Jim Swan Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

2017 – Scottish Whisky Awards’ “The Dr. Jim Swan Award for Services to Scotch Whisky (awarded post-mortem, with the award named after him).

2005 – Whisky Advocate’s “Pioneer of The Year” Award

In 2002, he founded the Dr James Swan food and drink consultancy. Prior to this, he was a partner in the Tatlock & Thompson consultancy.

1993 – Institute of Brewing & Distilling’s Fellowship

As a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, he was an expert on Gas chromatography. He was a founding member of the scientific team at Jim Gray and Eric Dewar at Inveresk Research International, since 1974 the Pentlands Scotch Whisky Research Ltd and Scotch Whisky Research Institute (SWRI). In the SWRI, Swan managed research programmes, funded by the European Union and the United Kingdom. In 1979, research by Swan and co-researcher Sheila Burtles led to the creation and publication of the first whisky flavour wheel. The flavour wheel serves as an industry standard for sensory evaluation of whisky.

In 1965, Swan received a bachelors’ degree in applied chemistry from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. In 1988, he graduated from the same university with a PhD in Chemistry and Biological Sciences. His PhD focused on the subject of wood extractives in relation to the maturation of scotch whisky.

James Sneddon Swan (born December 25, 1941 – February 14, 2017 in East Lothian, Scotland.) was a chemist, biologist, author, and expert on single malt whisky.