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The Man Who Made Rare Whisky Meant to Be Opened · Whisky Unfinished

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: There was no such concept of open and experienced extraordinary whiskey.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: It was people would buy them at auction, sell them at auction.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: That was the endgame.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: When I came into the scene, I was saying, like, but guys, why are you selling stuff?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: Let's open McAllen 40, let's open Glenn Roth's 51 years old.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just drink the damn stuff.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Whiskey theme for today of single cast expression.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: 1987 Inverborde.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Today we've got Camus Honey, who is the co-founder, managing director of Dram Good Stuff.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: We find people who want to try something unusual or rare.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: Mostly just very expensive.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: 1990 is still more lucky.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: One of the highest honors in our whiskey wheel in our profession is being a keeper of the quake.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: The keepers of the quake is a fantastic that was started by the stretched whiskey producers.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the star on the Hollywood wall.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's the pinnacle of that particular industry.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: So the keepers of the Quake Folio is still in 2012.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: What is it about whiskey to use?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you think it's an experience?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Most whiskey makers don't get to try the ultimate expression of their best work.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's 160 years of process.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: McAllister is very astic space time.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: For you, owning a cast is about what you need to do.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: There are only 10 people a year from all over the world.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: My daughter is five.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: She does own two casts of whiskey.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Whiskey cheese, wasted glass, cast the wear.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let the numbers be still right in the door.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: We whiskey unfinished.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, we're catch here, the whiskey chief.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Firstly, thank you so much for watching this.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: If you could like and subscribe below, it really helps us bring the best whiskeys to you and keep doing this show the best we can.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Whiskey Unfinished, where the whiskey's never finished and neither is the conversation.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for joining me today.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Today we've got Cam Deswani, who is the co-founder, managing director of Dram Good Stuff.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Love the name, by the way.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'll ask you more about that later.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Which is a luxury whiskey experience that's been in Hong Kong since 2016.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you mentioned March 1st.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now coming up is going to be your 10-year anniversary.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So congratulations on that.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And thanks so much for making the time.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get into talking today about your journeying a little bit, and uh which I think is an interesting one.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Someone who's been a collector who's into watches, into whiskeys, and to I think there was gems at some point.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Pool cues.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So pool cues.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll talk a little bit about collecting.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: We'll definitely talk about whiskeys and some particular whiskeys here.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And would love to, you know, obviously, both being in the whiskey industry, it's gonna be great to just talk a little bit about what's the state of the whiskey industry in 2026.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: What do we see?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the trends and things kind of that are coming up and what would be interesting for people, hopefully, right?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of whiskey theme for today, given your prestige in the whiskey industry, I've I've upped the stakes a little bit.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: So these are appreciated, but you're making me blush and these are all single cask expressions.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: These are all full disclosure, these are casks that we own in our company or have owned at one point or another.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Two of them have actually now been sold in and bottled.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and two of them are are still in in cask and and still aging on.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: But we've tried to try to probably try to pick some unique expressions that's always good.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you haven't had specifically.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, we can kind of chat through a little bit, right?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, in terms of uh in terms of the whiskeys, we're gonna kick off with a very special whiskey to me.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, this is the first one.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna go top left and we'll come down and kind of zigzag.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, this was a particular experiment I did with David Robertson.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I think maybe you know David.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: David used to be the master distiller at McAllen back in the back in the 1990s, and then was rare whiskey director at Dalmore.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: So David and his business partner back in 2021 laid down what they believe to be the more original, let's say 1990s style Sherry McAllen.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: This is obviously not McAllen.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: This was contract distilled at Borders Distilleries.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: So again, full disclaimer, not McAllen.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, McAllen style Sherry-esque, okay, uh classic spaceside.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: We can say things like that again.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't want to get sued.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is not McAllen.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Just to be clear.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: But that's uh but it was made McAllen.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Not McAllen, but made by the guy who used to run McAllen.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll leave it at that.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: So this is coming in at 62.8% ABBA set.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is only uh a four or five-year-old kind of coming on five years old this year.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: But the idea here was to try to encapsulate on a kind of younger level what this could become, hopefully, and be what we hope will become a great whiskey once it's let's say 10 or 12 years old.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: Is that your target?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: 12 years for this?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great question.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not really sure what the target will be because we've I've never really done anything like this.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: But should we choose?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, please.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and thanks so much for coming.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know you kind of hurt your back a little bit, so thanks for making it.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's what happens when you turn 60, right?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: You get all these old people's problems.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, I hey, I'm 40 something and I still have those problems.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the whiskey's gonna help.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'm I'm confident.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: It can't hurt.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna do a bit of a rating, right?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll get your rating as well.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Simple scale, one to ten.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can do decimal points in between.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So 9.2, 3.4, whatever you want.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: One is Utter shite.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's not one.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 10.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh 10 is Scotland's Freedom.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we got the freedom meter here from range.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: So take a couple minutes with this one, obviously.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: Some punchy stuff, man.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's at 63%.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna start too strong.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Again, you mentioned the back pain.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: I want to get rid of that early for you.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we're just gonna punch right in there.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: But I would suggest uh yeah, a couple of drops of water.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Golden Promise Barley.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, being aged, obviously, and cherry tavassa cast.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: So look, this is very young at uh four or five years old.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it's super punchy.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: The alpha.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Is this the first time you've done something like this?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's the first time we've done something like this, yeah, that I've done that I've been involved in something like this.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'm curious to get your take.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's interesting for a four or five year old.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not in any way saying this is ready or mature or all that, but for for what it is for a four-year-old, what what are your initial thoughts?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Potential for sure.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we do a lot of um young whiskies with the people we work with from Japan.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: They tend to be three years, four years, they max out at five.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I I get a chance to drink a lot of three, four, five-year-old whiskies at at this kind of uh A B V.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well that I didn't know, so that's perfect.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: So now you can properly judge.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: So so I'm I'm presuming at at 10 to 12, this is going to be something special.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: What would you give that kind of today as a as a one out of ten?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you going on this one?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: Could we do one more so I have a benchmark?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because then then we have a way to go up and a way to go down.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, sure.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because otherwise, I'd just give this.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, normally when we do whiskey tastings or if I'm I'm judging anything.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, tell us your process.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: We have to choose something as let's say an eight.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't matter whether it's a four or a ten.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: We have to start.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if we start with something, we have to just give that first thing a rating because then then we have a scale.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: You need a relative digital relative to the same thing.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, like if we started this and this was the very first whiskey, I would I would give it an eight because that's my process, right?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then I would rate this above or below depending where we go.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: But I think given given that this is special to you, yeah, I think we'd be doing a disservice by just simply giving this an eight.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: So let's um let's come back.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: We can let's come back to that.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do one more and let's give that an eight.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'll come back to that.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think the next one, which I have had before, is around maybe 8.2 for me, but but we'll get into it.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: So this is something special, a little bit different.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Let it sit a while as well.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think it kind of needs a bit of time to develop.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Let's chat about dram good stuff.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Firstly, the name.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: How did that come about?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Dram good stuff, yeah.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Was did did somebody say, you know, hey, that's damn good stuff in your house?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we I have I have partners in the company, yeah.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: And and we run everything on a sort of voting system, right?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't believe in doing anything blanket.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: I do some things blanket, but big things I don't do blanket.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and once we decided we're gonna actually so you know, we I actually had a restaurant.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Let me let me backtrack a bit.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: So we so we I had a partnership in a restaurant here in Hong Kong.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, which we eventually exited, my me and my co-founder.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: Once we exited, through the restaurant, we were doing a lot of events.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we were doing a lot of anniversary.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm Cindy, so you know there are a lot of Cindhis in Hong Kong, right?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so a lot of anniversaries, birthdays, lots of stuff going on, Diwali, blah blah blah.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: So we get a lot of orders through the restaurant.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody wants a deal, right?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you know, you have a restaurant, can you get me a deal?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it could be Grey Goose, it could be Glenn Field.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is the most Cindy thing of all, which is may want a discount or a deal of some kind.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, there's that very famous uh saying in the Italian mafia movie like I I know a guy, right?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, you know, I was kind of the guy that they knew to get a deal with.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's still that guy.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: So that's how it's kind of started.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: But when we closed the restaurant, actually, we don't we when we exited the restaurant.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of restaurant was it?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: It was a Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, but vegetarian.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: So the concept was I was vegetarian at that time, but you know, I love to drink good alcohol, right?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: Nice wines, nice champagnes, great whiskies.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: So we decided to sort of create, you know, like our own playroom.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: So we had a very nice restaurant, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, but a very, very nice bar.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Forgot it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Which was kind of how how I was brought in as like somebody who would take care of building the wine list or building the whiskey list and uh you know, setting up all the contracts.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, it wasn't that difficult in those days to to set up trade accounts with everybody.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you said something interesting there.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: You were vegetarian at the time.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you've seen the light now, you're back on my side of this table.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Meat is a requirement to living a healthy life.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: How did you how did that come about?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let me finish this story for me.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, lots of stuff to talk about.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: We have time, right?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: I I wasn't married at that time, but I was I was with Mira, um, who currently runs Dram Good Stuff.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: So she was running a trading company, she had an office, so we started buying small amounts of stock, and we kept sending it to her office because, you know, I'm not gonna keep it at home.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then the stock started to build up and build up, and then and then one day she said, you know, like guys, you either drink all this stuff or you formalize your a business, and then we'll we'll we'll structure it properly and we'll sell it properly.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: You can't just randomly keep sending me random cases of McAllen 25 and 18, and right suddenly Gray Goose and ask me how many bottles we have.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, like I don't I don't work for you guys, so let's make a company.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: We need a very smart woman.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's here today.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: She runs the company.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just a pretty face.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: And not so pretty anymore.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: I well, I was prettier 10 years ago.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Back when you were vegetarian.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: Better skin.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: So then we were thinking of names.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: I I tend to write.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I I I I blog, I I mean I I like to journal, and sometimes I write poetry.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm kind of good with words.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, dram good stuff just it popped.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: Is is because I mean I wanted a word that signifies whiskey, and I did not want the word whiskey in my company name.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: You would think whiskey, right?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: That tells people what it is.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Why did you not want whiskey?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't know.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it was just a thing that there's so many, you know, like when you Google top ten whiskey companies in Hong Kong, everything had a had a whiskey limit uh whiskey in it, or it was a completely off-the-track, like a Chinese name.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and and I wanted something Dragon ate best of red fire.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly, right?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I wanted something that that if people knew me, they would they would appreciate the name.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: It had to have some sort of link to to our personality as a company.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I wanted to always do something better.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: I I didn't want to be only the guy who was trading in Johnny Walker Black Label.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing that's nothing wrong with Johnny Walker Black Label.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: Great, great blend.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: But I I wanted to signify that we're a little bit a little a notch above than than average.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, I came up with a name, I put it to everybody in our little group chat.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody liked the name.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: I told Mira, why don't you just go register the name?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: And we registered it initially as a sole proprietorship.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: So it was Mira's company, Dram Good stuff, you know, bank account was in her name, everything, she took care of everything.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, as the company grew, uh, we needed to formalize it into a limited company.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: We needed to issue shares and blah, blah, blah.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: So then the formal name became Dram Good Whiskey Shop Limited, which is on the BR.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but Dram Good stuff is still our trading name.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's good.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it caught on.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, I I could be traveling anywhere in the world, and if I give somebody a name card and it says Dragon, they're like, hey, you know, yeah, I they remember the name.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it's because it's catchy, it's a bit different, it's playful.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you consider those to be elements of your business today?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit playful, a little bit unique?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: You describe dram good stuff, obviously, not as a retail store.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Not you've been very intentional to say, hey, this is a luxury experience.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: When did that, let's say, evolution happen?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Talk us through a little bit of or was it from the start?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: No, so we started, we started primarily as a because we'd just gotten out of the restaurant.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we needed to really, you know, keep the business going because we had set up all these trade accounts, and I didn't want them to just, you know, fall on the on the wayside.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: So we we focused on on taking care of a lot of people's private events.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um we worked with a lot of private banks in those days.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: The liquid was good.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is 10 years ago, roughly.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: We're talking about eight to ten.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: So 10 years was basically when we started, we kind of got a footing uh and sort of created an identity for ourselves.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm saying maybe about it took us about 16 to 18 months to really reach out to people and say, you know, this is what we can do for you.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: Instead of people just asking us for a deal, we kind of had to flip it around and say, like, what can we do for you?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: So that was the whole concept of what how can we create something memorable for the people that you want to invite.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: The experience.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: The experience.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: We started off in Shanghai, so we didn't really have the space.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: It was mostly an office just for stock.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: But then we slowly, slowly cannibalized her trading office.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we took more space, we created a tasting counter.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: And in those days, I created that that YouTube channel that that I mean, so we would do um YouTube um whiskey, so it would be drams with camp.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: And we'd invite a lot of different people from the trade or you know, we wouldn't wouldn't be who it was, but we'd do a lot of interesting tastings, we'd open interesting bottles and we'd have conversations.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: We still do that.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we don't really broadcast it as much, yeah, uh, but we still do that.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's still our primary thing.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: We find people who want to try something unusual or rare, mostly just very expensive.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: And they don't want to foot the whole bill.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, I'm gonna say you, but I'm not, I don't mean you.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: So let's say if you wanted to open a McAllen 40, let's say it's a quarter million dollar bottle, you don't want to pay a quarter million dollars, but you just want to try the liquid.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you also don't want to go, let's say, to a bar and you don't know how many months that bottle has been opened.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: And quarter million, you're talking Hong Kong dollars.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Everything I say is Hong Kong dollars.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's my my trading.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: 280,000 Hong Kong, so I'm sorry, about 30,000 US.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: So let's say, for example, if I would be traveling in Scotland and I see a bottle that I really want to try, it could be like, let's see, a 35-year-old lagolin that I didn't have access to in Hong Kong.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: But if the bottle is down to its last one eighth, my first question is going to be how long has this been open?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's been open like a long time.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm not so inclined to drink the liquid.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's because obviously there's been a lot of air in there.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's some it's not that it's gone off, but just for anybody who doesn't know, what what has happened is definitely the flavor has less than it's not exactly the Largola 35 that entered the bottle.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: You don't get oxidization or anything like you do with wine, but you do get a softening of the flavors.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's definitely not that that first fresh.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: I would say ideally 12 months or less is kind of what you should try to finish.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: If you're the kind of collector right now who's got like 50 bottles with like three inches, don't do it.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do it.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, call your buddies over and flip it.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: I hate those years.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's some people who do that here in the office when we do events and stuff, because they they're trying to be polite.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So they don't want to finish the end of the bottle.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I don't want that.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody wants that.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's finish.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's the only reason you're gonna open a new bottle.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it gives you a reason to open it.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: So coming back to like that McAllen 40.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: So then let's say then we would organize, let's say, 10 people to have an evening, a special evening.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody drops 25 grand.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm presuming it's 25,000, 250,000.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we'll organize a nice venue, we'll organize some auxiliary bottles, and we'd organize the it could be with dinner, it could be without dinner, it could be just just cheese and ham.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Really, really depends.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And what and so let's talk about this a little bit, because I think, and I do really believe, that whiskey is all about the experience, and we should have a second whiskey.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll I'll uh I'll introduce second whiskey and then we'll let's get into talking about whiskey as uh yeah, so we'll go down to the invergordon.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about that and then let's come back to talking about whiskey as an experience because I I think not enough people I think understand what we mean when we say that, because maybe people think okay, whiskey is just something you sip and that's that, but there's so much more to that as we know, right?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Whiskey unfinished.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: The next whiskey is a 1987 Invergordon.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: This was bottled as a 37-year-old.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what's interesting about this is we re-racked it for the last two years into fresh Alorasso uh casks.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: This was then bought by an independent bottler here in Hong Kong.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was really excited by the bottle.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we were here in the lounge doing an event, I think, two weeks ago.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: I was super excited by the by the packaging and all that.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: We had a bunch of whiskies.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, yeah, we should have this.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: I opened the bottle, and then my colleague reminded me that that was actually bottle number one of uh the whole thing, which I guess we were supposed to save.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: But speaking of opening bottles, so it's a lounge.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: So this is at 49.5%.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is an Invergordon, which is a single grain whiskey.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So generally, I think you do see quite a bit of Invergordon, but obviously most of Invergordon is is produced to go into blends, right?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, of course.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, but you you do get some casts of Invergordon here and there.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: How would you describe the difference between a single grain and a single malt for maybe somebody who's never had so it's a mental block with me, but the minute I try single grain, I I know it's going to be a lot sweeter.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: I would agree with that because the grain compared to a malt as a as an act as as the input ingredient is sweeter.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: Is sweeter.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: So, and I'm not very fond of very sweet things, so I always have to remind myself to attenuate-there you go.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh to attenuate that that that concept and and and you know approach it um as it should be approached, right?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, everyone has a palate that has some biases, right?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Some people pick up PD notes, much uh let's say more sensitive to peat.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're saying you're more sensitive to sweetness generally.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I always need to.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: And this is sweeter.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's so I can draw that back and not not let that bias affect my my rating of the whiskey.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I think there's a lot of caramel here.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: It is, yeah.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of caramel.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: It it is, you're definitely getting a lot of sweetness.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm getting some of that chocolate.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I love I love the little bit of that oakiness that you get on this.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's coming from some of the finish.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's because that really I think that heightens that that chocolateness that you were talking about.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then you're starting to get, I think, some of those secondary, tertiary kind of uh flavors once it kind of settles in.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: What did I like about this?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit of almonds.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I get some honey.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: What I like is the long finish.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I so you talked about sweetness.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: For me, it's finish.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very sensitive to finish.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: If something is short finish and then just dies, I don't like it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: I want yeah, I'm I'm in this for the long haul.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're starting a relationship here when I drink a whiskey, right?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: So when you get one of those, those exactly when it just dies, I get that one of those Scooby-Doo looks and goes, what happened?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: Where'd it go?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: Where's the rest of it?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: I like something.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be able to still taste the whiskey in my mouth 30 to 60 seconds after I've had the sip.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: I want it to be.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is a very nice balance on the palate.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's a very, very nice balance.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: So let's let's give this an eight.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: You're giving this an eight.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: I need to give something an eight.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's right.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Again, I'm not prejudicing the the whiskey.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'm giving this an eight because I need to give something in eight.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really liking this.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll I'll go a little higher.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give this uh maybe an 8.3.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is just a little, you know, if we're but I get what you're saying.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: So this is my benchmark.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm gonna come back to this, right?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then I will right away in season two, you're already teaching us how you know we should be evaluating the whiskey.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's my system because yeah, I mean, well, I think it's our system now.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Just kidding.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just kidding.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a good way to do it to have that benchmark.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I should always have one whiskey.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: So on the on the nose, I mean, this is this is gorgeous on the nose because again, of all that beautiful sweetness and very different the very note.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're going from four-year-old to 37-year-old.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm not sure.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of age, we've taken quite a big step here.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, also we're comparing malt to grain, so a little bit different.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what do you think of the of the borders now going back to that four?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think what's interesting, I'll say just real quick.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think there is a strength here in the borders in terms of it's got all the notes.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it's very still young and overpowered by the city.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: And this is still in still in cast, yeah, very much.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm going to do a little bit of uh playing God, yeah, and I'm going to rate it as I think it would be as a 10-year-old.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm very impartial to 10-year-old Scotch.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: What's what's that about?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't know.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: If something is 10 years old, I tend to really like the 10-year-old Scotch.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Whether it's a McAlantan or blah blah blah.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: But there's something about that.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's not quite a 12.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's a little bit rough, and I like I like things where you You know that someone thought I could probably make this a 12-year-old or a 15-year-old, but it it's at that point where it's a damn good 10-year-old.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: I like that that thought process.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: A dream good 10-year-old scotch.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: This could be all in my head, right?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but I like 10-year-old scotch.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: So at a 10-year-old, for what it would be as a 10-year-old, I would probably give this uh uh 8.8.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm giving this an eight.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I would give that an 8.8.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go back to the borders, maybe not as generous, but I would uh if we do it in the same way as in what it'll be as a 10-year-old.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm with you.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: I would I would say 8.5.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think I I think it's gonna be amazing.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll have you back maybe once a year.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: We can come on this journey with us.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: And isn't that the fun of being able to taste whiskies that are still in the cask, right?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it it yeah, most people maybe don't even know that while the whiskey is still in the cask, the aging continues.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, once it's in a bottle, that's done.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: So this is done that Invergordon 37-year-old.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's gorgeous.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: The 37 is beautiful.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: But the borders is is just the beginning, we think.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so this is showing, like at that four-year-old, five-year-old level, what's possible.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: I I think obviously the acidity is gonna drop, it's gonna kind of mellow out a little bit, right?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it'll be interesting to try particularly.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I was very lucky.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: I got to bottle my own McAllen cask uh a couple of years ago.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I was, I think we were the last of the on-premiere program.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: The last batch.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: The I think that was the 10th batch.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: So what year did you buy your cask at McAllen?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: 2019.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: So of course I got my first sample after four years, I think.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Or three, four years.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then I recently, so now I'm flying to Scotland.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm flying to UK next week.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm hoping to try my cask there.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you haven't tried it yet?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: No, I tried it when it was four years old.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: And how was it?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh amazing.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: It was amazing.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: I was very lucky because actually Kirsten Campbell was in Hong Kong at that time when the sample came.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I was actually telling her, I said, you know, the samples come from let's try it together.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: Let's try it together.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: And she goes, you know, I haven't tried it.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: I said, fantastic.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like we'll try it together.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so it's nice.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: So we were at the Carlisle, they were doing uh Edrington was doing an event over there.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: So she was there.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: We kind of scuttled off into the corner and just try a little bit.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: So my wife or her and me were sitting there in the corner, like, oh, you know, and we had this giddy, this really dumb smile on our face.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: And was that one of the first cast experiences?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Or you'd already owned cast many times?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Or is this a bit?
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: Why was this so unique for you?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Is it because it was my on-prem McAllen cask, right?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't it wasn't something that somebody else had failed, or something that we had bought somewhere from someone else.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh maybe a McAllen cask is a McAllen cask.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: And was it the experience of visiting McAllen when they offered it that got you over the line and go, yeah, let me do that?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Or did you go with the intention of the stuff?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, sir.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: So this was something that uh uh it was offered about two years prior to my visit.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, Captain, would you be interested in the program?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Yes, of course, you know, that would be great.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: We'll put your name down, and but we don't know whether because there are only 10 people a year from all over the world.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was offered one years before that.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: When I happened to be lucky, kind of going there with some obviously industry people, I was pretty new to things.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was like 2014 or 2015.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: I just didn't have the money to do it, and I really wanted to do it.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember how much it was back then.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, this would be cool.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: I should I'm thinking, you know, it's one of those like kick myself moments, like I didn't get to do it.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: When I bottle it, I'll give you a bottle.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's very kind.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll definitely share it too.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll we'll open a bottle together.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: So so for you, owning a cask is about what?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: What how would you describe that?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm actually, I mean, again, I mean, I know this is a big part of your business, but I'm not a big proponent of clients buying casks.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because there are very few people that have utility for, let's say, 200 bottles of the bottle of whiskey.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: Same liquid, right?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: And there are a lot of people who are bottling very nice whiskies.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: So, my recommendation always to someone is if you want to buy a cask, you must be very clear.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: If you're doing it for an investment, that means you are not going to bottle it, you're simply buying it to trade.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: I usually tell people, think twice because there are a lot of places you can invest money in.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're buying it, let's say, to buy for the experience, the journey, the camaraderie, the visits, and then you're gonna bottle it.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: And let's say you're doing it maybe for your son's wedding or your your grandchild's birth, and then you want to celebrate and give a bottle to all your friends and family, then that's a perfect reason to do it.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, my daughter is five.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, she was born in 2020 in COVID, right?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, she doesn't own anything in this world because she's five.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but she does own two casts of whiskey.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that makes sense.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: In 2020, exactly in April of her year.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: So you can see the five bottles because I take one out every year on this journey.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously she's not tasted it, but one day when she's older, we'll enjoy it together.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I've got to be able to do that.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: So see, that's that's the journey, right?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: If you have that journey, that vision, that that that family sense, one of the best experiences you can possibly have.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: But there are a lot of people who want to buy these casks uh in terms of and and they're not clear in their vision.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: So this is what I tell them.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: If your vision is clear, then I would recommend why don't you buy a cask?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: But if they're if they have a concept which is not in line with their probable final reality, I would always caution them.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: My vision is either we're gonna bottle it and give it out at my daughter's wedding, or if it's gone up a lot in price, I'm gonna sell it and pay for the wedding.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think Cindy at the end of the day.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: One way clarity of thought.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: One way that's essential there.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: She may get a lot of whiskey or she may get a great wedding.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: I have a lot of people who come and say, you know, okay, now you know I can, you know, but you know, you said this, but I went and bought this cask.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Now I have 300 bottles.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: Can you help sell it for me?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, no.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's uh that's not my business.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: My business is not to sell your cask.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's not my business model.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we had a client recently who just bottled uh a 1991 North British for his wedding.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: He had the cask a few years ago.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: There you go, right?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now he's bottled it for his wedding.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's so wonderful.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't obviously when he bought the cast, he didn't he his intention was hopefully he didn't even know his wife back then, but it it happened.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he found the love of his life, and now he's got this amazing cast that they've bottled and they're gonna kind of enjoy it.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think the fun part as well, if I can add to the journey, is the evolution, right?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like as we've been talking about, this is four or five years.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: What will it be at 10?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: What will it be at 12?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: As you got to experience your three, four-year-old, now you're getting a chance, hopefully, to go check it again.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's that part of it.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And you were talking about uh experience, whiskey is an experience, and that's really at the heart of Dram Good Stuff, if that's fair to say.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you talked about how, like, if I wanted to open a McAllen 40, I would get you know get together with 10 friends.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: What is it about whiskey to you that is about this experience?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Why why do you think it's an experience?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Can you can you say more?
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: To me, it's it's a very strong application of the word luxury.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: So the next question would be then how how does one define luxury?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: And to me, luxury is is very in in my mind, luxury is a concept of what is it that you have that you should share very sparingly and you cannot replace.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: So share sparingly is the there's scarcity, there's a limitation, there's a limitation for that.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I then I I I then then sort of bifurcate into that and I and I use time as an example.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: When I give you my time, there is absolutely no way that you can uh return this time to me.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's impossible.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you for giving us a lot of time.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: That wasn't the point.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: But but time to me is the ultimate luxury.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's something that when you uh spend it, it has to be with forethought.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: It has to be something that is a joyous thing for you.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: And and to me, uh the closest equation to that is whiskey, because it takes a very, very long time for a fine scotch, or or any whiskey, it doesn't have to be a scotch, to come to a point where it's something that you look forward to experiencing.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you I mean what it takes about 120 years for the tree to green to grow, and then you have the casks, and then you make the cas, you season the cas, and you put the whiskey inside, and you wait 37 years before you drink it.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a 160 years process that went into making it this whiskey we're having to recognize.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to go, hey, I'm saying, and then shoot it, and then we get shit faced on the floor, right?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, to me, that's not the point of a fine scotch.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Never, never we get shit faced on the floor.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Don't put me on record.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Don't put me on record.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_02: Don't do that to me.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe when we were much younger.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: Much younger.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: Not not so much now.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: Not so much now.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's something you you you savor, you treasure, you you have to allow yourself, like like when we know a whiskey, like when you what you just did now, you know, you pause.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm speaking, but in that moment when you close your eyes, you it takes you to another world.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: You're there, right?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: And and that moment, that irreplaceable moment that's yours and yours alone, which is irreplaceable, that's a luxurious moment that you just experienced.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I shared it with you because I saw it and and I smiled because you had that half-inch smile on your face, because because you were nosing it, you were loving it, right?
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: And how and I think the other part you're saying is that's what creates a shared moment.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because if we're all having that McAllen 40, or like the two of us are having right now, this 37-year-old Invergorder, we're having a shared moment, right?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like I'm having a gin and tonic and you're having a tequila or whatever.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: And and it's a it's so it's it's it's it's 80% luxury, and and if you're a whiskey lover, it it's 20% geekiness, right?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't matter if you're a watch collector, you have watch geeks.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you're any which you are, yeah.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh, but but whiskey geeks, oh my god.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm not I I love whiskey and and I'm primarily um I drink mostly commercial bottlings uh by by the top companies.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not proficient in recommending or marketing casks.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's not that's not my foretake.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's why actually we chose this, because I was like, if I chose a bottle, you had it.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: But if I chose a gas, there's a chance you haven't had this.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: So it's interesting.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like when I travel, someone will ask me, like, can I get you a drink?
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll say, you know what, I'm gonna walk to the bar and let me see what I haven't tried.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: And it could be something very inexpensive, but if I'm traveling and it's something I haven't tried to me, that's exciting because I haven't tried it.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I don't I don't want to sound like an ass, but but there are very few things I haven't tried now.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so trying something that I haven't tried for me is exciting.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and also that's pretty unique to the whiskey uh category, right?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I outside of whiskey, I do also enjoy a a vodka once in a while, right?
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I like the special brand of vodka.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going around trying every vodka there ever was.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not something I do, right?
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: But with whiskey, it's kind of built into the category is that exploration.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think well, the other thing you you talked about the luxury side of it, I think it's and and and the time that goes into it.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's the patience, right?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's the patience it takes to age something to get to that 37 years or even that five years.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the commitment.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the commitment.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine most whiskey makers don't get to try the ultimate expression of their best work.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: If it's yeah, 30 years, 40, yeah, and on, right?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, forget about it.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine people who are in cognac.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they two generations don't get to try the final product.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's crazy.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's a multi-generational journey.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the O de Vs are 110, 120 years old before before they finally go into some fantastic limited edition bottling.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, and you know, yeah, I'm sure the great grandchild will go to the to the tombstone and say, Yeah, grandpa, yeah, yeah, thank you.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: Have a drop, right?
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: But but I mean, that's that's I mean, if we think about it, it's crazy.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: Something that supersedes life itself.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, most people, uh, maybe even listening to this, probably don't even know 1987.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like maybe they weren't even alive in 1987 to think that this started its journey back in 1987, what the world was like in 1987.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when we did Vince.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: I remember when we did the 1950 exceptional single cask, I think was a 67-year-old.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I think their promo, if I remember correctly, you know, they had images of people planning to go to the moon, and and the Beatles had had their first hit.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: And you think about all of the things that have happened since 1950.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: And then you you end up sitting at you know, Otto Yamezzo and you're getting truffle shape, and you're and you and you're drinking the scotch, right?
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just you have to take a moment.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you have to take a moment and say, like, oh my god.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: There was a moment here where this cask was filled, right?
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: And what what was the beginning?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: What was they didn't intend for this to end up being bottled in Hong Kong in 2000, you know, 25.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: So when you put all of that into perspective and and you think about that that one in ten million chances of of being in that moment, to me, that's luxury because that's not something that I can buy.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: Buy all of that time.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: I can't buy all that time.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: I and all of the people that were involved and all the tastings that went into it, and the guy who took care of the cast, the guy who rotated the cast, the guy who made the cast.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: There's so much that goes into any single whiskey product.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know about the listeners, but you're making me thirsty.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm here with you.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're listening right now, grab a dram.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there you go.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if you like the conversation so far, give us a like, give us a subscribe.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate it.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're here season two with Cam Daswani, and we appreciate your time.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna move to whiskey three.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, Rakesh here, the whiskey chief.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you made it this far in the episode, firstly, thank you so much.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: As you know, it takes a lot to put on these kinds of episodes.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: So if you can like and subscribe below, it really helps us bring the best whiskeys to you and keep doing this show the best we can.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: This one's a bit of a special one for me.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: This nose is an old friend.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, yeah, I don't know how much of this maybe you've had already.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, it's weird to say something like, we don't have this cask, and I'm a bit sad because we do have like thousands of casks at different times, but some of these are kind of precious to me in like you know, they're all your children instead of the stuff.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: I've spent time with them, you know.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've watched them grow.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's just kind of a weird thing to say.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: But this is a I'm loving the nose on this.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a 1990 uh distilled mortluck.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: For those who don't know, the mortluck is often described as the beast of Dufton.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that terminology.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very powerful generally style.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Again, a lot of mortluck goes into blending, but we do.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: I would say, I don't know if you agree, Diageo is probably trying to position Mortluck and has been for a while.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think about the three, four years now, they've been pushing pushing it quite as their top end, kind of their uh let's say competition to McAllen, right?
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: We've got McAllen owned by the Edrington, we've got Mortluck owned by Diage.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: I like the fact that you put it out there.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's gutsy.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not paid by anyone, I don't give a shit.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: So this isn't sponsored by anyone, and maybe it never will be, but the goal here is to be independent and say what we think.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I think Diaggio took a look at the portfolio and go, we don't have a McAllen.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have a high-end luxury one, but what do we have?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: Mortluck kind of fits that that sherry profile.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, can we upgrade the bottling?
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: Can we make it the luxury?
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think they've made some of it.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: I've tried some of their higher age Mortlocks, it's it they have good liquid.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think they have great liquid.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: Have they achieved McAllen status?
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is this still a long journey?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: And McAllen had probably a 20-year head start on it.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a question of branding and and awareness.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: So this is sitting at 53%.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: This sample was drawn last year, so when it was 35 years old, right before we sold it, unfortunately, or for well, fortunately, because it was a good sale and the person was happy and they they ended up bottling it.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: But to me, this is the for me, most kind of, I guess, powerful, richest for that I've kind of experienced in in that cask world.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: This is gorgeous.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: This is just sherry.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like this is the beast that is sherry.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're getting all the oakiness, you're getting all the tannins, you're getting it beautiful right in your face.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: I can see you don't like it given how much is left.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is beautiful.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: So is this your style?
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is 100%?
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is Pete your style?
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: I know you've talked a lot about mood, right?
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's about what mood you're in, uh defines maybe it's also the temperature, especially here in Hong Kong, the company, right?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about luxury environment.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Are these the when you go to select a whiskey, not for an event or something.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: When I'm at home, when or out or whatever, and maybe it's not about trying something new.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Talk us through what what is what is mood transformation?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it's how does mood translate to actually it's it's picking whiskey.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's actually only mood.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: So all right, so you know funny story.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: I tend to like nice whiskeys because it's in my business, right?
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: So when we used to end up going out with a lot of our friends, people would be having like gin tonics or maybe a martini, and and and you know, I'd want like a nice scotch.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I was always skewing the bill.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then I realized that that's not really fair.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I can't also ask for separate checks because then again, it's it just looks weird.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I had to come up with an alternative for when I go out.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I So this is just uh just to make sure that the group average is not totally skewed by your 30-year-old McAllen diagram.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there you go, right?
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I had I had to come up with an alternative, and it took me a long time too to come up with an alternative, but I finally managed.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I have an alternative drink that which is not scotch when I'm with my friends.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_02: This is like you're unveiling a secret here.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_02: When I want to drink something nice, I usually drink it at home.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: Or I usually drink it with one or two people that are also drinking very nice scotch.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: So either you're all in the journey, you're on the same boat.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like we are tonight.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: And and so that, you know, it's it's just less complicated.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: But when I do drink very nice scotch, I tend to do it at home.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because then I do it on my own terms.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: Alone.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I love listening.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: I love listening.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_02: Your wife, no, yeah, no, my wife, my wife's normally in the room.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, all right.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh, she's she she's a gin and tonic girl.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, she'll have a sip or two.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes she'll come out and sit in the in the living room.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: But I like to sit in the living room.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: I have the air conditioning on.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: And you mentioned again temperature.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: It makes a big difference.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: It makes a difference when it's 30 degrees Celsius.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: You're not really in the mood for a whiskey.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: But you're in the warehouse and it's 11 degrees Celsius.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: You want you want that whiskey.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I put on some nice music.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_02: I have very nice, very nice speakers, I have a very nice audio system on.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: I will have prepped the whiskies that I want to drink.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: I tend to decant them into small little decanters and I put them in my wine fridge.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: So temperature, you want to bring it down.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I normally drink them at about 13 to 14 degrees uh centigrade.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: I have different glassware for different whiskies.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_02: So if I'm drinking something 30 or N plus, I would probably choose uh the Baccarak glasses that kind of open this way.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm drinking something below 30, I tend to use Riedel glasses.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: I tend to only use Glen Khan glasses.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: I mean uh these glasses when I'm trying something for the first time.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_02: Because then I'm approaching it.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_02: I picked the right glass.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: So then so I always tell you I think these are very technical glasses.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think these are great for tasting.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: In my view.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: So if I'm drinking something for the very first time, I would actually pour them out into four batches.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I would drink them straight out of the bottle, maybe 10 minutes later, 30 minutes later, 45 minutes later, and like an hour later.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_02: See how the air has Right.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then of course I'll have I'll have the droppers and then so then it's it's a whole process, right?
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_02: If it's something new and if it's something special.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'll kind of figure out like how I like it.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, the next time I drink it, I'm not going through that whole process again.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_02: Then I'm putting it in in I have these very nice uh Japanese hand blown glasses that I really like.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: I have handblown riddle glasses, and of course, I have my bakarat.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so depending on the age and and then I experiment, right?
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't think there's any one glass that's perfect for all whiskey.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: I agree.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll I'll try different glasses, but if I'm drinking at home, I have the luxury of 200 whiskey glasses, and then I'll I'll choose the right glass, right?
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't know how common that is, but I would love to come here.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I get what you mean by setting the mood.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean you painted a picture really above.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: So the right temperature, the right scotch, on the right glass, and maybe even the right music.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: Always the right music.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: Makes a big difference.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: So what's a if you're willing to share, what's maybe a a prized bottle or two in your collection at home right now?
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: Open or not open?
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if it's if it's not open, then it's probably in the warehouse.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: But if it's opened, um well, what's what's maybe your most in your mind, what what's your most prized bottle that's open at home right now that you consider to be precious?
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me maybe a story about why that bottle has some meaning or significance to you.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: But that's still, I mean, the the problem with that.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever you define.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: The problem with that question is it's just these last six months, right?
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because again, I don't keep bottles like this.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, just within the last six months.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I not in the history of your life, what's the best?
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I have a very, very interesting.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: The last time I was in Scotland, I was at Blair Ethal.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: And this and they have a 23-year-old that is surprisingly not easy to find.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I was actually at the distillery and and I was with somebody uh from the industry, and I think they had very few bottles left, and I managed to wrangle one out from them, and I bought it home.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, I didn't open it for quite a while.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_02: I had other stuff which, again, we need to finish, right?
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then I've a tough life, yeah.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_02: You're living a very different way.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: You have no idea.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: You have no idea the trauma I go through.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can't even open this 23 year old because I gotta finish this 40 year old first.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: That was exactly the problem I had.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: These are definitely first world problems we're talking about.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank God, thank God.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well earned, you've worked hard, you you know, this is a you've you've you've set the mood, you're enjoying.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Have the bottle open.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: So before you head back, just come by on Sunday or something and we'll have some.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I had heard all of these, these, these rumors about this 23.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: And in fact, I was I was trying to get a bottle because I do a lot of business with Diageo in Singapore.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of my you know rarer or more limited edition bottles come from come from them.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: And for some reason it it just it slipped past my awareness.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I never normally I buy them in.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_02: No, normally I buy six at a time because if I like it, I'll finish it.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: If I don't like it, relatively speaking, I have friends and you know, places to go and dinners to take to.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so when I finally opened this bottle, and same process, right?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: So and I drank it, and I was like, fuck, this is awesome.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh my god.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: We're used to the McAllen 25s and the 30s and and and you're used to.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, like and and limited edition Balvinies and and and single casks, and and you know so these are on the rotation.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: But when I drank this whiskey, I was like it just hit a different note.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was just it was just remarkable.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: It was just a remarkable dram.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: So currently at home, what's open that I'm currently, I think, pretty much not sharing with most people who come to house.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's that's very rare for me.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um generally, I I really love to share very nice whiskey.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: But this one is a bit special.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think maybe I've shared it with two people.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's hard to get, right?
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I want to go get a few.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think it's done.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it's done.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna find a blur FL23 anymore.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean you can check maybe maybe it's on the auction block or whatever, but but I haven't seen one available.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: But come come by and try it and see if you like it and and see if I'm if I'm overhyping it.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I don't think so, but but so what do you think of this Mortlock?
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love it.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you going to do?
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: On the freedom meter here of what and where are we at?
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_02: So we I think it's freaking off the charts.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: Go on a number out of a number out of ten if you're if I'm forcing your hand here.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you gave it to the that's the benchmark, yeah.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think you gave a 10-year-old if it will be an 8.8, right?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then where are you at here now?
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_02: Could I put all of these down a notch and I go this at a seven?
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is nine plus for sure.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, well, well overnight.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: From for me, it's a nine.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's a solid nine.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's a solid.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's one of my favorite whiskies.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's gorgeous.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: This was a special one.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: So your Blair Athel, maybe my Mortluck.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: I because the cask is gone.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: I can't draw anymore.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: We only have the bottle that we have left.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: So there it is.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: That Mortluck there.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's all the Mortluck I have in the world of this particular one.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's gorgeous.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for sharing.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: Only want to share it with uh yeah, well, people with people who will appreciate it, right?
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, and I think that's that's kind of that could be one of the best mortluck I've ever had.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was sensational.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: It just took to the it just I think one of the beauties of this whole thing being in the single cask world, which is a lot different, obviously, than the bottle world, which obviously there's a lot more bottles and uh mini casks obviously uh uh put together.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: But every once in a while you get these gems, right?
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: You get this, it just happens to be, again, like we were talking about earlier.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever that particular person who was making the cask, whatever it came down to, somehow that particular wood just took to that liquid in this particular way, wherever that cask was stored, maybe had some influence into it, right?
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: That led that amount of air in and not too much air.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's so many that's why they say whiskey is magical, right?
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's serendipity.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: You never know what's gonna happen.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: So speaking of whiskey kind of being magical, one of uh, let's say the highest honor in our whiskey world, in our profession, is being a keeper of the quake, which you were appointed to not long ago, if I'm not mistaken.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: Last March, in fact, it's gonna be a year.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: One year, yeah.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: So explain to the audience if you don't mind uh what is a keeper of the quake?
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: What the hell does that mean if somebody doesn't know?
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start there, and then obviously would love to hear, if you don't mind, maybe more of a behind-the-scenes story or something fun that happened as part of that inauguration process.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not obviously part of it.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've heard about it, I've seen it from from afar.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's a very special process.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: You get invited.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's a very secretive process.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever you're allowed to share, uh, you know, maybe something behind the scenes or something that people don't know about.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: So what is it?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: So what uh keeper of the quake is actually, if if you Google it, it just tends to say it's what is Google?
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: You mean if I chat GPT?
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm showing my age.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's generally defined as an honor given to someone who's done something to contribute.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: To contribute extraordinarily to the whiskey ecosystem from where they are.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_01: So the advancement of the whiskey industry.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_02: So, correct, but it would be different, like let's say if you were from Japan, or if you were from India, or if you were from Scotland, because if it was simply contributing to making great whiskey, then every whiskey maker would be a keeper of the quake.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, but that's not the case.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's an advancement in your particular field and and your So they would look at in Hong Kong was something done that was unusual, unique, or exceptional that promoted not only the uh the branding or the reputation of whiskey, but uh towards what degree and and and in what quantum, right?
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: And and I'm guessing this because they don't actually tell you point blank, you did this, therefore you are being nominated, and therefore good on you.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but if I were to hazard a guess, it would be prior to Cam and RAM Good stuff.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: There was no such concept of let's open and experience extraordinary whiskey.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was people would buy them at auction, sell them at auction.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: And do it in private.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: People were opening with their friends, obviously, but not with each maybe people they didn't know.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: Not in a more structured And most people who were buying whiskeys were buying it to sell it at auction.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: That was the end game.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna I oh I got an allocation of McAllen 30, I'm gonna keep it for three years, I'm gonna sell it, I'm gonna make 15, 20%.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it it was it was an alternative investment, yeah, turnover type of thing, right?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: When I came into the scene, I was saying, like, but guys, why are you selling stuff?
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: First of all, if you have a business and you're making money and you can afford a McAllen 30, my suggestion is you stick to your business to make money.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_02: This is not where the whiskey is not your business.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_02: The whiskey's my business, so let me make money in whiskey.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: You guys drink the whiskey.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of the way it works, right?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_02: So the whole concept was let's open Highland Park 40s and let's open McAllen 40s and let's open Glenrod's 51 years old and let's just drink the damn stuff.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_02: So prior to our our setup, it simply wasn't happening, or it wasn't happening to a scale where opening bottles was a thing.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think it was structured the way you structured it, to be fair.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think people gave enough intention, let's say, to what we talked about in terms of luxury, experience, community, correct, mood.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: People might just get together and open something very expensive at but no thought given to are we repairing it, are we not pairing it?
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_02: How are we having all the all the details of what you're so I remember when the first two or three brand ambassadors of a particular brand were appointed, and I said, But have you tried this?
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then they'll said, uh, no.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_02: You don't know.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_02: Which brand?
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_02: I cannot say.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_02: I know you can't.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_02: We've never tried it.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_02: It was in the past.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_02: We haven't tried it.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_02: I said, What do you mean you haven't tried it?
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_02: But you're the brand ambassador.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, nobody's opened a boss.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: I have a bottle opener.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_02: Dram, come and try it, right?
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: So probably a Japanese brand, if I'm gonna guess.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because I remember being at an event, uh, this must have been about seven, eight years ago.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was at an event, actually, my wife had organized, she's in corporate events.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this was a massive corporate event, and they had the CEO of Centuri there, and they bought like expensive Yamazaki and all this stuff.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I think they had this is maybe probably 10 years ago now, because you were able to buy Yamazaki 25 relatively easier back then.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so they had Yamazaki.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was like a Morgan Stanley event or something like that, and I helped organize the whiskey part of it that they had gotten Centuri as a speaker anyway, and then um they had Yamazaki 25 at the bar, and obviously I was glued to the bar drinking Yamazaki 25.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the CEO of Centuri came and was trying it, and he was trying it, not for the first time, but he hadn't had it in years because they were getting into the phase where it was getting lower in supply.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: You can still get it, but it was getting harder.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they even, I think, had sent out, I think the chairman of Centuri had sent out a memo saying, look, and it's very Japanese, right?
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_01: They had said, look, as employees of Centuri, of course, we love our product, but we urge you not to drink it because we need to save it for our consumers.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, fairly Japanese mentality.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't see the Scotch or definitely not the Americans too.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: But very, you know, it's all about uh the consumer, very selfless, right, very sacrificed kind of way.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: So him being able to try Amazaki, uh, which he hadn't done in a few years.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've had events with a couple of brand CEOs who've who've not tried bottles that that we've offered, right?
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_02: Which is crazy.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think is bonkers, right?
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_02: But fast forward, now the the routine is okay, we're launching this product, let's open it.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think they recognize that that that concept of now let's actually open the bottles.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's how you get obviously let the consumers try it.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let the company try it, let there be an entire event.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_02: And and I learned uh a couple of years ago, I was, you know, I was sitting with with uh the CEO of uh Otomar PGay, and and I told her at at a lunch, give me a concept that you think defines Odemar P Gay as opposed to the other brands.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, We know how to engage with our clients.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_02: We not we may not be able to offer you what you want right now, but we will keep you engaged until we can.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_02: We are with you on that journey.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I took this word engagement and it became the benchmark of a lot of things that we ended up doing.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the key.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_02: When you do stuff like this, you engage with the people, you you give them a new vision, you you point out certain things that is beyond the dollar value of the product.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because, like I said, when you come back to luxury and you come back to time and you come back to sharing a moment with someone, that goes so far past the dollar value of that bottle.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_02: The experience.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's the experience.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's that moment of luxury.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_02: If we are sharing this moment and I am not interested in my WhatsApp messages, and you're not interested in your WhatsApp messages, and we are spending time together, and we are not interested in anybody taking us out of this moment, plucking us out of this moment for something else.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_02: To me, this is sharing luxury.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: Do you that's an interesting point?
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, I asked you to put your phone away.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: My I don't even know where my phone is right now, which is lovely.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do you do that in your events?
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: Do you ask people do you do a basket and you go, please put your phone away?
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't do a basket, but the next couple of hours we're gonna do.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_02: But I request, like if you're having dinner in my house and and we're actually sitting on the dining table, no phones allowed on the dining table.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_02: I have that.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: My five-year-old put that rule in uh in our house.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_02: He said no phones at the table to that.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_02: So someone said, Oh, but can I, when your mirror cooks so well, I want to take a photograph of the thing.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, you know, like yeah, keep it in your memory.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that that old thing we used to remember.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that old thing?
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: So speaking of sharing a moment, let's have one more.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: So this is Koch Lila, was in cask distilled in 2012, so a bit younger, right?
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_01: 57% ABV, so we're we've jumped up quite a bit from the 53.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_02: Not a typical nose, though.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, what's unique about this again?
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: This sample, this is still in cask.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it was distilled in 2012.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: We just took a fresh sample uh actually this month.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: This is 14-year-old Kohl Lila.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_01: What's unique about it is we re-racked it two years ago into Miguel Martin First Fill Fresh Olo Rosso.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think, and I'm keen to get your take on this.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: So when we think about scotch, and a lot of people think about scotch, traditionally you think about generally, and very generally, there's the sherry side of the spectrum, there's the peaty side of the spectrum.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, there's outliers with Spring Bank and Highland Park, etc., but whatever.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: But that's generally the spectrum we're talking about from sherry to Pete.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: And mostly, traditionally, distilleries go one way or the other.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: That started to change, let's say, in the last maybe five to six years.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: You start to see some expressions of Boona Hobbin with Sherry, this or that.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: I personally fell in love with that expression because I'm more of a sherry person.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: I actually don't love Pete.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a big I'm not a big Pete fan, but I started to get into it a little bit.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_02: So funny, I always tell people everybody's gonna eventually love Pete.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's gonna go there.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's where all roads lead to Pete.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_01: You start with your bourbon or this or the flavor, whatever.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: All roads lead to Pete.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a little bit peedy, but we've added, not added, we haven't added.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: We've we've started the finishing process into sherry.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if you look at the color, obviously, it took a lot of color very fast, right?
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_02: Two years you're saying, right?
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: Only two years, but honestly, most of this color came after six months.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: So usually when we re-rack something, meaning we change it from it was in a bourbon cask and we move it into a sherry cask.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_01: Our process again was is we usually obviously we do a control sample at that point, we do a six-month check, we do a 12-month check, and then every six months we kind of are just checking in on it.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now that we're two years in, we probably move to a every year kind of check.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: But the nose on this, what I love is I'm getting some of the caramel and sweet notes probably closer to, let's say, the Invergordon, uh, generally speaking.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_01: But now I'm getting that smoky peaty mix in there.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying this is done.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is actually the melding is is very much a work in progress from my point of view.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_01: But for a 14-year-old Koela, it's starting to take on those notes.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_01: What are your thoughts?
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's very nice.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: I would have liked a little bit more peatiness in this.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_02: I think that would have made it hit the sweet spot.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's very, very nice.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_02: Not obviously not a typical Kawhi.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_02: I think the sherry influence is well balanced.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_02: I love I love the cask influence.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping the sherry actually starts to mellow down a little bit.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's more peat on the nose than there is on the palate.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_01: There is.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_01: So you so it's kind of a mismatch for you in terms of like you're expecting more peat.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that was very exciting.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm a peat guy.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, I'm every whiskey's bitch.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's definitely the tagline for this episode.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_01: Cam daswani, every whiskey's bitch.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_01: He just done it.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_01: The guys are always looking for the tagline.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we gave it up front.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_02: You have to be, right?
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: Otherwise, you can never be honest with the dram in the glass.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_02: You have to, you have to let yourself be the whiskeys.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: Let me go back to keeper of the quake, if it's okay.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: You talked about what it is.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because I was bringing the liquid to people's lips and I was expanding the the okayness of opening very, very expensive whiskey and and experiencing them and sharing them rather than just being a retailer.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: You were recognized and uh rightfully so, I would add.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about maybe the moment that did you get an email?
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_01: Did you get a call?
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: You were obviously aware of what keep Keeper of the Quake was.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_01: Take us back to that moment and what you were doing.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, so um the global head of Diage's um branding and marketing, Yuan, we were doing uh I was at an event with him in Hong Kong, and we I was sitting next to him and we were talking about stuff, and he goes, Uh, are you a keeper?
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Nope.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_02: It was why?
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: I said, I don't think that's up to me.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I said, I said, I don't know how to answer that question.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Um, what's the process?
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, do I apply?
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_02: But he goes, No, no.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_02: He said you should be a keeper.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_02: I said, All right, I agree.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_02: He goes, uh, let's make that happen.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_02: I said, sure.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then a year later, since since it's he's with Diyage, I mean, one of one of the the top companies has to Yeah, you have to be nominated, there's a whole process.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_02: So then the Hong Kong office said, you know, we're doing your nomination through the Hong Kong office.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_02: It has to go, um, it has to go to the board, it has to be unanimous, and you know, it it went through, and the rest was history.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_01: But what did it mean to you?
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: Take me to the moment where okay, maybe you're kind of making it more processy, which I I I'm not buying.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I so you know what?
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think when it actually happened, yeah, you could expect something, you could even want something.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: When it becomes a reality, take me to that moment.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: And what does it mean to you?
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_01: What did it actually do?
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_02: No, it meant a lot because you're the first.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, as soon as I got the news, I shared it with my wife, obviously, and I said, like, damn, that's how many keepers of the quake are there?
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a few hundred, it's not that much.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's about it's a there are about three thousand three hundred.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_02: Three thousand.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_02: There are about three thousand three hundred across the whole world.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_02: Not that many in Hong Kong, obviously.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_01: This is master and wine level.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is, you know, there's not many things.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's not many things, yeah.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's a huge recognition.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_02: And and the fact that that your name goes all the way back to that organization in Scotland and Yeah, and then they all concur that this is someone that that should be part of our organization.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_02: It means a lot.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I couldn't I wouldn't be able to quantify it.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's like I guess it's like getting knighted in that industry.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's like it's like the star on the Hollywood walk.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's like getting a it's you're like getting your knighthood.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's it's a recognition that's it's the it's the pinnacle of that particular industry.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I couldn't think of a better person.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a great place to end things.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_01: Not only on all you've contributed, we thank you as a part of the whiskey industry.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_01: I know hundreds, maybe thousands of people, uh, even through social media, et cetera, thank you for giving them the opportunity to become part of your world, to to experience whiskey in a new way.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, all the people who've been to your events and experiences, I'm sure, have had you know amazing times.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and I know obviously you have a good social media following, you've done some fun things, packing the bottles, et cetera.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's got, you know, people get to experience something new through your eyes.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, very, very well deserved in terms of keeper of the quake.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you so much for taking the time to be with us.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't we didn't score the last one.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna ask just now, where are you at with this?
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's let's give it some honesty.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go with 7.1.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's in tough company, also.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's the it it's it's actually I'm coming off this, yeah, and if I'm giving this an eight, I I think I would I would pair this these two.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_02: I would I would give it back.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_02: I would equate these two.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think it's it's done well for what it is.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_01: You're doing the Invergordon and the Kohlelas at eight.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're giving the Mortluck nine, if that's right, and the borders was an eight point eight.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: So the Mortluck came out one, yeah, closely followed by the borders.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think these would be equivocable, yeah.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and a Kohlila.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, hopefully we tried something interesting.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_01: Fantastic.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, we tried something different.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's always our mortlock was a real pleasure.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we've got a little more.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_01: I learned a lot.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think your view on whiskey is interesting, I think your story is fascinating.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: I could have talked to you another few hours.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we will off camera, but thank you so much for sharing your story and Salange.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_01: Solange so much.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_01: Songe.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_01: Cheers, cheers, cheers.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, for cash here, the whiskey chief.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_01: Firstly, thanks so much for for watching this episode.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_01: It really means a lot to us.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you can like and subscribe below, it just really helps us to keep bringing you the best whiskeys in the world.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_01: Solange, and I'll talk to you soon.