How A Scotch Tasting Sparked A 3,200-Mile Quest To Help A Master Distiller Taste Pumpkin Pie For The First Time

• A tasting with Aberlour master distiller Graeme Cruickshank sparked a weeks-long quest to give him the chance to taste pumpkin pie for the first time
• After he admitted he’d never tried the treat, we helped send all the necessary ingredients more than 3,000 miles to make it possible
• Read more about whiskey here

One of the fun perks of stumbling into a career that involves frequently writing about alcohol is that I’ve been presented with the opportunity to meet, chat, and (from a selfish perspective, most importantly) drink some fantastic libations with some incredibly interesting people in the industry over the years.

That list includes Graeme Cruickshank, a Scotch whisky veteran who’s spent close to 40 years honing his craft at distilleries around the fabled region on his way to earning the title of the Master Distiller at Aberlour, whose production facility is nestled in the heart of the Speyside region.

I got the chance to “meet” Graeme late last year during a tasting in New York City that he joined from Scotland via Zoom. Over the course of the evening, I was lucky enough to sample a few of the fantastic bottles that have been produced under his watch. That included the truly amazing A’bunadh, a cask-strength offering bursting with the flavor of the Oloroso sherry casks it’s aged in, but I also downed a glass (or, if we’re being honest, three) of the distillery’s 12-year-old flagship.

The bulk of Aberlour’s portfolio is based on the “double cask” method, which involves placing the base spirit (derived from barley sourced from a local farm and fermented with water that flows from the nearby Ben Rinnes mountain) in American oak and Spanish sherry barrels before being combined at the end of the aging process.

The end result is an impeccably balanced whisky boasting notes of fruits and spice, and while I’ve always been partial to bourbon, Aberlour 12 has found its way into my regular rotation in the wake of the awaking that occurred that night.

During the tasting, one of the other people in attendance asked Graeme if he could share some foods that complement the 12-year whisky particularly well. He noted the combination of baking spices you’ll find on the palate made it the perfect complement to pumpkin pie, but he paused before qualifying the statement by saying, “At least that’s what I’ve been told. I’ve never actually had pumpkin pie.”

When you consider pumpkins only grow in the wild in North America, I guess it wasn’t necessarily shocking to learn that a Scottish native had never had the opportunity to taste the Thanksgiving staple in a country where “pie” is more commonly used to describe savory dishes filled with various meats.

However, I quickly realized I had a chance—no, an obligation—to show Graeme what he’s been missing out on and provide him with the opportunity to back up his claim by getting a chance to sample the dessert alongside a dram for himself.

I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to coordinate the transportation of the necessary ingredients for the 3,234-mile journey from NYC to the distillery, but I’d promised Graeme I would do exactly that and I wasn’t going to let him down.

I was concerned I’d encountered a bit of a hitch after discovering I’d be violating the United Kingdom’s customs regulations that ban the shipment of dairy by sending a can of evaporated milk across The Pond. Thankfully, the Aberlour team ensured me he’d be able to track some down and came through with a clutch assist by assembling the rest of the requisite ingredients before shipping the care package Graeme’s way.

A few weeks later, I was absolutely delighted to receive an email containing some pictures Graeme took while assembling the pie along with his thoughts on the end result.

Here’s what he had to say:

“Swapping malted barley, water, and yeast for pumpkin, evaporated milk, and spices was a step into the unknown for this Scottish baking novice.

The humble turnip was the Halloween lantern of choice when I was growing up, and only recently has the pumpkin become more prominent around this time of year. To be introduced to the delicacy of pumpkin pie as the staple Thanksgiving dessert in the United States was too much of a temptation to resist.

Taking the basic ingredients and turning them into something so appealing and delicious (albeit in a shorter timescale) as the fabulous Aberlour 12-year-old brought a sense of achievement.

At the end of the day, the two went so well together with the combination of the sweet fruitiness of the pie, with hints of cinnamon spice coming together with the sherry influence and subtle ginger notes of the whisky.

It’s a real winning combination and one to savor at any autumn or winter dinner table.”

I’ve managed to accomplish a fair amount after spending more than a decade of my life writing online, but I don’t think anything comes close to the satisfaction of being able to help this come together.