MWSoA Committee.

CRAIG DANIELS – CHAIRPERSON

Craig is the Foundation Chair of the Society from 2002 and was re-elected unopposed in January 2018.  Craig has led all four convention organising committees and has a special interest in event development and innovation in membership servicing.  His working life mainly encompassed 28 years in public administration across various Federal labour market programs, industry and regional services portfolios.  Craig has been involved in whisky connoisseurship since 1991 and is a successful competitor in the National Malt Tasting Competition.  He has won the competition four times, most recently in Sydney in July 2014 and previously in 2013, 2008 and a long while ago in 1995 and has placed second in 2000, 2001 and 2010.  Craig is internationally recognized for his knowledge and palate, contributing to various whisky websites.  He is a proud member of the international internet malt collective, “The Malt Maniacs”, and a long standing member of the Earls of Zetland Malt Tasting Club (1991), the Streah Malt Tasters (1995), the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (2003) and the Macquarie Branch of the Gillies Club (2004).  Craig was the panel chair of the Whisky and Rum judging team at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards in 2015 and 2016.  Craig is currently pursuing whisky interests as an independent bottler of small batch Australian single malts via Whisky Australia Pty Ltd (brand owner of 3 Souls) and as principal of Clan Drummond, providing sensory evaluation services and writing tasting notes on a professional basis for brown spirits producers, primarily whisky and rum.  He has also run malt whisky appreciation evenings and training courses for budding whisky judges.  Craig has visited Scotland three times to pursue his personal passion and has photographic evidence of visits to over 80 distilleries.  His other favoured whisky destination is Tasmania and he’s visited over 20 different malt whisky distillers there across five trips since 2003.  He thinks Australian malt whisky has come a very long way since 2003 and he’s both humble and proud to have played a part in helping kick it along, through the four Conventions, leading development of the ‘Australian Malt Whisky Showcase’ and selecting two Australian distilleries (Overeem and Southern Coast) for our bespoke bottlings.  If pressed, he will also acknowledge a growing appreciation of Indian and Japanese single malts and American rye whiskies. While he hasn’t found the perfect whisky yet, he’s come close with Aberlour 1964, Bowmore 1964, Highland Park 1967, Laphroaig 1976, Ardbeg 1977 and Glenmorangie 1972 and Longrow 1990, amongst others and he’s still hot on the trail.

GRAHAM JONES – VICE CHAIRPERSON

Graham Jones is Adjunct Associate Professor (Oenology) at the University of Adelaide where has taught the chemical, analytical, sensory and production aspects of spirits, table and fortified wines.  He inaugurated the course “Distillation and Fortified Winemaking” and in 2003 he set up the Angove Distillation Facility in the University’s winery on the Waite Campus.

He has a long standing interest in distilled beverage production with particular interest in whisky and rum production, first visiting malt whisky distilleries in Scotland in his teens and has a continuing passion for quality whiskies.

His current projects involve contract distilling and distillery design and runs a small consulting company, Kent Jones Distillers, which has a full ATO Manufacturing License.  He presents a significant part of the course “Fundamentals of Spirit Production” at the University of Adelaide and has assisted a number of distilleries in their start-up and production phases. He is also setting up a whisky distillery on Kangaroo Island under the Nepean Bay Spirits label.

He has a PhD in chemistry and in addition to his membership of the Malt Whisky Society of Australia he is a member of Institute for Brewing and Distilling (IBD) and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He is the author of over 200 refereed and conference publications in a diverse range of subjects, a consultant for the Australian Taxation Office on beverage matters, and runs a farming property on Kangaroo Island. He is committed to the sustainable use of resources and renewable energy production and completed a Certificate IV in Renewable Energy. He also holds the IBD Diploma in Distilling.

ANGUS SMITH – SECRETARY

Gus is a relative new-comer to Uisge Beatha, as well as a relative youth in the Society, having only drunk whisky since 2020. In that time though, he has become a member of the MWSoA, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and a few local tasting clubs, including The Earls of Zetland, Streah, and even forming his own tasting club, the Adelaide Malt Enthusiasts. He has worked as a part-time brewer and distiller for a handful of SA producers, with grand aspirations to study brewing and distilling at University.

Gus has a keen interest in the production and organoleptic aspects of whisky, particularly the origin of flavours throughout the production process. This has led to much research into whisky-related sciences, something which a university background in mathematics and physics has likely lubricated. This scientific perspective has dissuaded him from many of the entrapments of romanticised advertising by whisky marketing companies, and few things will stir him to passion more quickly than a confidently touted inaccuracy. Just try describing whisky as salty!

In the fleeting moments that Gus isn’t working, reading whisky research papers/textbooks or studying a glass of amber, you might find him enjoying a craft beer, rum, Armagnac or other malternative in one of Adelaide’s fine bars. He also enjoys botching games of chess, listening to good music (anything from Miles Davis to Wintersun) and above all, revelling in the company of his angelic wife.

VIANO JAKSA – TREASURER

Viano has worked as a professional film editor, as a teacher and in recent years as an IT consultant. He is now happily retired and enjoys working on and restoring his growing collection of Italian cars. His Italian heritage explains his passion for Alfa Romeo motor vehicles and for wine but there is no genetic explanation for his love of "uisge beatha," the water of life. Viano's belief that life is all about the journey and so, after having received a copy of "1001 Whiskies You Must Try Before You Die," he's undertaking this challenge with characteristic passion and enthusiasm.