Scotland’s first woman coppersmith has taken up the age-old whisky craft as a modern apprentice.
Rebecca Weir, 18, is part of the latest apprentice intake at Diageo’s Abercrombie copperworks in her home town of Alloa, alongside 16-year-old Calum McTaggart from the famous whisky island of Islay, and Steven Key, who at 34 is a mature apprentice recruit.
Coppersmiths have for centuries used the same tried and tested methods to make the famous stills at the heart of Scotch whisky distillation.
Diageo’s new apprentices will learn how to hand-beat copper sheets and weld them into stills, as well as being trained in computer-aided design techniques.
Ms Weir, who hopes to have a bright future in the traditionally male-dominated field, said: “I wasn’t put off by gender stereotypes – I don’t think that should stop anyone from doing what they want to do.
“I can’t wait to get stuck in and learn more about the essential skills needed to build and preserve the stills.”
Mentor and operations manager Charlie King said it was a career ambition to encourage young people to consider a coppersmith career.
He added: “The traditional coppersmith skills take 10 years to master but, once mastered, it’s a career to last a lifetime.
“If there were to be a gap in skills, the trade would be lost forever – you can’t learn this out of a book – so you can see how important it is for us to nurture the next generation.”
Abercrombie, which employs 43 people, is Scotland’s oldest copperworks and has created thousands of stills since its creation in 1790.
Diageo usually offers a couple of apprenticeships a year at the site, plus a further 18 focused on engineering skills at its operations around Scotland.
A quarter of the firm’s Scottish apprentices are women, helping to produce whisky brands including world best-seller Johnnie Walker, Buchanan’s, J&B, Haig Club and Vat 69.
Diageo’s single malt range includes Caol Ila, Cardhu, Dalwhinnie, Knockando, Lagavulin, Oban, Royal Lochnagar, The Singleton and Talisker, while the company also produces Guinness stout, Smirnoff vodka, Baileys liqueur, Captain Morgan rum and Tanqueray gin.