Ahead of this year’s historic 150th Open in St. Andrews, we have partnered with one of the UK’s most respected photographers - Jonathan Daniel Pryce (aka Garcon Jon) - to capture a series of portraits of individuals within both Loch Lomond’s Distillery and St. Andrews itself.
This new campaign – in celebration of Loch Lomond’s status as The Spirit of the Open - is a showcase of the people who lie at the heart of Loch Lomond Distillery, as well as some of those well-known faces who are part of the fabric of golf’s spiritual home. Jonathan’s photographic style is honest and authentic and through his final series of portraits – and the film which documents the journey from our home to the spiritual home of golf – we get to explore the spirit within both our whisky and The Open.
Photographer
Jonathan is an award-winning photographer, who originally hails from Scotland but is now based in London. His images have been published by a wide array of titles including GQ, Esquire, Mr Porter and Vogue. For this project, Jonathan returned back to his homeland to capture a series of portraits of our Distillery team, as well as some well-known faces who live and work in Golf’s spiritual home, St Andrews.
“Most of my photography work is based around people, so I love portraiture. What I’ve loved about this project is meeting a lot of the characters in these areas, often the people that are the unsung heroes. Masters in their own field.”
Jannettas Gelateria, St Andrews
The world-famous Janettas Gelateria is a St Andrews institution. For four generations, since Bennett Jannetta left the small village of Atina near Cassino in Italy, Janettas have been producing their much-loved premium Gelato in St Andrews. Using only the finest ingredients, many of which are sourced locally or imported from Italy, their Gelato is made using traditional Italian artisan machinery by skilled Gelato makers.
Brand Ambassador, Loch Lomond Whisky
Iona Stephen is a former professional golfer and now host and broadcaster working with many of golf’s key networks including GolfTV, Sky Sports Golf, the BBC and NBC Golf Channel. Through her partnership with Loch Lomond Whiskies, Iona joins our illustrious lineup of golfing Brand Ambassadors which include Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen. As a resident of St Andrews, Iona truly understands the importance of Golf to the local community and how it runs deep within the fabric of the city.
Stillman, Loch Lomond Distillery
Sean, one of our Stillsmen, has been with Loch Lomond Whiskies for over 8.5 years and is a hugely valued member of the team. Aside from being a personal fan of our Inchmurrin 12 Year Old, Sean is an advocate for all the whiskies that come out of the Distillery.
“What I have always really liked about working at Loch Lomond is that every day is different. There are so many different parts of the distillery – the mash tuns, the stills, the cooperage etc – but it’s the people and the teams that you don’t always see, that help to give our whisky its real spirit”.
Luvians Bottle Shop, St Andrews
Founded in 1981 and situated in St Andrews, Luvians Bottle Shop - a global destination for lovers of the Water of Life - is home to almost 1,200 whiskies and has been recognised as an “Icon of Whisky” by the prestigious World Whisky Awards.
Hailing originally from a mountain village in Southern Italy the three Fusaro brothers behind the Luvians name settled in this beautiful part of Scotland where they found that the folk shared their love of good food and drink and their strong ethos of family and community spirit.
Whisky Blender, Loch Lomond Distillery
With a keen nose and natural aptitude for identifying the nuance of flavour within whisky, Ashley was destined to work in the spirits industry. Ashley has been with Loch Lomond Whiskies for over 2.5+ years and in her role as a whisky blender, she is no stranger to exploration and innovation.
“With whisky, there is always something new to discover. Our unique still set up and focus on flavour creation, from the very start of the whisky-making process, enables us to produce multiple different spirit styles. At Loch Lomond we have the freedom to be creative, experimenting with different flavours and bringing them all together to create something new and exciting.”
Apprentice Cooper, Loch Lomond Distillery
Gerry originally started working in the Distillery warehouse team but having been exposed to the craft and skill of the Coopers, he was inspired to take up his tools and become an Apprentice cooper himself.
“I’m now in my third year of a four-year course and, although it’s tough I’m really enjoying it. I like the fact that it’s a truly traditional craft, one that requires a huge amount of dedication, effort and skill to master. The team of Coopers at the Loch Lomond Distillery share a similar approach to the role – we take huge pride in the work we do and although it can be hard, labour-intensive work, we still find the time to have a bit of banter.”
