Grainmash started with a simple realisation: I needed a hobby.
Over the years, many of the things I once considered hobbies had either become part of my working life or, in the case of sport, gradually become more about keeping fit than switching off. I wanted something I could enjoy at my own pace, something social, interesting and relaxed. Whisky tasting seemed like a pretty good place to start.
What began as an interest in tasting soon became an appreciation for the bottles themselves, and particularly the stories behind them.
One of the first bottles I bought that really meant something to me was a 40 year old Jura 1966. I came across it at Berry Bros. while interviewing their head of buying. The dates on the bottle immediately caught my attention. It had been distilled in 1966, the year my brother was born, bottled on 12 November, my father's birthday, and it was 40 years old, which happened to be my age at the time.
It felt, in a slightly strange way, like the three of us captured in one bottle.
I bought it. At around £1,600, not everyone in the family was entirely convinced by the decision. But nearly two decades later, it remains one of the bottles that means the most to me. Its value has increased considerably, but that was never really the reason for buying it.
From there, collecting became part appreciation, part curiosity and occasionally part investment.
The Hanyu Ichiro's Malt Card Series particularly captured my imagination. There was something about the combination of Japanese whisky, craftsmanship, presentation and scarcity that made the collection fascinating. Over time I acquired a number of the cards, including a run from Ten through to Ace.
At one point, several of them were sitting in an unconverted loft. The irony was that there was probably enough whisky up there to pay for the loft conversion, but not enough cash to actually do it. I had plenty of assets. I just wasn't particularly liquid.
That tension between drinking and collecting whisky is still part of the enjoyment. Pick up an interesting bottle on a Friday evening and one part of you wants to open it. The other wants to check what it's worth, find the original purchase price and quietly put it back on the shelf.
Perhaps one of the best perspectives on all of this came from renowned whisky collector Sukhinder Singh. When I asked him about the best whisky he had ever tried, his answer was wonderfully simple: the last one he opened.
It is a good reminder not to take collecting too seriously.
As the interest grew, so did the idea of creating somewhere to write about whisky, collecting and the stories behind the bottles. I wanted a name that felt strong but broad enough to sit naturally within the whisky world. Grain mash is where whisky begins, so Grainmash felt like the right anchor.
There was another idea hiding in the name too.
I've always had a passion for wood and furniture, particularly distinctive pieces of modern and mid century design. From the beginning, I could see an opportunity to mash those interests together. That became Woodgrain, a part of Grainmash dedicated to interesting and beautifully designed pieces of furniture.
After all, if you're going to open an exceptional bottle of whisky, there is something rather appealing about having an exceptional chair to sit in while you drink it.
And that is really what Grainmash is becoming: a place for interesting bottles, beautiful objects and the stories that make them worth owning.
The collection will continue to evolve, as will the site. Some of it may be practical, some collectible, and some perhaps a little unexpected.
That's part of the fun.