【Exclusive Interview】Part 2: Richard Forsyth OBE – Forsyths

If you’ve ever been on a distillery tour, chances are you’ve come across the name “Forsyths” somewhere on the premises.

Forsyths, a manufacturer of distillation equipment, has established itself as a leader in the industry due to its substantial size and global market share.

We had the great opportunity to interview Richard Forsyth OBE, the third-generation president of Forsyths and current chairman. In this second part of the article, Richard elaborated on Forsyth’s employment and training strategies, as well as the manufacturing of pot stills and their significance in whisky production. 

Forsyths Employment and Policy

Employment strategy

Dear WHISKY：
What is your employment strategy?

Richard：
We can’t just employ coppersmiths off the labour exchange; we have to take in youngsters and train them. Nowadays, on top of five-year apprenticeships for youngsters, we also train semi-skilled people, which has worked well in terms of strategy.

However, our primary strategy would be constantly talking to schools and colleges for recruits, not only in coppersmithing but also in electrical, welders, or fabricators.

We are constantly looking for recruitment.

Dear WHISKY：
Are your employees primarily locals?

Richard：
We have a policy of recruiting locally if possible. We try to take them within a 20-mile radius of our factories. Additionally, we like to put some money and effort back into these regions through sports facilities and community support.

Dear WHISKY：
How many employees do Forsyths have?

Richard：
There are around 520 in total now. Within that, 70 of them specialise in copper works. These people work either here at Rothes or Elgin, 10 miles away, or Buckie, 16 miles away.

These are all within a 20-mile radius because, again, we are a great believer in supporting locals.  

Dear WHISKY：
Why do Forsyths commit that much to local employment?

Richard：
People here have excellent work ethics. On top of that, although many kids these days are starting to have different outlooks, everybody wanting to be on the computer, there are still many good kids out there that would like to go into the workshops and train.

Training up to learn the craftsmanship

Dear WHISKY：
What would be the merit of training up from the workshop?

Richard：
As a person who started from the workshop floor, I can assure you that the workshop is the best training of the lot. Workshops are varied work environments where you are not doing the same thing daily.

This keeps you interested, and you can learn a lot.

Dear WHISKY：
What does the training process look like?

Richard：
Upon joining, youngster gets seconded to a coppersmith and shadow him until ready. Someone really good can learn in three years, but most of them need full five years. 

Beauty of hand craft and techniques

Dear WHISKY：
How are certain jobs in the factory divided?

Richard：
As I said, workshops are varied work environment, so there’s not much of a division of labour. We like to have people do multiple jobs. 

Dear WHISKY：
How long do your employees stay at the company on average?

Richard：
Around 30 to 40% of our employees would probably have been with us over 20 years. We got a lot of good long term guys, even some of them have over 30 years services. We look for loyalty and it’s truly a two way street.

We look after them, and they will look after us in the long term.

Dear WHISKY：
How long can a person work as a coppersmith?

Richard：
Coppersmithing in particular is a very physical job, hand-hammering the copper over and over again. Many of them will start to slow up by mid 40s so we got some physically lighter duties or management jobs offered for them as well. 

Dear WHISKY：
What is the reason behind not mechanising everything?

Richard：
We’ve mechanised as much as we can at this point. The cutting and some of the hammering are now done by machines.

However, there’s still a certain amount of things that requires physical and precise attention.

Production Process

The basic flow of production

Dear WHISKY：
What does the process look like?

Richard：
First, as we get the order, we must organise materials and labour. If we are building a pot still, we need a lot of copper, which we mainly source from the mill in Germany. Copper comes in plates, so we cut, weld, and shape them through various processes.

Dear WHISKY：
What would be the final step of production process?

Richard：
We test the equipment, install it in the distillery, and then commission it. We either do it in-house or hire ex-distiller to run the whole system for 2-3 weeks, making sure it properly produces the spirits.

By running water through first, and testing all steps from milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, and pipe works connecting it all, everything will start to settle.

Bespoke pot still crafts

Dear WHISKY：
What is the hardest thing about pot still production?

Richard：
Since all distilleries have different designs and sizes of pot stills, we can’t buy machines to simply stamp them out. It has to be an individually made craft that is bespoke to the client’s wishes.

Dear WHISKY：
What kind of orders do you get from distilleries?

Richard：
All the old distilleries are so particular that everything you make has got to be precisely the same as the old one. This is to keep the consistent and traditional taste these brands aim to protect. Glenffidich tends to have small pot stills, and Glenlivet tends to have larger pot stills, and these features are particular to their products—that’s why they fiercely protect those varieties in designs or sizes.

Dear WHISKY：
What’s the most memorable order you got?

Richard：
We once had a man come into this office, this exact room, with an entourage of process and engineering people and said to me, “I want to make Glenlivet”. That man was T.T. Lee, the founder of Kavalan. I responded that we can’t guarantee that, as there are many other factors, such as climate and ingredients, that contribute to the flavour of Glenlivet besides equipment. His first order was to build a line producing a million litres of spirit. After three years, Kavalan now have three lines, and we have five mash tuns and 20 pot stills in that distillery, producing around 9 million litres per year.

They are now the single biggest malt distillery in Asia.

Impact of pot still on taste of whisky

Dear WHISKY：
Do you often give advice to people about the taste of whisky and pot still?

Richard：
It is a bit complicated because there is a bit of mystique in whisky making. Since there are so many factors that go into whisky production, we cannot guarantee that we will offer something that will 100% replicate certain whiskies, meaning that we would not guarantee the possibility of replicating another whisky based solely on the shape of the pot stills.

Dear WHISKY：
Have any distilleries ever wanted to change the designs afterwards?

Richard：
There are only a few, but some distilleries want to have taller necks for more reflux.

This would never happen with old distilleries that preserve tradition and history.

Pricing of the pot still

Dear WHISKY：
What determines the price of a pot still?

Richard：
It depends a lot on the designs, but the main factor would be the size. Since copper is an expensive metal, the area of copper would affect the price the most, along with the person-hour needed to craft the pot. Steam heating against direct firing is essential as well. Direct fired stills will be more expensive as the copper required will be thicker where the heat is being applied and the heating source will be more expensive.

Dear WHISKY：
Would the shape of a pot still affect the price?

Richard：
Yes, of course. It is quite self-explanatory when you look at them. It is apparent that some shapes are simply more intricate and complex to make, needing more person-hours to build, which ultimately determines the price.

Traditional shapes of pot stills

Dear WHISKY：
Over hundreds of years, has the shape of the pot still changed?

Richard：
Very little. Some of the new distilleries will ask for variations because they are starting from scratch and trying to do something different.

However, there are four or five shapes which will have an influence in some degree in the many pot stills shapes.

Dear WHISKY：
Out of those traditional shapes, is there your favourite?

Richard：
I like traditional onion shapes, like Glenffidich’s wash stills. they are beautiful. I also like boil balls (bulge shape), just another traditional one, such a nice shape. There’s a lot out there but very few are exactly the same.

In my opinion, it’s just all about proportion. 

60 years of career in whisky industry

Memorable moment

Dear WHISKY：
What is the most memorable thing throughout your career?

Richard：
I really have enjoyed the camaraderie from the early days, right up until now. We’ve got some great people.

The most important thing in any business is to keep some humour.

We all have dark days and black days but there’s lots of good days as well. And I think you’ve got to keep humour, for anything you do. We’ve built up a great company, and it’s all to do with the people we have. 

Shifts and advancement in the industry

Dear WHISKY：
What has changed the most in the industry over 60 years of your career?

Richard：
Innovation about green energy and environmental sustainability has been fascinating. Retaining and re-using heats are really important advancement we had in the past years.   

Dear WHISKY：
Have you ever considered altering the shape of the pot still hugely from its traditional shapes?

Richard：
No, never. I am happy for my clients to think about it, but I myself is happy with what we have now. When you compare pot stills from years ago with recent one, you notice the bottom shape below the ground has changed.

This is due to change in trend from direct fire to steam heating, which was the biggest technological advancement we had in terms of pot still design, but that’s probably the only major change in shape we had.

Future prospect

Dear WHISKY：
What would be the next goal of Forsyths?

Richard：
I am proud of the company and its promotion, and I just hope my son will continue, which I am sure he will. He is a smart guy who has good handle on the industry, internationally especially.  

Dear WHISKY：
What would be the next goal for you?

Richard：
I just want to go and see the places I’ve never seen, which is getting smaller because I travel a lot, but I will definitely go back to Japan as well. 

Message for Dear WHISKY Readers

At Last

Forsyths is a company that supports the local community by providing employment opportunities to young apprentices. Richard explained how this not only helps to create jobs but also fosters a strong sense of loyalty and commitment among the youth. Forsyths’ current status as the world’s best pot still maker is attributed to the skilled and dedicated employees as well as the passed-down tradition.

Forsyths’ story highlights the importance of building healthy relationships with people for the long-term success of the company and the community it serves.

Additionally, Richard Forsyth, an ultimate expert in the field, educated us on pot still analysis and its influence on whisky production.