A glass of whisky should be savoured, preferably in a manor house while lounging in a high-backed chair next to a crackling log fire, the hiss of a record playing while the comforting clink of ice cubes drum out an unpredictable staccato rhythm. Alas, many of us don’t own manor houses or high-backed chairs, and placing a large stick on your radiator isn’t really comparable to a log fire (trust me, I’ve tried; my girlfriend was less than delighted). Music, then, is the key to true single malt enjoyment, and it seems Fettercairn agree. The distillery is this year’s headline partner of The Scottish Album of the Year Award, cementing whisky’s reputation as the ultimate long-player drink. And so it made me wonder: which previous SAY Award winners pair perfectly with the layered taste of Fettercairn? 

How about the first album to win the SAY Award in 2012, Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat’s Everything’s Getting Older? In this indie-jazz masterpiece, the smoky-voiced Moffat faces middle-age with a typically hardnosed flair, tackling the meaning of life via a series of workaday problems, from endless trips to the supermarket to dinnertime with his ageing mother. Charting a story of life’s sadness and beauty, Moffat’s distinct west coast baritone offers an alternative whisky pairing for those more used to associating single malts with tartan and shortbread. Perhaps the distinct maturity of Fettercairn’s 18 Year Old blend, which bears the first fruits of the distillery’s Scottish Oak Project, is perfect for an evening of rumination. 

It’s of a piece with Kathryn Joseph’s Bones You Have Thrown Me, And Blood I’ve Spilled, which picked up the award in 2015 for haunting, pained arrangements that use Joseph’s voice like a dagger through the heart. At times, her vocals channel the witchy energy rooted deep in Scottish history, summoning a very different kind of heritage. For a drink born from the grain of Scotland’s countryside in 1824, there’s something in Bones that’s wholly complementary to Fettercairn as it is to the darker parts of the Celtic mentality. Try the Vanguard here, a rich taste with tropical notes and hidden depths of flavour. 

Onto happier pastures, Young Fathers’ Heavy Heavy was produced as a direct rebuttal to a world edging ever closer to doom and gloom. Its brash, afro-futuristic dance represented the vibrant, positive face emerging from lockdown when it won in 2023, as artists elevated the material they’d incubated during isolation onto the global stage. Pick a 12-year-old whisky for this one; youthful, sun-warmed and brimming with fresh, excitable textures. 

What of the most recent SAY Award winner, Kai Reesu’s KOMPROMAT vol i? For many, the group’s heady blend of LA rap and Scottish nu-jazz was the culmination of a fresh movement emerging from the central belt, turning American influences on their head with propulsive grooves and good humour. One for a 50-year-old Fettercairn, a distinctive single malt aged in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels.

It’s hard to predict who SAY will champion next at this year’s 15th Anniversary Ceremony in Dundee this November, but there’s a diverse selection at play on the Longlist, including indie mainstays The Twilight Sad, women and non-binary collective Hen Hoose, Gaelic trio Sian, trip hop legends Boards of Canada, and much more, proving the lasting vitality of Scotland’s music scene. I’ll drink to that. 

The SAY Award Ceremony, delivered in partnership with Fettercairn, returns to Dundee’s Caird Hall on Thursday 5 November to crown this year’s winner and celebrate 15 years of Scotland’s national music prize. Tickets via the SAY Award site. Find out more about Fettercairn at the Fettercairn site. Please enjoy Fettercairn Whisky responsibly; main picture: Cameron Brisbane. 

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