Kristine Goh prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Those who don’t know her will  often assume that she is aloof.

“I have a habit of drawing a line around myself; a thick and dark line,” she admits readily. So does this mean she is not one to seek attention? “I’m averse to it,” she says.

It was then I realised her remoteness was just a façade to keep the big, bad wolves away. Strip away her deliberate guardedness and what you have is a happy-go-lucky, funny soul who is—there’s no other word for it—really, really nice and sweet.

But fast forward two weeks after our conversation and a different Kristine Goh was holding court in front of the camera for our cover story photo shoot. Sultry and vivacious, Kristine emanated the charisma of a supermodel. Maybe it was the exquisite Chanel outfits that gave her a boost of confidence.

Or perhaps she was motivated to embrace an alter ego for the shoot the way Beyoncé crafted Sasha Fierce. Whatever it was, Kristine was on fire.

I learnt later that this persona mirrored her recent decision to step out of her comfort zone—something that she chose to do when she left her cushy job as a banker a few years ago to be a businesswoman.

Not only is she now managing her father’s trading business, Kristine is also the pioneering force behind Malaysia’s first blended whisky brand, FiftySix Degrees.

Born in KL and raised in Penang for 10 years, she is the youngest of three children and thus, described her upbringing as ‘sheltered’. Due to the significant age gap between herself and her siblings, she was the apple of her parents’ eye, especially her father’s. She looked up to him as her role model.

“We have many things in common. For one thing, we both have a deep passion for art. I would always sit with him and watch him draw and paint when I was a child. He taught me everything he knew,” she shares.

It was also her father who sparked her interest in whisky. “I have a memory of my childhood playing in the hallways and passing my father in his study, with glasses of whisky spread out on a table in front of him.

He would swirl a glass, smell it, taste it and then lift the glass up to examine the whisky in the sunlight. Even then, I knew it was something significant but being a child, I did not understand it,” she recalls.

This interest was further piqued when her father took her along for a whisky tour in Scotland after her graduation. Her father also signed her up for a week-long whisky course in Islay, during which she was finally able to learn what it was about whisky that was special.

“In making whisky, as much as it is a scientific process, it also has unpredictable outcomes. It is the people behind the whisky that contribute to the success of the spirit. Some of these people may not even be around 12 or 30 years later to actually taste it. That left an impression on me,” she says.

“We had a very hands-on experience under the tutelage of the great master distiller James McEwan; we did everything from malting, distilling to processing. We would wear overalls, boots and gloves, roll barrels and bottle whisky in the day before heading over to this pub at night to chat with the locals,” Kristine continues, adding that she was the second woman to do the course—and the first Asian woman.

 

Photography: Kim Mun from Hopscotch Photography; Art Direction: Allan Casal; Hair: Kay Tuan from Centro Salon; Makeup: KF Bong using Chanel; Outfits: Chanel

Click here for exclusive behind the scenes photos and a short video of the photoshoot, get a copy of Malaysia Tatler July 2015 issue, available on newsstands now  or click here to purchase the digital version.