The Inspiring Story of Cloudmaker & it’s heritage

29 Jun

Alan Chambers MBE began his journey, quite literally, by carving paths through uncharted terrain, becoming the first man to lead a British team on an unsupported expedition from Canada to the Geographic North Pole. Today, he’s forging a new direction in whisky with Cloudmaker. A spirit he hopes will make its mark and be enjoyed by a new generation, breaking long-held ideas around who whisky should be enjoyed by.

We had the absolute pleasure of welcoming Alan on site, as he warmly invited us into the beginnings of this new expedition.

Like many great ventures, this one began in a moment of spontaneity, as Alan put it:

“Every whisky should have a good backstory… and I’ve got to be honest, the Cloudmaker idea came precisely after drinking a little bit of whisky. After a couple of drams, I bought a trademark for the name.”

~ Alan Chambers MBE

The name Cloudmaker carries deep historical significance. It originates from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions, during which he observed clouds circling the summit of a mountain. A phenomenon he didn’t yet know was caused by microclimates. He named the mountain Cloudmaker and it became a critical navigational marker during the Golden Age of Antarctic exploration.

Alan spoke about this heritage with clear admiration:

“Back in the day, if you were an explorer discovering things for the first time, you got to name it. A mountain, an unnamed peak, a valley… anything.”

With Cloudmaker Whisky, he links his brand to Shackleton’s pioneering legacy and to his own decades of exploration.

“Look at the incredible story of Sir Ernest Shackleton, for all his unbelievable exploration, courage, survival, and leadership, he never made it to the South Pole.”

“With my career… I’ve walked to the North Pole 16 times and the South Pole four times. Since 1911, when we made it two years ago, we were still only the 200th team in the world to reach it.
**So when you go back to what Cloudmaker is, it’s got huge heritage linked with Shackleton in that golden age of exploration and with a modern-day explorer.”**

~ Alan Chambers MBE

From this foundation, the idea for the whisky evolved naturally,

“It was a five-year sleeping giant that nobody knew I had..... in fact, I didn’t know I had it until I woke up the next morning. I sat on it for five or six years, until I met an incredible man called Ian Munns.”

Alan’s business partner, Ian Munn, is well connected within the whisky industry and so a partnership with renowned distillers Angus & Dundee Distillers, formed.

When discussing the packaging, Alan’s appreciation for label craft was unmistakable.

“I didn’t realise, like most people, how much technology goes into a label. It’s incredible. It’s not just a label, is it?
Everything we’ve done from the beginning has had to be 100%.
**The label is probably the most important thing. It’s the one thing customers see before they taste. So that’s got to be spot on.”**

~Alan Chambers MBE

On Alan’s second visit, we were thrilled to welcome him, along with Ian and his team back on site for a whisky tasting. The first opportunity to try Cloudmaker with the label on the bottle. The tasting was paired with a traditional Scottish dish of haggis, neeps and tatties, prepared by a local chef, adding a sense of place to the occasion.

It was the perfect way to close this chapter of the journey and to raise a glass to Cloudmaker’s next expedition.