Whyte & Mackay master distiller Richard Paterson was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to the Scotch whisky industry.

The new International Spirits Challenge whisky chairman, Richard Paterson of Whyte & Mackay, is celebrating 45 years in the whisky industry this year.

Gonzalez Byass, the major sherry producer, has unveiled a new whisky which, it claims, is a first and could represent the beginning of a new spirits category.