【Exclusive Interview】Part 1: Richard Forsyth OBE – Forsyths

Richard Forsyth has been recognised as one of the most significant figures in the whisky industry for his contribution to not only Scotch but global whisky distilleries.

As a four-generation family business, Forsyths has refined its coppersmithing to produce pot stills with its comprehensive business strategy, which has secured it an unrivalled position as a leading manufacturer of distillation equipment. Richard has been focally responsible for Forsyths’ international expansion since the day he officially joined the company in the late 1960s.

We had the great opportunity to interview Richard Forsyth OBE, the third-generation President of Forsyths.

In Part 1 of the interview, Richard discussed the backstory of Forsyths and elaborated on how the company established its reputation as a world-renowned pot still maker.

About Forsyths Ltd

Introduction of the company

Dear WHISKY：
What does Forsyths offer?

Richard：
Forsyths offers a unique range of services to the whisky industry worldwide.

Our expertise spans coppersmithing, stainless steel fabrication, pipework, electrical, wooden vessels, mash tuns, fermenters, and more.

　　　By combining all these disciplines, we provide a comprehensive turnkey service that is unmatched in the industry. 

History of Forsyths

Passed down family-business

Dear WHISKY：
How has Forsyths been passed down in your family?

Richard：
My grandfather, Alexander Forsyth, bought and managed the company until my father took over after World War II. I joined the company in 1968 and moved to a managing role in the mid 1970s. My son joined about 15 years ago and now manages the company.

Dear WHISKY：
What is the relationship between Speyside, Rothes and Forsyth families like?

Richard：
My grandfather was born and raised here in Rothes, so was my father, and so am I and my son.
We have quite a history here.

History of coppersmithing in Rothes

Dear WHISKY：
How did the company start in Rothes? 

Richard：
The first licensed distillery was given 1823 to the Glenlivet, and there’s been a coppersmith in office since mid-1850. I assume some coppersmiths were suppluing illicit distilling at one point.

My grandfather started life as an apprentice coppersmith in the early 1890s, working at Rothes Copper Works.

The original owner of the Rothes Copper Works was Robert Bailie, who sold his business to Robert Willison in the 1870s. So my grandfather started life as an apprentice in the early 1890s, working for Willison, a prominent businessman.

Dear WHISKY：
What was the Rothes Copper Works like?

Richard：
Willison had his main workshop in Alloa, in the Center of Scotland. He also had a business in northeast England, in Sunderland, for the boat-building industry because copper was used in all the pipework in the boats at that time. So my grandfather worked in all the different branches before returning to Rothes as a manager. When Willison came to the end of his working life, he sold those branches to the managers.

The Rothes branch was sold to my grandfather in 1933. 

Dear WHISKY：
What happened to the main branch of Rothes Copper Works?

Richard：
When my grandfather bought Rothes branch, a man named R. G. Abercrombie bought the main operation in Alloa. The distilling was shortly closed due to World War II, but the whisky industry boomed, especially in the 50s and 60s. During this time, two massive companies called DCL (Distillers Company Limited) and SMD (Scotch Malt Distillers), which operated under one larger company owned by Diageo today, bought R.G. Abercrombie. That’s how the history of coppersmithing worked. 

Coppersmithing in Rothes

Dear WHISKY：
Why did copper working become so prevalent in the Speyside area?

Richard：
Most of the famous malt distilleries were based in Speyside.

We have 60 distilleries in a 50-mile radius.

The Glenlivet, Macallan, Glenfiddich, Glenfarclas—you name it—they’re all here. And we have been maintaining all their plants and looking after them. That’s how intense this area is for highland malt whiskies. That’s the main reason the copperworks are here.

About Richard Forsyth

Working at Forsyths for almost 60years since 12

Dear WHISKY：
When did you decide to join this company?

Richard：
When I was about 12, I knew at a very young age that I wanted to come into the family business. Hence, by the time I was 14 years old, I was working in my father’s workshop over the summer holidays.  

Dear WHISKY：
What did you do then?

Richard：
I can tell you precisely what I did; I still have scars on my hand. Because many of the stills were directly heated by fire, we had to make copper webbings to clean them. We used to have to cut links and weave them, which was how I started in the company. I still remember my first wage packet. It was a brown wage packet full of brass washers. My first ever salary was paid by brass washers as a prank.

Dear WHISKY：
When did you formally join Forsyths?

Richard：
I officially joined the company when I left school at 16, starting in January 1968.

I have been here since then, turning 73 this year, but I enjoy it; it’s my life. 

Seeing opportunity in the family business

Dear WHISKY：
What made you interested in joining the family business?

Richard：
I saw opportunities even when I was at school. My grandfather’s and father’s workshops were relatively small back then, mainly maintenance workshops, when I joined in 1968. We moved to a more extensive workshop by 1972, and this was when we started to build complete distilleries. 

Dear WHISKY：
When did you move into the management side of the business?

Richard：
I moved to the management side quite early; my father was considering early retirement. Also, the company needed change and expansion.

Thus, I committed to management at around 25 years old, overseeing the growth, organising workshops, and managing people.

Accountants, HR, PR, and even health and safety were rolled into one individual in the early 1970s, which I had to learn all through experience. 

Forsyths, under Richard’s management

Dear WHISKY：
What was Forsyths in the 70s like?

Richard：
The whisky industry experienced significant growth during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Forsyths seized this opportunity, with new distilleries being built and existing ones expanding. In response, we decided to enlarge our business to meet the growing need for distillery expansions, a move that solidified our position in the industry.

Dear WHISKY：
How did it change moving into the 80s, facing “whisky loch”(the slump era of Scotch whisky)?

Richard：
It was a horrible time because 99 percent of Forsyth’s business was the whisky industry.

Our mistake was we had all our eggs in one basket.

The whisky industry was a very lovely industry to work for, but by 1979, the whisky industry discovered that they’d overproduced. They needed to sell those massive stocks quickly. As a result, we had many mothball distilleries that paused or shut down its production. So we had to look at our business and figure out what to do.

Branching out business flexibly

Dear WHISKY：
How did Forsyths overcome the slump of the whisky industry?

Richard：
During the 1980s, the paper-making industry was very buoyant in this area. These factories needed many stainless steel vessels and pipe works, which we developed an engineering department to produce them. From there, moving on to the 1990s, we prepared departments for the oil and gas industry since that industry was becoming increasingly popular in this area. Then, we again moved into this industry, fabricating vessels and pipe work. Around this time, we also bought a sizeable electrical company to offer turnkey services to the oil and gas industry. 

Dear WHISKY：
How did that affect your whisky side of business?

Richard：
By the time the whisky industry started to grow again in the late 1990s to early 21st century, we had a company with the ability to build turnkey distilleries.

And, of course, in the past 15 years, growth has been immense not only in Scotland but also in Ireland, Japan, and worldwide.

Company philosophy and style of business

Dear WHISKY：
Why are all varieties of branches kept within the company even after the whisky loch? 

Richard：
The elementary lesson we learned in 1979: ‘Don’t have all your eggs in one basket.’ Have some diversification within the company. That is our only basic philosophy.  

Dear WHISKY：
What are the ratios of types of business Forsyths have?

Richard：
In 1978, 99 percent of our business was in the whisky industry, which went down, obviously. During the 1980s, it was probably 80 percent paper making and 20 percent coppersmithing. However, things were also developing abroad, and when we went into oil and gas, for 10-15 years, it was like 70 percent oil and gas and 30 percent distilling. For the past ten years, it has been 80 percent distilling.

The growth in not only in whisky but the drink’s industry worldwide is enormous.

Dear WHISKY：
What other drink makers do you work with?

Richard：
We’ve done much business in Mexico, such as building new tequila distilleries and some rum distilleries in the Caribbean. The small-batch craft whiskey industry in America is huge as well. But to be fair, Asia is a massive market for us. Japan in particular, I don’t know why, but you seem to like whisky so much.

Dear WHISKY：
How many distilleries in Japan have you worked with?

Richard：
Over the past 8 years, we have built 25 new distilleries in Japan, forging strong and enduring relationships. My first visit to Japan in the mid-80s was to assist a distillery facing a similar issue to what we had experienced in Scotland.

Since then, I have maintained a 40-year relationship with Japanese distilleries, a testament to the trust and reliability we offer. 

Forsyths international expansion

Dear WHISKY：
How many countries has Forsyths operated its business so far?

Richard：
It’s got to be 20 or 30 countries at least. We recently picked up an order in Vietnam for three or four distilleries. We will also build more in Korea and India, which are snowballing. We have built four distilleries in India, and many more will come there.

Dear WHISKY：
How many distilleries Forsyths has worked with?

Richard：
There are too many to count. I know that we built 155 pot stills and 200 condensers last year. Some of them were maintenance or replacement work, but a large part of them were brand-new equipment. The number of distilleries is just skyrocketing.

Dear WHISKY：
Do you think the number of distilleries will continue to increase?

Richard：
No industry can have growth all the time; we are starting to see a little bit of levelling off.

Dear WHISKY：
Why do you think the levelling off is happening?

Richard：
I assume the main reason is the shortage of casks. With the new rule in Bourbon regarding using casks twice, the whole cycle of casks within the whisky industry could be harshly affected, damaging the Scotch industry a lot.

Forsyths’ service and mindset

Dear WHISKY：
What do you think made Forsyths so widespread and trusted by distilleries?

Richard：
We’ve built up a successful business based on service. We’ve serviced the whole of the whisky industry for four generations now. Everything has been about picking up your phone at midnight and hearing that you have a leaking still or a condenser. Immediately, we have to get somebody to repair it or arrange it first thing in the morning.

Dear WHISKY：
That is such a fantastic dedication.

Richard：
I remember this from my childhood. It was Christmas dinner. The phone suddenly went off, telling my father that one of the pot stills had collapsed. This distillery allowed the pot still to go too thin, to the point that it collapsed under the vacuum pressure built within the still due to extreme cold weather. So, we had to finish up our dinner, put on boiler suits, and get the repair going. 

Dear WHISKY：
What made you value such prompt responsiveness to your clients?

Richard：
We are built upon a reputation of service.

We never say NO; we GO.

We once had a distillery in Japan that had a leaking condenser and contacted us. We don’t know how it happened; it could have been during the shipping, but we sent our team right away to get it fixed. This is to protect our staple of business, good quality equipment and good services. We even sometimes fix other people’s equipment if needed.

At Last

Growing alongside the Speyside whisky community, Forsyths’ coppersmithing has been passed down and developed for the past 130 years.

Despite being such a massive player in the whisky industry, Forsyths’ primary focus and pillars are built on dedication towards customers and never saying no as a service provider.

Check out Part 2 to learn more about their contribution to locals and their commitment to pot still making. If you are more interested in the production process and peeking into Forsyth’s factory, check out our exclusive visit article.