with a degree in biological science, Cara went on to complete a diploma and a master's degree in brewing and distilling before travelling to Ireland to work at a distillery just outside Dublin, in a laboratory-based process support role.

Following this, she secured a job at the Bunnahabhain distillery on Islay as a process lead, where she continued to hone her skills before moving to the Isle of Mull in early 2021 on secondment as a process lead at Tobermory. She was promoted to assistant manager at the distillery in March before being offered the distillery manager role this month.

Of her new role, Cara, from Clackmannanshire, said: "It's an honour to be given the opportunity to take on this role, helping to etch the next chapter for such a historic distillery. In my head, I always knew I wanted to be in a managerial position before I was 30 and a combination of hard work, seizing every opportunity thrown my way and learning from the best has made this vision a reality.

"I've worked with so many inspirational people over the last five years and have joined an incredible team... It's been an incredible journey, but I know the best is yet to come."

Tobermory master distiller Brendan McCarron, under whose guidance Cara will work, said: "Cara's absolutely bursting with talent, passion and knowledge about distilling so it's incredible to watch her tick off another career milestone. Whether it's peated or unpeated malts, limited editions or an enticing range of gin, it's the dream job for anyone and she's going to do amazing things."

19 August 2021 - Bethany Whymark