MEMBER PROFILE: GUILLERMO KOHN
The best place to begin an adventure
Lawyer by trade but explorer at heart, Guillermo Kohn leads quite the adventurous lifestyle. As one of the first Society members in Mexico, discovering single cask whisky has helped mould his approach to life, as Mads Schmoll writes
PHOTOS: GUILLERMO KOHN
While lawyer and outdoorsman might seem like contrasting titles, they both offer a certain degree of uncertainty.
For Society member Guillermo Kohn, also known as Billy, venturing into the unknown is a big part of his professional and personal life, as he explains: “I’m a Mexico City native, which means I grew up surrounded by brilliant food and relentless traffic. By profession, I’m a lawyer; by passion (and often with muddied wellies) I’m an enthusiastic, if not always graceful, outdoorsman.
“For many years, I served as a senior law clerk at the Supreme Court of Mexico, specialising in constitutional, human rights, and criminal law. Outside the courtroom, I found myself irresistibly drawn to the wild. My first husky, an inexhaustible bundle of fur, led me down a path of hiking, camping, and off-roading adventures.”
Combined with a love of bushcraft cooking, Billy’s outdoor adventures grew to include some magnificent slow-cooked feasts: “Give me an open fire, something sizzling (ideally still vaguely mooing), and a dram of peated whisky. As soon as I hear that sacred ‘pop!’ of the cork, I’m in my happy place.”
FROM ONE SOCIETY TO ANOTHER
Although Billy had enjoyed the odd dram of blended Scotch as a university student in Mexico, it wasn’t until he moved to Edinburgh in 2017 that he began to learn more about the liquid. Outside of the coursework for his master’s in criminal law and justice, he found community in Edinburgh University’s Water of Life Society (WOLS). “I would never miss 'Whisky Thursdays,’ he says. “That’s where I received a proper whisky education: Scotland’s distilleries, flavour profiles, whisky regions, the history behind the labels, and even the geeky bits – caramel colouring, cask classifications, how the shape of the still influences flavour.” It’s also where Billy first came across the Society, he explains: “I vividly remember the night we sampled a bottle from the SMWS that had apparently been salvaged from a sunken ship. To this day, I’ve no idea if the saltiness came from the whisky profile or the salty water. I remember that my favourite dram that night was the marvellous Cask No. 41.96: White chocolate beneath the fruit trees.”
The timing wasn’t quite right for Billy to join the Society, as he was heading back to Mexico in a few months. But as luck would have it his friend Israel was a member, leading to a few visits to The Vaults in Leith.
ABOVE: Billy cooks over an open fire
‘A FAITHFUL COMPANION’
Adventures are often in-the-moment experiences, but they also have the power to bring clarity and insight to other parts of our lives, as Billy found: “I stepped away from the Supreme Court and granted myself a gap year – part soul-searching, part forest-bashing. I trekked fog-laced forests and active volcanoes in the State of Mexico, camped under star-splattered skies in the Sonoran Desert, watched killer whales hunt in the Gulf of California, dived with whale sharks near Cancún, and even did some night diving in the Caribbean. At one point, I crossed a canyon in Querétaro in my rusty-but-trusty old Jeep Wrangler.”
Reinvigorated, he shifted his focus to a slower pace, launching his own private law practice and moving to a small forest house outside Puebla City earlier this year. “It’s just me, my partner, our three dogs, towering cedar trees, and a vegetable garden in the works. Honestly, I’m living the dream. Occasionally with mud on my boots and sap in my beard, but the dream, nonetheless.”
“Whisky is a faithful companion on nearly all my adventures. Every mountain I’ve climbed has been toasted at the summit admiring the view with a dram from my trusty leather hip flask. Every camping trip ends the same way – friends huddled around the fire with stories flowing and Glencairns in hand.”
ABOVE: Billy enjoys a dram on Islay
ABOVE: Hardey and Katri of SMWS Mexico
THE SOCIETY LANDS IN MEXICO
Billy heard about the Society’s new Mexican branch from a friend shortly after their launch in 2022. “The very next morning, I signed up. I’m member number 32, according to my card,” he says. “Since then, I’ve not only enjoyed some phenomenal whiskies, but also made brilliant friends, like Katri and Hardey – fellow dram lovers and adventure-seekers. Proof, if ever it were needed, that whisky is best enjoyed in good company, preferably with a ridiculous tasting note and a good measure.”
It’s the sense of community that Billy loves about the Society, he explains: “It instantly levels the playing field. No one’s pretending to be an expert. It’s not about showing off – it’s about opening a bottle, telling a story, and watching someone’s face light up with the first sip.”
For Billy, whisky isn’t just a hobby, it’s a way of life. “It’s woven into my identity. Whisky gave me a framework to understand my own tastes. It helped me learn how to listen to my palate, to be curious, and to explore with intention. That mindset of curiosity, patience, and appreciation has travelled with me far beyond the glass. It’s shaped how I approach new places, new ideas, and new passions. Because if whisky has taught me anything, it’s that the more you know, the more you enjoy. No one starts out as an expert, it’s okay to be a beginner. In fact, it’s the best place to start.”
“Whisky gave me a framework to understand my own tastes. It’s shaped how I approach new places, new ideas, and new passions”