WhiskyCast
1,069 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago - ★★★★★ - 223 ratingsEach week's episode features the latest whisky news, a calendar of upcoming events, and interviews with whisky experts. For more information, links, and a complete archive of past episodes, visit www.whiskycast.com.
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Episodes
A Spirited Time in New Brunswick (WhiskyCast Episode 668: November 19, 2017)
November 19, 2017 02:01 - 55 minutes - 63.3 MBThis time around, we're on location at the New Brunswick Spirits Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick...and if you think we get around a lot, spare some sympathy for Distell's Andy Watts. He spent 38 hours traveling to Fredericton from his base in South Africa, where he oversees production and quality control for Distell's whisky distilleries in South Africa and Scotland. Earlier this year, Andy stepped aside from his longtime role as distillery manager for Distell's James Sedgwick Distill...
12 Years of Whisky Podcasts...and We're Still Here! (WhiskyCast Episode 667: November 12, 2017)
November 12, 2017 03:47 - 50 minutes - 58 MBThe very first episode of WhiskyCast was on November 12, 2005, and twelve years later, we've been around long enough to have an age statement! Back on that first episode, the idea that someone would invest $150 million to build a new Bourbon distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky probably would have been good for a few laughs, since the Bourbon boom was in its infancy. Now, that $150 million dollar distillery project isn't just a reality, but the third new distillery to be built in Bardstown....
The Tale of "Uncle Nearest" and a Whiskey Legacy (WhiskyCast Episode 666: November 5, 2017)
November 06, 2017 01:53 - 1 hour - 163 MBIn 2015, Brown-Forman acknowledged what had been an open secret around Lynchburg, Tennessee for generations - that Jack Daniel's distilling mentor was Nathan "Nearest" Green, a slave on the farm owned by Dan Coll until the end of the Civil War. After the war ended, Jack Daniel hired the newly-freed Nathan Green to be the head distiller at his new distillery in Lynchburg. Green's sons and grandsons worked for Jack Daniel later on, and even after 150 years, the distillery has always had at...
Ten Years of Making Whiskey at Mount Vernon (WhiskyCast Episode 665: October 29, 2017)
October 29, 2017 22:52 - 45 minutes - 52.9 MBDistillers from around the United States gathered at Virginia's Mount Vernon this week to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the restoration of George Washington's Distillery at his historic estate, and of course, they celebrated by making some whiskey. The restored distillery has been producing rye whiskey using Washington's original recipe to raise money for Mount Vernon's educational programs, including those on the slaves who worked in the distillery from 1797 until shortly after Washingt...
Babysitting the Whisky Barrels (WhiskyCast Episode 664: October 22, 2017)
October 22, 2017 16:07 - 48 minutes - 66.7 MBManaging a whisky warehouse is sort of like running a day care center...but a lot quieter. Corby's Donald Campbell is responsible for 1.3 million barrels of maturing whisky at the Hiram Walker Distillery's warehouse campus outside Windsor, Ontario. Just like the kids at a day care center, each of those whisky barrels is developing each day - and some tend to spring a leak every once in a while, too...just like the kids at a day care center. We'll visit the warehouses this week with Donal...
Silent Scotch Whisky Stills Coming Back to Life (WhiskyCast Episode 663: October 15, 2017)
October 17, 2017 01:12 - 1 hour - 84.3 MBChristmas came a couple of months early for some Scotch Whisky lovers with word that the iconic Port Ellen, Brora, and Rosebank distilleries will be reopened over the next couple of years. Diageo will invest $46 million to bring Port Ellen and Brora back to life, while Ian Macleod Distillers has acquired not only the old Rosebank site, but the rights to the Rosebank name and its remaining whisky inventory. We'll talk with Diageo's Dr. Nick Morgan and Gordon Doctor of Ian Macleod about th...
Whisky, Whiskey...We've Got It All This Week! (WhiskyCast Episode 662: October 8, 2017)
October 07, 2017 21:47 - 47 minutes - 54.4 MBThis week, we're in Ireland for the annual release of Midleton Very Rare from Irish Distillers. There's something different about the 2017 edition, though...it's made with some of the oldest casks ever used in Midleton Very Rare. We'll talk with Midleton Master Distiller Brian Nation about this year's release and the new Midleton Cask Circle club, which will give collectors and investors the opportunity to buy their own casks straight from the distillery. Midleton's maturation guru, Kevin O'...
Live at The Whisky Show in London (WhiskyCast Episode 661: October 1, 2017
October 01, 2017 22:47 - 1 hour - 71.2 MBThis week, we're in London for the annual Whisky Show at Old Billingsgate on the banks of the River Thames! We'll catch up with a lot of friends from around the world, including Whyte & Mackay's Richard Paterson as he winds up his 50th anniversary tour of worldwide whisky tastings. We'll also look at plenty of new whiskies introduced over the last few days here in London and other shows in Europe. In the news, plans are being drawn up for what could be a $150 million dollar distillery projec...
There’s No Whisky Without the Barrels (WhiskyCast Episode 660: September 24, 2017)
September 25, 2017 00:43 - 45 minutes - 52.2 MBIt's often said that wood is responsible for most of a whisky's flavor, and if that's the case, then the people who make the barrels for maturing whisky have a major impact on the whiskies we drink. Independent Stave Company's cooperages dominate the market for new Bourbon barrels, and those barrels then get used for decades to mature other whiskies around the world. Brad Boswell's great-grandfather founded the company in 1912, and he took over for his father as Independent Stave's CEO earli...
On the Road in Bourbon Country (WhiskyCast Episode 659: September 17, 2017)
September 18, 2017 01:36 - 1 hour - 71.4 MBThis week, we're on the road at the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, Kentucky! We'll have highlights from the festival throughout this week's show, including the presentation of the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame's Parker Beam Lifetime Achievement Award to Bill Samuels Jr. of Maker's Mark and the induction of the Hall's Class of 2017. In the news, Brown-Forman will invest $45 million to upgrade its Louisville cooperage over the next two years, while planning to cut around 70 job...
Making Sense(s) of Whisky (WhiskyCast Episode 658: September 10, 2017)
September 11, 2017 01:04 - 53 minutes - 62.2 MBFlavor, aroma, and taste. We all know what they mean...or do we? Gerry Nichols isn't so sure. He's a veteran judge in beer and coffee competitions, and has been studying the research of neuroscientists into the way our brains process flavor, aroma and taste. His conclusion: science knows how we process sensory information, but scientists do a lousy job of explaining it - and what's worse...they don't always take one key factor into account. He'll tell us what that is on this week's Whisk...
Whisky With a Place (WhiskyCast Episode 657: September 3, 2017)
September 03, 2017 22:06 - 1 hour - 69.2 MBThe concept of terroir is frequently discussed among wine lovers, but the whisky world has been more reluctant to discuss whether the place where a whisky is made or matured contributes to its final flavor. That's largely because many distillers get their grain from farms that can be hundreds of miles away, and also because there's much less variety among the grains used in distilling whisky than there can be among wine grapes. Some distillers are experimenting with "heirloom" grains that of...
A Cask-Strength Celestial Spectacle (WhiskyCast Episode 656: August 27, 2017)
August 28, 2017 00:14 - 1 hour - 74.9 MBAround 6,000 people combined last Monday's total solar eclipse with whiskey - watching the celestial spectacle from the fields around MB Roland Distillery in Pembroke, Kentucky. WhiskyCast's Aria Gillespie-Smith was on hand, and we'll have her report on WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also details on the celebration at Scotland's Teaninich Distillery as it marks its 200th anniversary this month. In the news, Tasmanian police have opened a fraud investigation into Nant Distillery's controversial b...
The World's Hottest Whisky? (WhiskyCast Episode 655: August 20, 2017)
August 20, 2017 21:16 - 45 minutes - 52.7 MBSince our first visit to Taiwan's King Car Distillery in 2011, its Kavalan single malts have arguably become some of the most-acclaimed whiskies in the world, winning top awards in multiple whisky competitions. As the distillery enters its second decade, there have been many changes, including the addition of a complete second stillhouse. We'll discuss those changes on WhiskyCast In-Depth with Kavalan master blender Ian Chang, along with a future without his mentor, the late Dr. Jim Swan...
Distilling Returns to the Birthplace of Scotch Whisky (WhiskyCast Episode 654: August 13, 2017)
August 12, 2017 14:01 - 57 minutes - 65.5 MBLindores Abbey has a unique place in Scottish history. In 1494, the abbey's Friar John Cor was responsible for the oldest known written reference to whisky distilling in Scotland when the Exchequer Roll listed him as receiving "8 bolls of malt" to make aqua vitae for the King. 523 years later, whisky distilling is returning to Lindores Abbey, and we'll take a look at the past, present, and future of Lindores Abbey's place in whisky history with Drew McKenzie Smith. His family has owned the f...
Celebrating the World's Whiskies in Dublin (WhiskyCast Episode 653: August 6, 2017)
August 06, 2017 16:09 - 44 minutes - 51.6 MBWhiskies are celebrated at festivals all over the world these days, but there's no place quite like Ireland when it comes to whisk(e)y. The inaugural Dublin Whiskey Festival kicks off this coming weekend with six days of tastings and events, and the organizers are planning to make it a nationwide event in 2018. John Burke is the festival's founder and the publisher of The Cask magazine, and he'll join us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth with some of the highlights of this year's festival -...
All in the Whiskey Family (WhiskyCast Episode 652: July 30, 2017)
July 30, 2017 21:17 - 50 minutes - 57.7 MBThe Likarish family opened Ironroot Republic Distillery in Denison, Texas in 2013. Brothers Jonathan and Robert Likarish handle the distilling, while their mother Marcia serves as distillery manager. Even though they've only been open for four years, they've collaborated to make several award-winning whiskies, including the Texas Legation Bourbon for Berry Bros. & Rudd in London. We sat down for a chat in the tasting room at Reserve 101 in Houston for this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the ...
Tales of a Retired Whisky Maker (WhiskyCast Episode 651: July 23, 2017)
July 23, 2017 06:25 - 47 minutes - 54.7 MBJim Boyko's career took him from the old Seagram's distillery in Waterloo, Ontario to the Canadian prairie in Gimli, Manitoba, and eventually around the world for Diageo. Once he got to Gimli, though, he and his family made the tiny town on the shore of Lake Winnipeg their home. Now retired, he shows up at the home of Crown Royal to lead the occasional tour for distillery guests. He'll share his stories with us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth, including the saddest day of his career when ...
I Spy a Bourbon (WhiskyCast Episode 650: July 16, 2017)
July 16, 2017 20:50 - 1 hour - 72.5 MBWe've seen whisky and movie tie-ins before, but Old Forester's new Statesman Bourbon is a bit different. It's featured in the upcoming movie "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" with Jeff Bridges as the leader of Statesman, a secretive private espionage unit that just happens to make Bourbon in Kentucky and teams up with the London-based Kingsman to save the world. Old Forester President Campbell Brown and his team worked with director Matthew Vaughn during production, and Master Taster Jackie Zyka...
The Best Way to Combine Whisky and the Solar Eclipse (WhiskyCast Episode 649: July 9, 2017)
July 09, 2017 00:27 - 56 minutes - 64.8 MBIf you're looking for an excuse to take off from work and watch the total solar eclipse that will cross North America on August 21, there's no better place to observe it than at Kentucky's MB Roland Distillery. That's because Paul and Merry Beth Tomaszewski's distillery just happens to be located in Christian County, Kentucky, and astronomers calculated years ago that the total eclipse will last longest over Christian County. The Tomaszewskis are already reserving campsites for eclipse watch...
Glencairn's Whisky Glasses Shatter Expectations (WhiskyCast Episode 648: July 2, 2017)
July 02, 2017 18:50 - 46 minutes - 54 MBWhen Raymond Davidson and his sons started marketing the Glencairn Whisky Glass in 2001, they thought the target audience was whisky blenders and industry professionals, and never imagined much consumer demand. Last year, Glencairn Crystal sold more than three million of its iconic and often-copied whisky glasses worldwide - up 22 percent from the previous year. Scott Davidson is Glencairn Crystal's managing director now, and joins us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Bacardi ...
Celebrating Canada's 150th Anniversary Whisky-Style (Episode 647: June 25, 2017)
June 25, 2017 03:18 - 54 minutes - 62.9 MBJuly 1 is Canada Day, and this year it's even more of a holiday than usual. Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary this Saturday, and Hiram Walker Distillery master blender Dr. Don Livermore marked the occasion with a trip from coast to coast - and all the way from near the U.S. border to the Arctic Circle along the way. He led tastings of the new J.P. Wiser's One Fifty Commemorative Series whisky at each stop, ending in St. John's, Newfoundland. That's where we caught up with him for this ...
A Tale of Texas Whiskey at Balcones (WhiskyCast Episode 646: June 18, 2017)
June 18, 2017 19:31 - 49 minutes - 56.7 MBLast year, Balcones Distilling left behind its original distillery - hand-built in an old welding shop underneath the 17th Street bridge in Waco, Texas - and moved into a state-of-the art distillery a few blocks away. In fact, the new distillery's boiler shed is about as big as the entire original distillery, and to replicate the original spirit stills on a much larger scale, Forsyth's had to come up with a coiled lyne arm unlike anything ever used before. Jared Himstedt has been at Balcones...
Straight Shooting with Bulleit Bourbon Founder Tom Bulleit (WhiskyCast Episode 645: June 11, 2017)
June 11, 2017 04:37 - 39 minutes - 45.2 MBTom Bulleit wasn't born into the Bourbon business, but even as a successful Kentucky lawyer, he knew there was something calling him to whiskey. He eventually tracked down his great-great-grandfather's Civil War-era whiskey recipe, and in 1987, he launched Bulleit Bourbon. Thirty years later, Bulleit is viewed by many as an "overnight success," and is the flagship of Diageo's Bourbon portfolio. In March, Diageo opened the Bulleit Distilling Company distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and th...
Boom Days for Bourbon (WhiskyCast Episode 644: June 4, 2017)
June 04, 2017 18:42 - 43 minutes - 49.7 MBBourbon's growing global profile is at its highest in decades, and that's good news in Kentucky. Even though Bourbon can be made anywhere in the US, Kentucky's distillers still supply more than 90% of the world's Bourbon. At a time when many of the Commonwealth's industries are still recovering from the recession, the Bourbon industry has been one of Kentucky's brightest stars. Carla Carlton's new book "Barrel Strength Bourbon: The Explosive Growth of America's Whiskey" looks not only at the...
Does The Nose Know For Sure? (Episode 643: May 28, 2017)
May 28, 2017 02:40 - 48 minutes - 55.8 MBYou may be able to tell different styles of whiskies apart by nosing them - when you know what you're nosing to begin with. When it comes to telling Bourbons and Rye whiskies apart in a blind nosing session, Dr. Jacob Lahne says your nose is more likely to focus on factors other than the mashbill, though. We'll discuss sensory science and whisky with the Drexel University food scientist on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Brown-Forman has given Constellation Brands the brush-off...
A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole (Episode 642: May 21, 2017)
May 21, 2017 04:38 - 47 minutes - 54.9 MBWhat would you think of someone who gives up a successful career to make Bourbon for a living? If you said they should seek professional help, Dr. Kaveh Zamanian might not disagree with you. Then again, that's just what this highly trained psychoanalyst did, setting aside his practice to form Rabbit Hole Distilling in Louisville. We'll talk with him on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth and get an update from Sweden with Mackmyra's Angela Forsgren D'Orazio. In the news, the saga of Australia's ...
Malting Barley the Old School Way (WhiskyCast Episode 641: May 14, 2017)
May 14, 2017 23:06 - 36 minutes - 41.5 MBMost Scotch Whisky distilleries source their malted barley from large commercial maltsters today, but a handful of distilleries still maintain their own floor maltings to supply at least some of their malt. This week, we'll visit one of the malting floors at Highland Park and hear how they still do things the old-fashioned way. In the news, Heaven Hill master distiller Denny Potter gets a promotion, Scotch Whisky industry leaders are keeping an eye on the candidates in next month's UK parlia...
Making Whisky with Passion in Denmark (Episode 640: May 7, 2017)
May 07, 2017 20:17 - 42 minutes - 49 MBDenmark is known for its beers and aquavit, but is starting to develop a reputation for whiskies as well with distilleries like Braunstein and Stauning winning awards for their rye and single malt whiskies. Nyborg Destillerie hopes to make its own mark when it releases its first single malts next month and opens its new distillery to the public after laying down casks since 2009. Kim Møller-Elshøj is Nyborg's chief blender, and sat down with Mark Gillespie in Copenhagen the other day to talk...
Viking Soul & Whisky in Denmark (Episode 639: April 30, 2017)
April 29, 2017 21:23 - 47 minutes - 38.5 MBThis week, we're in Copenhagen, Denmark for the launch of Highland Park's new Valkyrie single malt and new packaging for its core range that doubles down on the Orkney distillery's Viking heritage. The Vikings ruled Scotland's Orkney Islands for around 800 years, and one out of three Orcadians today can still trace some of their lineage back to the Vikings. It's been ten years since Highland Park started embracing that lineage, and we'll discuss the thought processes behind a brand makeover ...
WhiskyCast Episode 638: April 23, 2017
April 23, 2017 05:32 - 1 hour - 73.8 MBThe end of April has grain farmers in North America and Europe poised to get into the fields and start planting this year's crops - and some of that grain will eventually wind up as whisky. Historically, many farmers distilled some of their grain into whiskey - both to prevent it from spoiling and to create something that could be sold or bartered. While those days are many decades in the past, a number of farmers have jumped back into distilling as a way to cultivate more profits than they ...
WhiskyCast Episode 637: April 16, 2017
April 16, 2017 22:55 - 46 minutes - 53.9 MBThis week, we'll talk with two people who have turned their passion for whisky into careers. Tracie Franklin is one of the newest brand ambassadors for Glenfiddich, but worked her way up through the ranks for many years before joining William Grant & Sons several months ago. Blair Bowman started a whisky club at his Scottish university, then founded World Whisky Day before becoming a writer and whisky consultant. Next month, he'll try to set a world record by visiting 60 Scotch Whisky distil...
WhiskyCast Episode 636: April 9, 2017
April 09, 2017 18:37 - 1 hour - 76.9 MBScotland's Bladnoch Distillery celebrates its 200th anniversary this year, but the Lowlands distillery almost never made it to that milestone. When Bladnoch owner David Prior bought the distillery out of administration two years ago and hired veteran distiller and blender Ian MacMillan to revive it, the stills had been silent for years and almost everything inside had to be scrapped. Now, almost all that remains of the old Bladnoch is the building, and the stills will be fired up for the fir...
WhiskyCast Episode 635: April 2, 2017
April 02, 2017 18:36 - 1 hour - 73 MBThere will be music, food, and of course, plenty of whisky on hand during the Spirit of Speyside Festival coming up at the end of this month in Scotland. Ticket sales have already set a new record for this year's festival, and we'll get a preview from festival chairman James Campbell on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also look at the revival of Kansas City's historic J. Rieger & Co. Monogram whiskey brand with Andy Rieger, the great-great-great grandson of Jacob Rieger. In the news, ...
WhiskyCast Episode 634: March 26, 2017
March 26, 2017 19:49 - 50 minutes - 58.3 MBThis week's American Whiskey Convention at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park featured an air of generational change. At one end, legendary master distiller Jimmy Russell of Wild Turkey with 63 years of distilling experience - and at the other end, a crop of young distillers hoping to follow in his footsteps while creating their own unique whiskies. We'll talk with both generations on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, we'll have the latest on the ongoing Nant Distillery saga in Au...
WhiskyCast Episode 633: March 19, 2017
March 19, 2017 19:38 - 43 minutes - 49.5 MBFor years, whisky connoisseurs whispered about a mysterious Irish whiskey called Green Spot and begged friends traveling to Ireland to track down a bottle for them. While Green Spot nearly disappeared from the market years ago along with the other "Spot Whiskeys" from Dublin's Mitchell & Son, the Mitchell family and Irish Distillers kept the brand alive through some of Irish Whiskey's darkest days. We'll talk with Robert Jonathan Mitchell and Robert Mitchell of Mitchell & Son about the hist...
WhiskyCast Episode 632: March 12, 2017
March 12, 2017 05:41 - 52 minutes - 48.4 MBWhisky was historically thought of as a "man's drink" - but today, not only are more women drinking whisky, but women make up around 40% of the Scotch Whisky industry's work force. Diageo's Maureen Robinson is one of the industry's pioneering women, and is celebrating her 40th anniversary in the whisky business this month. She's the first woman to hold the title of Master Blender in Scotland, and joins us for this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll talk not only about the changes she's seen o...
WhiskyCast Episode 631: March 5, 2017
March 05, 2017 06:30 - 1 hour - 61.5 MBMickey Heads grew up about three miles from Islay's Ardbeg Distillery, but the third-generation whisky maker never thought he'd wind up as the manager at Ardbeg. This week, he's celebrating his tenth anniversary as Ardbeg's manager and joins us on WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also hear from Isabel Graham-Youll of Whisky.Auction, who helped police in London catch an alleged counterfeiter specializing in antique whiskies after spotting fakes the suspect tried to sell through her company's online...
WhiskyCast Episode 630: February 26, 2017
February 26, 2017 14:34 - 38 minutes - 31.4 MBThis week, we're in Ireland for the debut of the new Method And Madness range of Irish Whiskies from Irish Distillers. The name comes from the collaboration between Midleton's veteran masters and their apprentices, and it gives us a chance to catch up on Killian O'Mahony's story. In September of 2013, we first met Killian shortly after he became Ireland's first apprentice cooper in decades under the tutelage of Midleton Master Cooper Ger Buckley. Nearly four years later, his training is near...
WhiskyCast Episode 629: February 19, 2017
February 19, 2017 19:09 - 47 minutes - 44.1 MBCamden, New Jersey has a long manufacturing heritage dating back decades, but the city's glory days ended decades ago - leaving behind empty buildings, crime, and many other problems. James Yoakum is one of the entrepreneurs trying to bring back some of that faded glory with Cooper River Distillers in the heart of downtown Camden. He's been making whiskies and rums for the last couple of years, and stopped by our studio the other day with a sample of his first batch of Cooper River Bourbon. ...
WhiskyCast Episode 628: February 12, 2017
February 12, 2017 04:48 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBThis week, we'll be talking about money and politics along with whisky, and of course, there are connections between all three. With the world's attention focused on the transition to the Trump Administration in the U.S., the spirits industry is hoping to benefit from what it sees as a pro-business atmosphere in Washington. We'll discuss the political climate with Distilled Spirits Council CEO Kraig Naasz, and we'll get Wall Street's perspective with David Bolton of Spirited Funds and Alex G...
WhiskyCast Episode 627: February 5, 2017
February 05, 2017 04:24 - 1 hour - 68.6 MBIt's hard for some people to retire. Jim McEwan says he was pacing around his home on Islay "like a tiger" after retiring from Bruichladdich a year and a half ago...so when Stewart Laing offered him the chance to help build his family's new Ardnahoe Distillery on Islay from the ground up, Jim pounced on the offer. Stewart and his sons recently broke ground on the Hunter Laing & Co.-owned distillery overlooking Port Askaig, with plans to start distilling whisky next year. Jim shares the reaso...
WhiskyCast Episode 626: January 29, 2017
January 29, 2017 03:44 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MBMarcio Ramos started his whisky journey as a bartender in his hometown of Lisbon, Portugal...but thought he'd left the whisky business behind when he moved to Canada a couple of years ago. That didn't last long, as he wound up becoming Beam Suntory's Canadian brand ambassador for Bowmore, Laphroaig, and Suntory's whiskies. Now, he spends his time traveling all over Canada, expanding his horizons and those of the people who attend his tastings. He'll share his story with us on this week's Whi...
WhiskyCast Episode 625: January 22, 2017
January 22, 2017 23:04 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBThis week, we're on location at the Victoria Whisky Festival in British Columbia! We'll discuss a new range of premium Canadian whiskies coming this fall from the Hiram Walker Distillery with master blender Dr. Don Livermore, and sit down for a dram with veteran whisky writer Dave Broom to solve some of the whisky world's problems. In the news, there's a new Canadian Whisky of the Year, and we'll have highlights from the 2017 Canadian Whisky Awards, along with another expansion at Ireland's ...
WhiskyCast Episode 624: January 15, 2017
January 15, 2017 18:39 - 55 minutes - 51.1 MBThis week, we'll tell you about two upcoming opportunities to taste rare whiskies in Scotland and Kentucky. David Faughn and Brian Shemwell will have the story behind a collaboration of several Bourbon clubs in Kentucky and Tennessee to organize the "Rare Bourbon for Rare Disease" charity tasting event on February 25 in Louisville. David's young daughter suffers from a rare genetic disorder, and his NUBPL Foundation received a bottle of Buffalo Trace's new O.F.C. Vintage Series Bourbon to us...
WhiskyCast Episode 623: January 8, 2017
January 08, 2017 20:18 - 1 hour - 62 MBThe controversy over Beam Suntory's sudden decision to change its plans for a Booker's Bourbon price hike during the New Year's holiday weekend left both retailers and consumers confused. We'll look at whisky pricing from the retailer's perspective with Ryan Maloney of Julio's Liquors in the Boston suburb of Westborough, Massachusetts, and he'll explain how retailers set their prices and work with whisky makers and distributors. We'll also catch up with Ben Bowers as he winds up his "A Dram ...
WhiskyCast Episode 622: January 1, 2017
January 01, 2017 04:10 - 50 minutes - 46.8 MBBlending is part art and part science, and unless you're drinking a single cask whisky, every dram you try has been tweaked by the nose of an experienced blender. Nancy Fraley describes herself as a "ghost blender," but it's fair to call her and other blending consultants "noses for hire" - working in the background to create whiskies for distillers large and small. Nancy's client list is shrouded in the secrecy of non-disclosure agreements, but she can talk about some of her work and shares...
WhiskyCast Episode 621: December 25, 2016
December 25, 2016 01:37 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBThe founders of Baltimore's Sagamore Spirits could have chosen to buy a distillery anywhere they wanted to, but they wanted to help revive Baltimore's heritage of making Rye whiskey - and help bring a long-suffering waterfront neighborhood back to life. Sagamore Spirit's new distillery will open next month, and this week, a new cask-strength version of Sagamore Spirit Rye was unveiled to go along with the original version that made its debut earlier this year. We'll talk with Sagamore Spirit...
WhiskyCast Episode 620: December 18, 2016
December 18, 2016 17:46 - 45 minutes - 41.8 MBWhat do oysters have to do with making whisky? You might not think there's much in common, but Glenmorangie is working with Scotland's Heriot-Watt University on a project to restore the European Flat oyster population to Scotland's Dornoch Firth. The oyster beds were wiped out by overfishing a century ago, but a healthy oyster population in the firth would help the overall ecosystem in the area around the distillery. We'll talk about the project with Glenmorangie's Dr. Bill Lumsden and Louis...
WhiskyCast Episode 619: December 11, 2016
December 11, 2016 17:34 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MBA couple of weeks ago, we credited San Francisco's Anchor Distilling with being the birthplace of the American craft distilling movement in 1993. While Anchor was one of the early pioneers, the real birthplace was just across the bay at St. George Spirits, where Jörg Rupf started making eau de vie, whiskey, and other spirits in his Holstein still in 1982. Jörg retired several years ago, and his protégé Lance Winters is now the president and head distiller at St. George. We'll talk craft dist...