Craig Wallace on evolving Buchanan’s flavour profile
Diageo master blender Craig Wallace talks striking the balance between modern luxury and Scotch tradition with the development of Buchanan’s Green Seal.
In September, Diageo-owned blended Scotch Buchanan’s introduced a new whisky into its permanent range, called Green Seal.
Speaking to The Spirits Business on the release, Craig Wallace, who serves as master blender for Diageo’s global whisky portfolio, says the manifesto was to create a new luxury product that was both accessible and appealing to consumers who buy these types of products, but that also tapped into the craft of whisky making.
The initial idea was that it would fit in a nice bar or nightclub setting to be shared around with friends.
“That was one of the first thoughts, but I think equally, it could be for family gatherings as well,” he says.
Part of Wallace’s role at Diageo is working on innovative liquids at its distilleries where he creates new styles of spirit and looks at creating new flavours. To meet criteria set out for Green Seal, “it was about finding some really special stocks of liquids from our whisky inventory”, he says. This led him down the path to single malt from Glen Elgin and experimenting with a yeast not usual to Scotch.
“I knew I’d created this amazing Glen Elgin liquid from Glen Elgin distillery a few years ago using a special yeast – a South African wine yeast,” he says. “I knew that would work very well here, so that was what I used as my starting point in terms of wanting to get the citrus and tropical fruits into the whisky, but then balancing that with some other older stocks of whisky as well, to give that really smooth and creamy flavour in the background, along with those tropical fruits.”
On balancing innovation with the regulatory aspect that comes with the territory of Scotch, Wallace explains how he had to consider the category’s traditions.
“Scotch has got quite a traditional lens at looking at things, so for the Glen Elgin part of the blend, which is only part of the blend, the only thing that changed in the process was the yeast, and that’s allowed within regulations,” he says.
“It’s still a traditional process, still the same barley, same water ratios, same distillation regime and same fermentation regime, apart from the actual yeast itself. That was the difference.”
Whisky for everyone
Buchanan’s is especially popular in Andean countries (Colombia and Venezuela) where it saw strong sales in Diageo’s full-year results for 2025.
Wallace notes that the research for Buchanan’s Green Seal was done with a consumer audience of Latin Americans in mind. “Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico are sort of the heartland of Buchanan’s,” he notes, but it was also about bringing new consumers to the brand.
“Consumers in those markets are passionate and educated in whisky, but we’re always trying to recruit new people as well,” he says. “So it’s about keeping both the traditional Buchanan drinkers happy, making traditional Scotch, but also equally attracting new people – that is very important.
“It was getting that balance where we have the tropical profile, but it also does still have the Scotch cues where you’ve got the rich and creamy flavours from the casks, and a hint of background smoke. Buchanan’s traditionally is quite smoky. The 12-year-old’s very smoky, as is Buchanan’s Masters, but this expression was dialing that down.
“It’s still there in the background, but we’re dialling it down so that other flavours could shine through.”
Wallace doesn’t necessarily believe there’s a gap between traditional production and modern expectations for whisky. “The good thing about Scotch, even though it’s a very traditional process which is quite highly regulated, is that there’s lots of experience there,” he says. “There’s more than 200 years of experience making whisky and that’s been passed down through generations, so we know how to twist the flavour and bring new profiles without breaking from tradition as well.”
For how Buchanan’s manages its portfolio, he says the brand is trying to give consumers options across the board. “What I like to think is there’s always going to be whisky out there for everybody and it’s just about finding the one that suits your flavour palette. That’s where we can bridge that gap.”
Buchanan’s launched a pineapple spirit in 2023, which is doing well in North America, Wallace notes, and will be rolled out other markets soon, but going forward the focus is on the permanent range that now includes Green Seal.
“Keeping the quality of the core variants is the main priority,” he says.
This doesn’t mean there won’t be any future innovation. “That’s part of my job, as obviously with Scotch you have to lay it down for a number of years in advance to allow it to mature. You have to really plan ahead, looking at what different raw materials can be used and what different barrels can be used to bring different flavors into the mix in terms of future innovation. That’s always something that’s on our mind,” explains says.
“Over the last few years, I’ve had an opportunity to do lots of experimentation at my distilleries, so there’s always going to be something coming through the pipeline that we can utilise for Buchanan’s in the future.”
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