Julia Fletcher-Smith, general manager of The Pot Still, has good reason to smile as the Glasgow institution heads into a festive season of celebratory drams and toasts to the New Year.
The Pot, for the third time in recent memory, has been declared Whisky Bar of the Year in the SLTN Awards, presented in association with Glenfiddich, and it has done so on Julia’s watch, while both the pub’s matriarch Geraldine Murphy, and its life-and-soul, brother Frank Murphy, have taken a step back to tend to their young families.
Julia has wholeheartedly embraced the opportunity, and without changing anything about the Pot’s character or atmosphere, has taken the chance to finesse the operation and add her own streak of flair to its splendid drinks selection and world-famous service.
A week after the new award went up above the bar, SLTN popped by at opening time for a chat with Julia, Geraldine and Frank, to get some insight into the Pot’s successful power-sharing dynamic.
Julia: “Actually, when I started in the trade, I always imagined I’d go into beer, because I liked beer. I’d worked in a bar, on that path, but then got made redundant. It was then I met Geraldine at a family party and got asked to do some shifts in The Pot Still, and when I did, I liked it.
“Then one day, Geraldine just turned round and said ‘you’re fulltime now, you’ll need to ditch your other shifts’.”
Geraldine interjects: “We liked her. She had fitted right in.”
Now six-and-a-half years on the staff, Julia has actually been in the General Manager role for four or five years, but the date is blurred, because as with any family business, the demarcation of roles on paper may not precisely match the actual allocation of power and responsibility.
The Murphys freely admit that it was only when the demands of Geraldine’s young family physically kept her away from the premises that Julia truly got her hands on the wheel.
Frank: “Julia didn’t get a fair crack of the whip as GM til me and Geraldine stepped back and started our families. It’s only really been recently she has had the chance to properly assert herself.”
As we speak, shortly after opening time on a frosty November morning, discussion is afoot with regard to Julia’s recent clean-up in the cellar, and what has been found as a result of that effort to impose a higher degree of organisation on the space than had previously been the case under the care of Large Francis.
Frank: “Julia has been downstairs and cleaned house, so its tidier…
Julia: “Much tidier…”
Frank: “… but maybe not structured in the way that I’d expect…”
Julia: “I found 117 bottles that aren’t anywhere in the system…”
But aside from a much-needed organisational eye on the downstairs storage areas, what has Julia brought to the offering?
There’s no hesitation from the Murphys in highlighting the success of Julia’s work wrangling the Pot’s flight menu, which was previously as much a hindrance as a help. As GM, she has made it her business to take the concept in hand and make it work. There is now a menu of six themed six-dram flights, as well as a selection of three-dram offerings, that she is curating and encouraging the staff to embrace.
Frank supports the logic: “Some of the team might not like it much just yet, because a flight takes some time setting up, but in the long run it is a time-saver.
“Also, culturally speaking, some of our overseas visitors are chatty and want to stand at the bar and be talked through the selection process. But others are more reserved, and prefer to be presented with a curated selection at their table, then be left in peace to explore it.”
Julia has also shaken up the famed Malt Of The Month offering.
Julia: “I got kind of bored with MOTM always being the same, with big brands tending to dominate, because we’d got into that habit. I wanted to let the little people shine … Lochlea, Rassay … independents.
“There’s real job satisfaction in that,” she noted. “The Rassay folk were at an event, and they were getting people coming up to them saying that their first ever taste of Rassay was as a Pot Still MOTM.”
A MOTM listing will usually consume between 110 and 140 bottles of the featured dram, so it is no small commitment for an independent distillery to make.
Frank: “There’s that positive value for smaller producers in being part of a MOTM – it generates great word-of-mouth.”
The Pot Still gantry is, as ever, a thing of wonder, a cornucopia of drams, a sorcerer’s library of precious liquids – and just as wondrous are the staff’s various strategies for accessing the higher shelves and obscure corners, scampering like house elves (or lumbering like orcs) across the face of Dumbledore’s drinks cabinet.
“We sat at around 800 whiskies for a long time, but now we are moving towards 1000… I think there’s 948 on the gantry now,” says Julia.
“I think 1000 is going to be our maximum,” says Geraldine firmly. ‘That is, 1000 different whiskies open for sale on the gantry,” she clarifies.
“We’ll hit that 1000 to say we’ve done it, then maybe bring it back down a bit,” adds Frank.
Julia confesses that she is currently spending hours every week adding new products to the sales list, as well as keeping on top of price changes, especially following the recent duty changes.
When adding stock, everything gets the same percentage mark-up, except the beer covered by the venue lease, which is necessarily sold on a different deal.
“We have a good relationship with [distributor] Royal Mile. They deliver twice a week in Glasgow, which is nice, and their website is perfect – it is so easy to use. Some of the other companies could learn a lesson or two from how Royal Mile have that set up.”
Barman Andrew, who has clearly been earie-wigging, interjects at this point: “I’ve just counted – there’s 992 whiskies on the gantry – and there’s definitely room for another 8 or 9.”
This discovery causes something of a commotion, as the Murphys realise that they might, with a bit of running about, be able to legitimately claim that magic number of 1000 whiskies for sale before the end of my interview. Julia puts her foot down.
“There’s a list of 117 bottles needing put into the system. We are going to do it properly!”
Frank: “OCD isn’t in the job spec, but we absolutely appreciate it…”
Julia: “I like things neat and organised. I suppose I am a little bit of a control freak.”
Frank: “I wonder why Geraldine hired you…”
One factor behind the excess of whiskies impinging upon Julie’s sense of order is Frank’s continuing whisky auction habit, a pastime that got moved off the official business credit card some time ago, but which continues, via an ad hoc arrangement whereby the pub will buy some of his accumulated treasures when he really really needs some of that money back. More generally though, there is the industry trend for independent bottlers to put out a ’limited quantity, big fuss’ release quarterly.
“Everyone is releasing stuff on the quarter days, and we can’t help being part of that ruckus,” observes Frank.
“It works though,” adds Julia. “Those indies sell so well. Even if we just get a one bottle allocation, it’s good to give these releases their time on the gantry.”
As our discussion goes on, it is apparent that the Pot is much more than just a shop front managing the one-way flow of liquid from distilleries to the public. There is an opposite flow of expert staff, youngsters who learned their whisky lore on Hope St, and have since gone on to roles with drinks companies big and small.
Geraldine tries to list them: “Sam is at Macallan; Paul went off to Chivas; Kat’s at Lagg; Dave’s at Clydeside; Ally’s at Sun Tory; Steph’s at Edrington…”
Frank interjects: “Although it increases the churn a touch, the standard of applicants we get is better because there is a path from here into the trade.
“If they want to move on, there’s no point trying to stop them. Its better just to embrace it. Our alumni are far reaching…”
Geraldine, who is in for the interview with her youngest at her hip, notes: “We are creating the next generation of staff. We are just hiring in for now until all our kids start hitting 18.”
Kidding aside, Geraldine acknowledges that The Pot is not a normal bar shift, and a lot is expected of new staff: “Not necessarily the level of knowledge at the start, but certainly their aptitude and willingness to learn. That is essential,” says Geraldine.
This is very important to make the most of that 1000-whisky range. In an effort to provoke, I asked whether it was really just 50 busy bottles and 950 ornaments?
Good job Geraldine’s hands were full, or I might have been wearing my tea.
“Everything on the gantry is open and for sale and sells!” she states emphatically.
Julia explains: “What people want has really changed, I think. They do not want the standard any more. They’ll come in and say ‘I usually drink x, y or z’, and then ask us to recommend something that they may like.
“Also, the staff don’t want to sell the same stuff over and over. If someone does ask for something obvious, we will judge the moment and say ‘well yes, you could have that, but what about this weird thing I’ve found that I think you might like?’.
“I don’t want to charge people a lot for something showy and well-promoted, when I know we have a product on the gantry that is as good, if not better, that costs less.”
A cause long-beloved of Geraldine is the inclusion of women in the whisky world, and pre-kids, she set about making it happen by curating her own ladies’ whisky tasting nights. She is happy to report that her cheerfully evangelical zeal was not wasted, and there has been a definite shift in the demographics of the Pot Still’s clientele.
Geraldine: “Females are more comfortable to come up to the bar and ask questions now. Happy and comfortable to be ordering whisky to suit their own tastes.”
Julia: “There is definitely an influx of young women coming in, in groups, to drink whisky.”
Frank: “It’s also good to see women by themselves ordering a flight, and sitting down to enjoy it, having a bit of lunch, reading a book, just relaxed in the environment.”
Julia notes that a variety of staff behind the bar promotes diversity in the clientele: “Women prove time and time again that they know their whisky. It is only right that anyone can walk up to the bar and ask a woman ‘what shall I drink?’.”
Midday, and the pub is getting busy for lunchtime, so I make my excuses and prepare to leave. Already Frank is proposing which of the 117 errant bottles should be added to the system and the gantry to top the magic 1000 bottle mark.
Julia smiles sweetly at him and says: “Let’s wait til Gordy has gone THEN we’ll talk about it.”
