Whisky and food pairings are often spoken of in the same breath as wine dinners, but anyone who has sat through a poorly executed whisky banquet knows how precarious it can be.
Too often, dishes and drams are forced together by cliché—smoked salmon with peated whisky, chocolate with sherry casks—without a true understanding of how flavour works.
To get to the heart of how whisky and food can genuinely enhance one another, Vic and I sat down with Colin Hinds, chef-turned-whisky-bar-owner and the brilliant mind behind our favourite Edinburgh whisky bar: Tipsy Midgie.
With decades of experience in fine dining and whisky collaborations, Colin brings a rare dual perspective: the trained palate of a renowned chef and the deep knowledge of a whisky expert.
Our conversation ranged from his journey from kitchens to bar ownership, to why most whisky dinners fail, and finally to the science (and art) of creating harmony and contrast between plate and glass.
What follows is a curated transcript of our discussion, lightly edited for clarity.
From Chef to Whisky Bar Owner
Shelly: Colin, can you tell us about your journey from chef to whisky bar owner?
Colin:
“My last restaurant was called Whisky Forager. We were pairing whisky—mostly high-end single malts—with a degustation menu. Six courses, each paired with whisky. Before that, I was doing a lot of collaboration with whisky brands, developing flavour profiles and ideas.
Then I was diagnosed with stage four cancer. I had to sell one restaurant and let another go. I wasn’t physically well enough to reopen, so I relied on knowledge instead of stamina. A whisky bar was the perfect space for that—it’s more about guiding people, using your palate and your brain power, than working the line in a kitchen.”
Why Most Whisky Dinners Fail
Vic: I’ve been to a few whisky dinners, but I’ve never really seen it work the way people talk about wine pairings.
Colin:
“I totally agree. More often than not, the chef isn’t even privy to the whisky. They’re just given the tasting notes and told to match. So it becomes shoehorned: smoked salmon with a peated whisky, something sweet with a bourbon cask.
It’s not genuine flavour harmony. And very few chefs have a deep knowledge of whisky, and very few whisky people have a deep knowledge of food. So you end up with two halves that don’t really connect.”
Building Harmony (and Contrast)
Shelly: So how do you approach it differently?
Colin:
“I start with the whisky itself. I taste it and then think: right, how am I going to create something that will harmonise or contrast?
You want about 75% of the menu to be harmonious. It’s okay to give people a little challenge, but not all the way through. One of my golden rules: never pair smoked cheese with peated whisky. It’s too much.
And I’m careful with cask strength whiskies. There’s a temptation to use them, but I think they should be used sparingly. A heavily sherried, cask-strength dram can obliterate a delicate sauce in a heartbeat.”
Whisky and Food as Dialogue
Vic: So you’re thinking in flavour languages—like, salt, fat, acid, smoke?
Colin:
“Exactly. I’ll ask people, do you like spicy food, ginger, garlic? Then I can find a whisky that fits their palate. From there, once I gain their trust, I can nudge them into trying something bolder or more contrasting.
It’s like a conversation between food and whisky. Sometimes they’re speaking the same language. Sometimes they’re in dialogue. The skill is knowing when to do which.”
The Limits of Pairing
Vic: Do you think whisky can ever work as naturally with food as wine does?
Colin:
“It can be difficult. Wine creates saliva—the tannins make you chew and carry flavour. Whisky doesn’t. With whisky, there’s an astringency that can mask or overpower subtle flavours.
That’s why the balance is so tricky. You need to choose carefully, use water when needed, and think beyond clichés. If you’re just chucking whisky onto dishes for the sake of it, it won’t work.”
Family, Memory, and Whisky
Shelly: You mentioned whisky being in your family. How did that background shape you?
Colin:
“The story was always there. My ancestors owned Cardow Distillery—the Cummings family. We were from what I call the bastard side rather than the evil side of the family. My granny was a whisky drinker, and my uncle Robert was ahead of his time as a collector.
When I was young, I’d go into his house and see hundreds of bottles, all these incredible labels. Growing up in Glasgow, whisky was always part of family gatherings. There’d be singing, clinking glasses, and the Waynes—us kids—would be made to get up and do a turn. So whisky was never just a drink; it was woven into memory, atmosphere, and culture.”
The Art and Science of Pairing
At its core, Colin sees whisky and food pairing as both science and art.
Colin:
“You’ve got to understand flavour compounds, the way the Maillard reaction in cooking can echo the caramelisation in whisky. But you also have to know when to go with harmony and when to create contrast. It’s chemistry, but it’s also intuition.
For me, the magic is when the whisky and food together become more than the sum of their parts. That’s the goal.”
Closing Thoughts
Colin’s approach makes it clear that whisky-and-food pairings can work, but only when done with deep knowledge of both sides of the equation.
His chef’s palate, combined with his whisky expertise, allows him to break away from clichés and create pairings that truly resonate.
At Tipsy Midgie, whisky is part of a conversation—one that extends from distillery to kitchen, and from family heritage to modern Edinburgh bar culture.
Every time that Vic and I are in Edinburgh, you’re sure to find us at Tipsy Midgie, and you should check it out too. It has one of the biggest and best bottle collections in the world…and there’s no place around with better knowledge and vibes!
You can find Colin on Instagram under the handle @whiskyforager.
Tipsy Midgie is also on Instagram under @tipsymidgie or online at tipsymidgie.com.
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