Latest / Whisky Stories Podcast / From Johnnie Walker to Stauning & Starting Fresh – Ali Reynolds on Whisky, Branding & Bartending

Transcript

From Johnnie Walker to Stauning & Starting Fresh – Ali Reynolds on Whisky, Branding & Bartending · Whisky Stories Podcast

• 0:00
  Right guys, we already all got drums, everyone fine all.
• 0:03
  Got drums we're. All fine, I guess you know what
• 0:04
  to do. I do clap us in.
• 0:06
  Get this mic and I so thank you. Welcome to the Whiskey Stories
• 0:13
  podcast. Over half the the panel kind of
• 0:17
  said Johnny Walker Black Label, not because of the taste or the
• 0:19
  profile, but because of what it's done for Scott Whiskey and
• 0:21
  and that was always the selling point.
• 0:23
  And you know, this, this the, the whole story around, you
• 0:26
  know, the striding man and everyone's seen that amazing
• 0:29
  advert. With Robbie Coltrane, not Robbie
• 0:32
  Coltrane. I'm thinking about what was his
• 0:38
  name, Whiskey Harry. Welcome to the Whiskey Stories
• 0:42
  podcast. Myself, Graham we are back
• 0:44
  underneath the athletic arms were in the diggers vaults.
• 0:47
  There was still whiskey left from Ross Bars rummaging around
• 0:50
  a few weeks ago when he was looking for his, what, 3 drums
• 0:54
  of the Diggers Vaults, but they're back in it's It's warm
• 0:56
  underneath this pub and guess. It's a hot day, yeah, so we've
• 1:00
  got some refreshments and. Absolutely, And it's a Friday
• 1:03
  night. It is is We don't often record
• 1:05
  on the Friday. No.
• 1:06
  And if you listen to this, I'm currently my second week.
• 1:10
  'S holiday yeah, you're you're. In Bangalore right now.
• 1:13
  You're in India right now. I'm in India right now.
• 1:15
  So this is where we are pre recording this as as we are
• 1:18
  recording this, it's a Friday, the 20th of June.
• 1:21
  If you remember this day, it's it's the third day we have of
• 1:24
  sunshine this year. As you look outside your window
• 1:28
  and it's pouring with rain. You're going what are you guys
• 1:31
  talking about? But we've got Chuck here.
• 1:32
  How are you, Chuck? I'm all right, man.
• 1:33
  I'm I'm fairly looking forward to rain to be honest with you,
• 1:36
  26° is not for me. I not.
• 1:39
  For a, not for a ginger man like yourself.
• 1:40
  I've been just been running from shade to shade like.
• 1:43
  Over here. So it's like for my lunch today,
• 1:46
  for like 15 minutes, I was like, no, I need to move because this
• 1:50
  is not, it's not good for me. Yeah, but listen, we're here and
• 1:54
  we have a guest because Ross Barr is back to work.
• 1:58
  He'll be working right now, I think.
• 1:59
  Yeah, as we're a Courtney he. Will be.
• 2:01
  Some work, yeah, Moving. Some work, yes.
• 2:03
  But we are joined by probably the best looking man we've ever
• 2:06
  had on this podcast. Sorry, Mark Thompson.
• 2:12
  I'm recording that. I'm keeping that for a while
• 2:14
  now. But we're joined by Ali
• 2:15
  Reynolds, the man behind the yellow hammer.
• 2:17
  How are you, Ali? I'm very good.
• 2:18
  Thank you. Thank you for having me.
• 2:19
  No, thank you for coming along. It's great to have you here.
• 2:22
  Ross has spoken very highly about you.
• 2:24
  He said that you'd be great value to come on the pod.
• 2:27
  So thank you very much for coming along.
• 2:28
  Welcome to our our dungeon. Yeah, yeah, not how I thought
• 2:33
  the day would pan out. 26° so I could see people over from the
• 2:36
  flat kind of sunbathing. And now I'm SAT staring at a
• 2:40
  wall of gin with three guys in a basement.
• 2:43
  Absolutely. There's no better place.
• 2:45
  That's that's the game. That's what that's that's,
• 2:47
  that's. A dream Friday night I've ever.
• 2:49
  Well, yeah, I mean, I've been in worse places on a Friday.
• 2:51
  Yeah, and of course, as we're recording this, people will be
• 2:55
  currently putting into their Facebook group the weekend DRAM
• 2:58
  roll call. So I'll be looking forward to
• 3:00
  getting up to that. We've got plenty of drams in
• 3:01
  front of us. But anyway, first of all, Chuck,
• 3:03
  how has your week been? Your how's your week pushing
• 3:05
  casks All right. It's been busy, man.
• 3:08
  Yeah, that's super busy. We're closed for two weeks
• 3:11
  beginning of July. So we've just been like mental
• 3:15
  busy, like labeling. I think we're getting the whole
• 3:18
  out turn. Should in theory be out by now
• 3:20
  for rare finds is coming out been like doing some other
• 3:24
  stuff? So yeah, feel super super busy
• 3:27
  and been a super busy week in general.
• 3:29
  Good for me. It was a whiskey tasting
• 3:30
  yesterday. Well, you were that was because,
• 3:32
  yeah, as we're like you say, as we're recording this, this is
• 3:34
  coming out, like I said, two weeks time from now.
• 3:36
  Yeah. So, but you've had you had we
• 3:38
  recorded our episodes with the four of us when we did the the
• 3:42
  questions from the listeners, Yeah.
• 3:44
  Yeah, on. Tuesday.
• 3:45
  On Tuesday, Yeah, I thought I was.
• 3:47
  Doing something on Monday as well.
• 3:49
  Yeah. And then you were that tasting
• 3:50
  last night. There's that was Thursday.
• 3:51
  What was the tasting? It was called in infrequent
• 3:55
  endies done by Cosi Drams on Cosi Drams on Instagram.
• 4:01
  Robert, he's really, really nice guy.
• 4:03
  And he did. He did stay at the very
• 4:05
  beginning like planned. Started planting the whiskeys
• 4:07
  like 2 years ago so some of the distilleries weren't as
• 4:10
  infrequent as they were when the idea was.
• 4:12
  Right. So hang on.
• 4:13
  So he was, so he must be a, a showcase that he's doing rather
• 4:16
  than the T. He wasn't planning the tasting 2
• 4:19
  years in advance. I think he thought the ideas
• 4:21
  like 2 years ago and then right to acquire some of these bottles
• 4:24
  took quite a while and just to get it put together.
• 4:26
  So what was the what was the tasting?
• 4:29
  6 drams. We had a 25 year old Bob Blair
• 4:33
  refilled bourbon by George that well kilo.
• 4:38
  Had that drum on the program, yeah.
• 4:40
  Yeah, that was actually one of the.
• 4:41
  That was the first one. They brought that in with them,
• 4:43
  didn't they? Yeah, finger drops, I think it
• 4:44
  was like they're maybe second or thirds release for that.
• 4:49
  There's an 18 year old Glen Moringy bottled by SMWS, 26 year
• 4:53
  old Bladnock bought by Adelphi, 14 year old Dalmore bottled by
• 4:58
  G&M, Gordon McPhail. There was a Glen Kinji bottled
• 5:05
  by Woodrow's 10 year old Talisker bottled by Douglas
• 5:11
  Taylor, Douglas Lang and a six DRAM that I can't remember.
• 5:16
  Oh yeah, a 7017 year old McAllen bought by a signatory.
• 5:21
  Wow, good. Yeah, that was great.
• 5:23
  A cool concept as well. Yeah, it was really, really
• 5:25
  cool. I think he did state like Bal
• 5:28
  Blair never really saw it as an indie and you're starting to see
• 5:31
  it a bit more. McAllen was hence Teeth
• 5:33
  independently and. Now we know all about that the.
• 5:36
  Signatory has released quite a lot now.
• 5:38
  And there was it was it McAllen or was it brackets MI?
• 5:41
  Think it was just classified as spate.
• 5:43
  I think it was McAllen. And and the Glenn.
• 5:45
  Kinchy is a lowland distillery near Penn.
• 5:48
  Caitland. That's what it says in Woodrow's
• 5:50
  bottle, anyway. Oh.
• 5:51
  Is that what they say, Lowland? Distillery near Penn Caitland.
• 5:54
  So it kind of narrows it down that does.
• 5:56
  There's a space size 17 M. Oh, wow.
• 5:59
  Very good. Right, Ally Yellowhammer?
• 6:02
  Yes. Tell, tell us about that.
• 6:04
  What? What is Yellowhammer?
• 6:05
  Who? What?
• 6:05
  What do you do? Yellowhammer's company I started
• 6:10
  literally 6 weeks ago. Wow, so.
• 6:13
  And you're doing really well-being on this podcast.
• 6:15
  I mean I mean this. Is this is exactly why all the
• 6:18
  clients are going to be so pleased because, you know,
• 6:20
  things just fall into place. I'm a very lucky boy, but I was
• 6:25
  made redundant for my last job, right?
• 6:28
  And I took some of the money from that and invested it into
• 6:31
  camera equipment, which has always been a passion of mine
• 6:32
  anyway. But after seven years of being a
• 6:35
  brand ambassador, I kind of thought, you know, I kind of
• 6:39
  want to do my own creative side. Have a look at the marketing,
• 6:42
  have a look at serve strategies and everything else these these
• 6:45
  brands want. But have an eye on socials, how
• 6:49
  the brand looks, how it comes across.
• 6:50
  And if I can explore the world of photography and videography
• 6:53
  whilst doing that and still be involved within spirits, not
• 6:56
  exclusively spirits, but if I can still be involved in that,
• 6:59
  then I think that's a win. Win on on my part.
• 7:01
  Takes well, pretty pictures of bottles.
• 7:03
  Yeah, and and get to try. Them and the name Yellowhammer,
• 7:06
  a little yellow bird. Is there any reason behind that
• 7:08
  or just? You're a favorite bird of mine.
• 7:11
  Yeah. Thanks for the Ornithology
• 7:13
  wisdom there. But.
• 7:15
  I thought I was the. I thought I.
• 7:17
  Was the only one. I think everyone's just seen
• 7:18
  those big plastic yellow hammers that people used to smash ice
• 7:21
  with. But yeah, it is a bird.
• 7:22
  It's a pretty bird, One of my favourites.
• 7:24
  So yeah, I think me and my brother when we were younger
• 7:27
  used to spend a lot of time kind of looking for songbirds across
• 7:30
  the countryside. We had this pack of cards that
• 7:32
  we used to have in the car as we'd drive around.
• 7:34
  But the yellow hammer was what, the one we never found and it's
• 7:37
  kind of stuck with me ever since.
• 7:38
  Have you, have you seen one since?
• 7:39
  Have seen one since, yeah. I haven't got a photo of it but
• 7:42
  you know. Thanks mate.
• 7:45
  You know, when you talk about like photography and
• 7:48
  videography, have you ever seen this man's work?
• 7:50
  I haven't, not I've seen, I've seen someone looks very similar
• 7:53
  to him. He's done a lot of work and a
• 7:54
  lot of help for me, which is a gentleman called Ryan Snedden,
• 7:57
  used to run some bars across Edinburgh and over in Australia
• 8:01
  as well. He's been super helpful.
• 8:03
  But you need to check out yours. You should check out some of
• 8:05
  what Chuck's done. Chuck.
• 8:06
  Chuck knows his way around the camera.
• 8:07
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 8:07
  And he's really, really good at. Hand.
• 8:09
  Yeah, it's Danny Hand. There's some great clips of him
• 8:11
  falling over there functions and banging his head on match done.
• 8:15
  Chuck Chuck, Chuck Chuck's SO. Focused on the work he doesn't
• 8:18
  necessarily pay attention to. It I'm just dedicated to the
• 8:21
  art. Exactly, this is it.
• 8:22
  All for the content at the. End of the day, I mean, my my
• 8:25
  favorite part of the door extract, which I've mentioned so
• 8:27
  many times, was Chuck was holding the camera and we're in
• 8:30
  the Doric distiller ladies holding the camera.
• 8:32
  But he wanted to ask a question. But Truck didn't realise that
• 8:34
  when he asked a question, he'd put the camera, he'd push the
• 8:37
  camera, face the camera down. That's it.
• 8:38
  That's a great question. We're going to just hold the
• 8:40
  camera. Yeah.
• 8:40
  It's a very pretty distillery as well, so imagine the contents,
• 8:43
  yeah. Absolutely.
• 8:43
  Me just. Like.
• 8:47
  Panning, just looking up in the roofs.
• 8:49
  Is there a moment where you just put your hand up and the
• 8:50
  camera's still there like? Can I ask a question?
• 8:52
  Yeah, I did do that, yeah. And I then I had the headphones
• 8:56
  in, so I was getting all the sound back at the same time so I
• 8:59
  could I just hear myself asking the question.
• 9:01
  Brilliant with like A5, like a .5 second delay.
• 9:04
  Yeah, so. If you need anything you know
• 9:06
  where. I am.
• 9:06
  Well, I say it's always handy to know, but I mean, yeah.
• 9:09
  So. So first of all, you've already
• 9:10
  mentioned there previously a brand ambassador.
• 9:13
  So that so your journey into whiskey, what's take what?
• 9:16
  Where did we start to get you to here?
• 9:19
  For cocktail bartending for a long time.
• 9:24
  And then I think whiskey I, I guess like everyone like their,
• 9:28
  their spirits journey starts off a little bit different.
• 9:31
  My parents were always gin and tonics.
• 9:33
  As you can tell, I'm the only English person here, but we'll,
• 9:36
  we'll talk about gin and tonics for a second.
• 9:37
  But yeah, they they drunk gin and tonics and that was like, I
• 9:39
  think. Or gins and tonic.
• 9:41
  Gins and tonics and tonic, Yeah. Not a gin.
• 9:44
  They're a nice fifty, yeah. Yeah, but we did, we did that
• 9:49
  and then kind of went through and then discovered rum and
• 9:51
  American whiskey and then and then finally Scotch.
• 9:53
  And I guess it is quite a bit of a challenge getting into the
• 9:55
  category at any point in your life.
• 9:59
  And I think after that I did, I started doing cocktail
• 10:02
  competitions and just found a real ease of working with
• 10:04
  whiskey and, and predominantly the amount of flavours that are
• 10:07
  involved within Scotch. I don't think there's another
• 10:09
  spirit category like it on the planet.
• 10:11
  Like, you know, you can have your soft and smooth, you can
• 10:13
  have your smoky and like it just the plethora of of flavours is
• 10:16
  is unbelievable. So I really enjoyed it for that
• 10:19
  and then. And this was when you were doing
• 10:22
  bar work then? This is when I was.
• 10:23
  Doing bar work? Was this stand in England or?
• 10:25
  Yeah, so Nottingham primarily for for for the most part of, of
• 10:30
  kind of getting through uni and all the rest of it as everyone,
• 10:32
  everyone did and then moved to Bristol and then London and
• 10:34
  that's where everything kind of started to change.
• 10:36
  And then 2015 entered Diageo's world class and won the GB final
• 10:42
  for that and then did the global final.
• 10:44
  So what's that? What's the Azure world class
• 10:46
  then? Azure world class is currently
• 10:48
  the biggest cocktail competition in the world.
• 10:50
  They've just recently had their their finals in Scotland, I
• 10:54
  think, I think they've won 54 different countries from around
• 10:57
  the world now and everyone kind of meets in in one, one location
• 11:00
  to compete, creating different drinks with all the the Azure
• 11:03
  portfolio. But.
• 11:04
  I knew you won this. Then I won the GB.
• 11:06
  Final I finished your winning GB final cocktail, can you
• 11:10
  remember? It was, it was a champagne
• 11:12
  cocktail with Johnny Walker Blue Label and oh wow, bergamot and
• 11:16
  cider. Like I've not sold that to
• 11:20
  anyone, but I mean, we're talking 10 years ago.
• 11:23
  But it was, it was, I mean, it's, it's, it was a, it was a
• 11:29
  pleasure to do it. And the people that were there
• 11:31
  at that final at the time as well, I was like, I've got no
• 11:33
  chance with this at all. And like it was, it was an
• 11:36
  amazing experience. And then I, I came off the back
• 11:39
  of that and in the nicest possible way, I was like, I
• 11:42
  think I'm done with cocktails. I can't have a look at another
• 11:45
  one and like, do whatever. And like the support would be an
• 11:48
  amazing and and Dan Dove, who was the guy running the Azure
• 11:51
  reserve at the time, looking after the luxury spirits offered
• 11:55
  me a job at the Azure and I started looking after Ronza
• 11:59
  Kappa rum, Don Julio Tequila and Johnny Walker Blue Label
• 12:03
  exclusively and then slowly moved into the Johnny Walker.
• 12:06
  Role Was that just in the UK or? That was just for the UK.
• 12:09
  Yeah, that was it. And I was based in London at the
• 12:12
  time. And Fast forward a few years,
• 12:15
  just before COVID hit, I moved up to Scotland to help open
• 12:19
  Johnny Walker Princess St. on the brand homes for the the kind
• 12:23
  of signature single malts at Diaz you have.
• 12:25
  And and I stayed Johnny Walker Ambassador until I left two
• 12:30
  years ago. I started working for stoning,
• 12:32
  which is a Danish whiskey. Yeah, yeah.
• 12:35
  So that's it. That's that was my seven years
• 12:36
  in in Ambassador Hood. And when when you talk about
• 12:40
  your whiskey cocktail making, your cocktail making, and you're
• 12:43
  talking about down in Nottingham, Bristol, London and
• 12:45
  stuff like that. And were you, was that at the
• 12:48
  point where you were experimenting with whiskeys and
• 12:50
  your cocktails? But then down there, how easy
• 12:53
  was it to get hold of the different types of whiskeys and
• 12:56
  the, the variety? Because we we often see this
• 12:59
  around the world and we've got some listeners across the world.
• 13:01
  Scott Moore springs to mind over in Memphis in the in the States.
• 13:05
  And he does what they call dusty hunting and he'll cross state
• 13:08
  border lines to find liquor stores and he'll just look for
• 13:11
  the old dusty bottles and he finds some absolute gems and
• 13:14
  classics. And we've seen his collection
• 13:16
  and we've seen what he's got. He's sent us videos and stuff
• 13:18
  like that. It's great, See, but what amazed
• 13:20
  us was just how much whiskey he can get his old his hands on.
• 13:22
  Like really, you know, obviously there's core brand stuff, but
• 13:25
  then there's a lot of some, some real bespoken unique stuff that
• 13:28
  he's managed to find. And then you see it around the
• 13:30
  world. But then you often think like
• 13:31
  sometimes you cross the border down England and you've got so
• 13:33
  many, you've got this Athletic Arms pub, one of the largest
• 13:36
  whiskey collections in Edinburgh.
• 13:38
  And and you're saying to yourself, like, you know, this
• 13:40
  pub would be the biggest whiskey collection in a country in other
• 13:43
  parts of the world, but down in England.
• 13:46
  Was it? How easy was it?
• 13:49
  Without trying to show my age too much, I think when I first
• 13:52
  started in Nottingham at like the age of 1819, there was, I
• 13:56
  mean, there was the the usual suspects and like, there'd be no
• 13:59
  call for it. Like people really weren't into
• 14:02
  it then. And I don't think Nottingham was
• 14:05
  really a place to kind of enjoy that people were out to, you
• 14:08
  know, party and, and, and do whatever.
• 14:10
  Especially the places I worked at, you know, the, the Glenn
• 14:14
  Fiddick 18 Shivers 18, you know, the usual suspects of like
• 14:17
  what's, what's kind of out there and what was available.
• 14:20
  And then I think moving to Bristol, there was a little bit
• 14:23
  more focus on it. But what I loved about Bristol
• 14:25
  was the bartending community. And we would hold like get
• 14:29
  together sessions where we would talk about the spirit category.
• 14:32
  People would bring, you know, whiskey and we'd all, we'd all
• 14:35
  share it. And like looking back now, a
• 14:37
  really good friend of mine, Dan Bovee, who's who's still based
• 14:40
  in Bristol, actually started a, a group called the Dusties and
• 14:44
  they would get different bottles in from a brand or, or whoever
• 14:50
  and then do break even prices for the ticket price.
• 14:52
  And it was unbelievable. You know, he was, he was
• 14:54
  getting, you know, these amazing whiskeys opening, you know,
• 14:57
  things like Khalila 25 or Isla Festival, Khalila's, yeah,
• 15:01
  getting someone from Diageo to come down and talk about them.
• 15:03
  But then the ticket price was like £30.
• 15:05
  You have 6 whiskeys that you'd never be able to get your hands
• 15:07
  on. And that's what I love it.
• 15:08
  It's the same about, you know, Nordicus used to do the break
• 15:10
  even bottle down the road and I just, it should be accessible.
• 15:14
  It's things like this, I think why most countries don't
• 15:17
  celebrate it and have it is because I think sometimes a lot
• 15:19
  of people just buy this stuff and it gets put away,
• 15:22
  unfortunately. Well, we, we, who's the guest we
• 15:24
  were talking about? And I think I had to sort of try
• 15:26
  and I said like whiskey in Scotland or sometimes whiskey
• 15:31
  even around the world, I would say.
• 15:32
  And it was, I used the phrase it's classless, but I didn't
• 15:35
  mean it classes and it's not it's not going to class.
• 15:37
  What I mean is that it can divide, it can it can cut
• 15:40
  through a class structure if you have 20 people who just enjoy a
• 15:44
  DRAM. Now obviously the problem you
• 15:46
  have in some countries is there is a sort of class society to
• 15:50
  it. And I'm like right now as your
• 15:52
  listeners, I'm in India. And basically what you'll tend
• 15:55
  to see is that with the price of Scotch on the shelves with that
• 15:59
  currently it still is at the 150% tariff on that.
• 16:04
  I think it's another couple of months before that drops down to
• 16:06
  75, which means that, you know, a bottle of Glenn Livet 12 or
• 16:12
  Glenfiddich 12 or something like that is going to cost me like
• 16:15
  £85 or £90 to buy a bottle of that.
• 16:18
  And you just can't justify that. But then if anyone is sitting
• 16:21
  with one of those bottles in their house, being able to open
• 16:24
  it and drink it, that that means they're in a Society of India
• 16:28
  that's higher than the majority of the rest of the, of the
• 16:30
  population. So suddenly it makes and and
• 16:33
  there's people and we had the barley Baxter on Baxter talking
• 16:38
  about his time over in India, mentioning the fact that when he
• 16:40
  was over there, you know, he was representing Shiva's bran and
• 16:45
  and basically he was saying, you know, Glenn Livet was one of
• 16:47
  them. There were still people drinking
• 16:49
  the real high end stuff. So that's another level above.
• 16:52
  I was, yeah, I was, I was blown away.
• 16:54
  And obviously Johnny Walker's like a a massive part of kind of
• 16:58
  Indian drinking culture as a whole.
• 16:59
  But you know, this, this idea of having, you know, the more
• 17:03
  premium brand is a is a statement of wealth, Yeah, first
• 17:06
  and foremost. But I, I was amazed going into
• 17:08
  hotels in Mumbai and looking at some of the whiskeys, like
• 17:12
  especially the Johnny Walker high higher end stuff that they
• 17:14
  would have like V John Walker just opened there on the back.
• 17:17
  But, you know, people are drinking it, you know, and I'm
• 17:19
  just like, you don't see that in the UK.
• 17:21
  Yeah. And it's just, it's become this,
• 17:23
  you know, unbelievable icon. But then I suppose like these
• 17:26
  break even bottles that bars do in the UK, it's a it's a thing
• 17:30
  to try and make it like let more approach.
• 17:33
  Like that's what we're saying like the Thompson brothers.
• 17:35
  That's why we just keep going back to it.
• 17:37
  When when we spoke to Phil and Simon and they said like in
• 17:41
  their bar, the higher the price of the bottle that costs them to
• 17:44
  bring in, the lower the margin that they they put on.
• 17:47
  The yeah. And that's the way it should be.
• 17:49
  Yeah, I think, I think people are obsessed with and, and this
• 17:51
  is my learning curve when I moved to London, people are
• 17:53
  obsessed with making a AGP on every single project product and
• 17:56
  that that GP being the same, you know, let's let's just slap 80%
• 18:00
  across every but and like it makes everything unaffordable.
• 18:02
  Like people are going to buy more expensive thing if it's
• 18:06
  slightly cheaper and then it's money in the till straight away.
• 18:09
  Like I I could never get my head.
• 18:10
  Round well that was a we we had the conversation this week, but
• 18:13
  it was a couple weeks ago's podcast was when we were one of
• 18:15
  the questions was from one of our listeners was what would be
• 18:18
  the sort of I think it was Kev was talking about what would be
• 18:20
  the most that you would pay for a DRAM?
• 18:22
  Yeah, absolutely. Or what's the most you have paid
• 18:23
  for that? I well, I don't think it was
• 18:25
  what was the most we have paid, but what would be the.
• 18:27
  Most we'd kind of ended up being that conversation, but I mean
• 18:29
  not that is a reflection of what we would pay as.
• 18:31
  Well, but I think I think like value Angus is what people want.
• 18:35
  Absolutely. And I think I think I think
• 18:36
  that's what, you know, when Ross was talking about it as well, it
• 18:39
  was like, well, if you know, if he came across the right thing
• 18:42
  at the right price, he would go up to a certain.
• 18:44
  I think we're all kind of the same.
• 18:45
  He would go up to that level on a special occasion especially.
• 18:49
  And, you know, all this. Yeah, you'd.
• 18:51
  Be in a bar and someone spend like maybe once a decade, some
• 18:55
  people would spend £120 on a drama whiskey.
• 18:57
  Yeah, because it'd be like a wedding anniversary or exact
• 18:59
  special, yeah. Or birth of a child or, you
• 19:02
  know, something like that. And then if you, if you're, if
• 19:05
  you're working in a management where they're like, we'll have
• 19:07
  to put the same G like return on all these bottles, then you're
• 19:11
  going to be holding on to that bottle for 28 people's 1020 year
• 19:16
  anniversary. How long is it going to be
• 19:18
  sitting there for? How long is it going to be
• 19:20
  oxidizing and losing? I just, I mean, I know that
• 19:24
  we've been on, sorry. I was going to say this an
• 19:26
  interesting point. No, 'cause I think we're talking
• 19:29
  about buying very premium whiskies, very expensive
• 19:32
  whiskies in a bar as a kind of special occasion or whereas I
• 19:35
  think in cultures like we're just talking about India, China,
• 19:38
  whereas emergent middle class, we talked about this, it's more
• 19:40
  of a statement of wealth. It's like, well look, look what
• 19:44
  I can't afford, rather than a case of right, I'll make an
• 19:47
  exception for especially. Value you're not seeing somebody
• 19:49
  going. I'm getting value and.
• 19:51
  I think when we talk about brands, especially like Johnnie
• 19:54
  Walker, Blue Label, where it's like there is this reputation
• 19:57
  around that what that represents, you know, whereas
• 20:01
  probably something that Ross would be interested in would be
• 20:03
  maybe something a bit more niche, a bit more.
• 20:06
  You know, less available, do you see?
• 20:10
  What I mean less well known. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see.
• 20:12
  I mean, the thing about it is I've been thinking about it for
• 20:15
  for the last few days actually. And it's like we, we we've been
• 20:20
  on Angus and I well, we've all been on everyone is.
• 20:22
  And that's what's great. The whiskey journey, right?
• 20:24
  That's where we are. Where do you start, where you go
• 20:26
  and all your different preconceptions.
• 20:27
  The thing that you thought was once what what you believed in
• 20:29
  Whiskey blends are shite and single molts are best and this
• 20:33
  that the next thing to then you finally realize actually blends
• 20:35
  are amazing. Blends are brilliant.
• 20:37
  Old blends are even better and you move.
• 20:39
  These new decelerates can't be any.
• 20:41
  Yeah. And then from my point of view,
• 20:42
  you move into Pete, you move away from the cherry and Cody
• 20:45
  then I would summed up perfectly on episode number or five, I
• 20:49
  think, or eight. It was in the podcast where he
• 20:50
  went through the cycle of the whiskey drinker.
• 20:52
  When you go all the way around and eventually you go past the
• 20:54
  stage of I'm only looking for the bespoken, the bottlers and
• 20:57
  you actually just go back to actually, I just love core
• 21:00
  brands again, I love the Glen FedEx 15 and you go through that
• 21:03
  cycle. But basically, you know, that's
• 21:05
  where we are. There's people who listen this
• 21:06
  podcast who are following the journey, following us, following
• 21:09
  the podcast, etcetera. And, you know, you look at what
• 21:13
  I would have spent on a bottle of whiskey five years ago and I
• 21:17
  would have thought, you're mad if you're going to spend
• 21:19
  anything over £100 for a bottle of whiskey.
• 21:21
  Yeah. And now after our conversation
• 21:23
  on Tuesday night when we were talking about what would you
• 21:26
  spend on a DRAM, I'm still, I still think I would struggle to
• 21:30
  justify paying anything over 65 lbs for a DRAM.
• 21:34
  But. And I've not done it and I'm not
• 21:37
  sitting here thinking I could do it.
• 21:39
  But if the right whiskey popped up, yeah, round about the 1000
• 21:43
  LB mark for a bottle, you're right.
• 21:46
  I don't know if I would be if I knew that is value that is
• 21:53
  there's I mean. That's interesting because I
• 21:56
  don't know if I had a chance to try to think back a couple of
• 21:59
  weeks ago or whatever it was, Ross said.
• 22:02
  I don't think I've spent over £200 on a bottle of yeah, I
• 22:06
  think I'm in a very yeah because.
• 22:08
  He's been given so many. Expensive stuff.
• 22:11
  I have spent slightly over 200 lbs, but I've not spent more
• 22:16
  than that and I'm not necessarily sure I would.
• 22:20
  On a bottle? On a bottle?
• 22:21
  No. But you also said that you
• 22:22
  would. You would have if what?
• 22:23
  The other question was, which really summed you up with
• 22:26
  basically, here we go. If someone gifted you a bottle
• 22:29
  and you found out to be within 5 figures, would you sell it?
• 22:32
  Yeah, you would, absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
• 22:35
  That's it. That's that's what drives the
• 22:36
  price up. So thanks so much.
• 22:38
  Yeah, well, that I guess, yeah, to be very impressive get.
• 22:40
  As as of today, Glenn, Well as of today of day of recording,
• 22:44
  Glenn Farkle has just released their 70 year old.
• 22:47
  Yeah, I saw that, yeah. Which, which is like the most
• 22:50
  Glenn Farkless release of all time, 'cause it's in the same
• 22:52
  bottle as the 10 year old comes in and they've just taken the
• 22:55
  box for like the 30 year old and the four year old and be like, I
• 22:58
  just put A7 on it, Yeah. I mean, you see the door, you
• 23:01
  know, when you see kind of, you know, other brands that release,
• 23:05
  you know, kind of they've sourced some wood that's only
• 23:08
  grown from a 370. Year old whiskey.
• 23:10
  There, I know, mental. But yeah, absolutely.
• 23:13
  And I think, yeah, it's not in a crystal decanter or anything
• 23:16
  like that. And I think.
• 23:17
  I kind of like that that's. Quite I I kind of I rate.
• 23:19
  It's it's a banging distillery. As well I don't understand on a
• 23:22
  screw. Top.
• 23:23
  Well, I mean it really gone back to how would have involved 10
• 23:28
  years ago. Yeah, why not?
• 23:30
  Why not? I think I.
• 23:32
  Think my thing and like this is always the thing about like what
• 23:34
  you would spend on a DRAM. And I think coming from a
• 23:37
  cocktail background, I always like there was always this like
• 23:41
  knowledge thing that everyone wanted to get over the next
• 23:43
  person. And there was all this, you
• 23:44
  know, sharing stuff. And I have the luxury of sitting
• 23:47
  in places like Scotch and listening to people like, well,
• 23:49
  Cam when he was there and and Ross talk.
• 23:52
  About Cam really had that place go on.
• 23:53
  Eh, yeah. And, and I just, it was just
• 23:55
  like I would sit down and I would learn more in sitting in
• 23:59
  that bar than I would like spending a week, a week on the
• 24:02
  Internet, like, you know, looking at facts.
• 24:04
  But I think from my, my point of view, it was always just about
• 24:08
  the flavour. And if it tasted good and you
• 24:10
  could tell a, a story about it, that's what gets people in into
• 24:13
  it. And it was, it was never about
• 24:14
  the price and it was never about the, you know, the distillery
• 24:17
  or. Or, but then from a marketing
• 24:19
  point of view, if you're trying to flog a 7 year old, or like we
• 24:22
  were talking about, it was the, the, the Glenn Rothes 51 year
• 24:25
  old or whatever where you have to break with a hammer.
• 24:27
  Oh yeah, I saw that. I saw a video of actually
• 24:30
  somebody. Breaking watching that this
• 24:31
  morning, yeah. But but I mean that that's The
• 24:34
  thing is like that's what that's what you have to do, isn't it?
• 24:37
  You're like suddenly you're going.
• 24:38
  So I mean, I don't know how much is a Glenn Fartless 70 year old
• 24:40
  retailer. I think I saw it was about 16
• 24:43
  1/2 thousand pounds, 16 1/2 grand or like I think some
• 24:46
  retailers are selling it for like just under 20 grand.
• 24:48
  Right. Yeah.
• 24:49
  But so to justify it, right, not only are you, you've got to the
• 24:52
  age sells a lot of that. Yeah.
• 24:54
  But then you have to build the story around it.
• 24:56
  Now, what Glenn, Glenn Rothes are doing is they're putting
• 24:59
  this casing around which you have to smash from a hammer.
• 25:01
  It's the the whole concept was like, are we preserving the
• 25:04
  whiskey? It's all for marketing A. 100
• 25:06
  that's what it is that's exactly, I mean the way we.
• 25:08
  Get we get into the realm of gimmick, Don't.
• 25:10
  Well, well that asks the question is when you were you
• 25:12
  had Johnnie Walker at the time when and did did did bottle sell
• 25:15
  when you stuck a a a body warmer around the bottles a a sleeping
• 25:19
  bag? I mean there.
• 25:19
  Was there was, there was some, there was some stuff and, and
• 25:23
  like I, you know, without, I've heard Cam say this, so I'm going
• 25:26
  to say it. And I'm, I'm not here to plug
• 25:28
  the Azure by all means, but you know, without brands like
• 25:31
  Johnnie Walker, Scotch wouldn't be where it is today.
• 25:34
  And I get that. And they're always, there was
• 25:35
  always this word that got bounced around, which was how do
• 25:38
  we disrupt the whiskey category? Like what do we do?
• 25:40
  That's new? And I, I some of the stuff I
• 25:42
  absolutely loved some of it. I was like, fine, I'm, I'm paid
• 25:46
  to, you know, talk about this and, and do whatever for them.
• 25:48
  But you know, I kind of resented sometimes like some of the ideas
• 25:54
  were so good and I was like, I really want to see that they had
• 25:56
  this incredible idea about the paper bottle and like the made
• 25:59
  out recycled pulp and everything else.
• 26:01
  And then the only thing I saw of it after two years of like
• 26:04
  conversation about it was just one, one bottle in Johnny Walker
• 26:07
  Princess St. which wasn't full. It was just the demo bottle.
• 26:10
  And I would love stuff like that to come out.
• 26:11
  But Chinese New Year obviously helps with sales, like all the
• 26:15
  different designs and collaborations they do.
• 26:16
  And you know, they they really are a brand of forward thinking
• 26:21
  and. Was there not a press release
• 26:22
  for that paper thing that all the Johnny Walker like red and
• 26:25
  black was going to be in? Yeah, I think the the for the
• 26:30
  the net neutral. I can't, I can't remember.
• 26:32
  That because because there is a thing, I mean, when we talk
• 26:34
  about that going back to that Glenn Farklas and it's a bit
• 26:37
  there is an element of, you know, the more you spend on a
• 26:40
  bottle of whiskey, the more packaging you get.
• 26:42
  And I would I mean, I've got like a it's about Blair 18 at
• 26:45
  home. Yeah.
• 26:46
  And it takes up an awful lot of space.
• 26:47
  And actually, I don't necessarily want bottles to take
• 26:52
  up a lot of space in my house. I would say this pen fartless
• 26:54
  seems like it's like the ante that.
• 26:56
  Yeah, but what's quite nice about that then that's.
• 26:59
  The story, stripping it back, we're going fartless.
• 27:01
  You can strip it all the way back this.
• 27:03
  Is you say it is part and parcel for Glen Fartless.
• 27:06
  I mean they're distillery that it is in the heart of space side
• 27:09
  and they still put a highland on the bottle because they were
• 27:11
  open prior to the space side being a region.
• 27:14
  Yeah. So it is very much like them to
• 27:15
  be like, no, we're not changing. So that's why it's maybe in a in
• 27:19
  the same bottle of the 10 comes in.
• 27:21
  And that's that's like that is on with the.
• 27:23
  Honestly, I really like that like sticky guns and you know, I
• 27:26
  think I think people go through so many package changes and all
• 27:29
  this other sort of like how do we be more innovative?
• 27:31
  And I'm just like, just leave it like just just just if people
• 27:35
  are there already and they like the taste, then, you know, build
• 27:38
  around that. Yeah, you.
• 27:39
  Know, but we had the debate and I saw and I'm not claiming to,
• 27:43
  to hold any sort of ownership over starting it, but I saw an
• 27:46
  article a few years last year, I think it might have been and it
• 27:50
  was, it was. I think it was all about the
• 27:51
  grand crew casks and stuff like that and the, the person who
• 27:56
  wrote the article and I forget his name.
• 27:57
  So apologies if you're listening to this, but basically the
• 27:59
  article was like, is whiskey actually trying to move itself
• 28:02
  away from its own identity, which is what made it so special
• 28:05
  like Scotch whiskey. So why do we need to put Scotch
• 28:08
  whiskey in tequila asks and, and, and all these different
• 28:11
  types of casks to make it different when actually like,
• 28:13
  wait, Scotch whiskey got to where it is by being this right?
• 28:17
  So by putting it in all these trying to put in different casts
• 28:20
  and stuff like that and trying to advertise and market, you're
• 28:23
  basically saying like, well, why?
• 28:24
  Why just stick? And and obviously it's a purist,
• 28:28
  right? Stick to what you're good at,
• 28:29
  stick to what you know, hold the brand, own the brand.
• 28:32
  That's Scotch whiskey. That's the front of the market.
• 28:35
  Instead of trying to be Scotch whiskey and tequila cast Scotch
• 28:37
  whiskey and ground crew cast Scotch whiskey and all these
• 28:39
  different. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not
• 28:41
  one for criticizing that because I've had some fantastic whiskey
• 28:45
  from different cast types and you go, that's absolutely
• 28:47
  fantastic. So there is this two sides to
• 28:49
  it, isn't there? There's a side of like, what can
• 28:51
  whiskey do to be more innovative in the marketing thing, to get
• 28:54
  more people buying into it, But equally at the same time is does
• 28:59
  it need to try too hard? Because at the same time, it's
• 29:02
  Scotch whiskey. It's the leading thing.
• 29:04
  Can the argument also just be, why does whiskey have to take
• 29:07
  itself so seriously? I mean, if you're doing all
• 29:09
  these cast finishes, you're having fun.
• 29:11
  Well, that's exactly. It it is interesting and it is
• 29:14
  cool. Yeah.
• 29:15
  And also and we we bring in a secular.
• 29:17
  New distilleries as well. What we're talking about where
• 29:19
  it's like, you know, we're going to start with something a bit
• 29:22
  different and you know, we're going to have this, you know,
• 29:25
  whatever. And actually by being able to
• 29:27
  release this cast, that cast, this cast generates an interest
• 29:31
  in these new, you know, particularly in new
• 29:33
  distilleries. I'm trying to think there was
• 29:34
  one in particular we were talking about on Tuesday.
• 29:37
  I can't remember, but it was like, well, they keep doing
• 29:39
  these cool releases and that's what's trying, you know, So
• 29:42
  there is that side of it as well where it's like if we just
• 29:44
  release something that's 80% bourbon, 20% Sherry, are they
• 29:49
  going to get are they going to get the eyes on that, that
• 29:51
  everywhere unless. Well, that's how it's it's the
• 29:53
  the we spoke to Woody about it, the first ever independent
• 29:56
  bottlers in the in the bottlers partly that we did Woodrow's and
• 29:59
  I asked him about the the challenges of being an indie
• 30:02
  bottler. Where is it just good enough to
• 30:05
  stick out a a refill hogs head if it tastes good, But if you
• 30:09
  stick out a refill hogs head and it's on the shelf and it's right
• 30:12
  beside something that's like we've been it's been finished in
• 30:16
  a soft terms cask or it's been talk.
• 30:18
  I we were talking. Was it talk I Glasgow?
• 30:20
  Talk I Glasgow? That's what we're talking about.
• 30:22
  Glasgow you're suddenly going a talk.
• 30:23
  I cask now, if you're if you're, if it's an independent bottler
• 30:27
  and you're suddenly saying, like, I just think that this
• 30:30
  liquid in a refill hogs head after 12 or 15 years tastes
• 30:35
  absolutely phenomenal that we don't need to do anything in it.
• 30:37
  So we're just going to stick it in a bottle and stick a label on
• 30:39
  it and put it on the shelf. But the problem is if it's
• 30:42
  sitting on a shelf right beside three other independently
• 30:45
  bottled whiskies that have been finished in something a bit
• 30:47
  cool, a bit different. Does that create a little bit of
• 30:50
  pressure to the indie bottler to have to try and suddenly go, we
• 30:53
  have to start finishing casks and and double maturations and
• 30:57
  moving things a different cast because we have to try and fight
• 31:00
  for the person that's on that that that's going to be the
• 31:02
  consumer. Yeah, maybe.
• 31:05
  I mean I bought, I didn't know what I was meant to be doing
• 31:10
  today in terms of like bringing stuff down.
• 31:12
  So I brought a bottle of whiskey down anyway, Ross did.
• 31:14
  Ross gave me no heads up on what what was going on.
• 31:18
  I'm just in a basement now talking to you 3 as best I can
• 31:21
  about whiskey. But I did, I did bring one of my
• 31:24
  whiskey from one of my favourite distilleries, which is Glen
• 31:27
  Elgin. But finishing in our Russo cask,
• 31:32
  I like, I like all the finishes and I've tried some amazing
• 31:35
  stuff. And I think what it does is help
• 31:39
  tell a story. If it works, then it works.
• 31:41
  I think, I think a lot of the time there's, I mean, I've tried
• 31:44
  some whiskeys that have just been, I feel just put in a
• 31:47
  Sherry cask for the pitch. Do you know what I mean?
• 31:50
  And the color as well. Yeah.
• 31:52
  And I'm going to say this now. And I used to bang on to them
• 31:54
  about it so much. So the Johnnie Walker blending
• 31:57
  team are phenomenal at what they do and their knowledge of like
• 32:02
  cast management, liquid management is insane.
• 32:05
  But personally would love to see Klein leash finished in a like a
• 32:09
  Calvados cask or something like that.
• 32:10
  I just, I feel like that Apoli note would be really nice.
• 32:13
  And I keep going on about it and I, I will say it to anyone that
• 32:16
  will fucking listen. And now it's a lot of people.
• 32:17
  So thanks for the. State I meet you about people I
• 32:21
  meet you. About everybody's downstairs
• 32:24
  now. But I think, I think, I think
• 32:27
  stuff like that. And I've, you know, the orchard
• 32:29
  from Glenfiddich I thought was absolutely amazing.
• 32:33
  There's been so many great cast finishes and I don't mind the
• 32:36
  experimentation. I like what Lagovolin were doing
• 32:38
  with the different casks. The mezcal cask I was expecting
• 32:41
  to be a weird smoke, but it's actually quite green and fresh
• 32:45
  for Lagovolin. And there's all there's all
• 32:47
  these amazing cast finishes. If we can keep doing it, why
• 32:50
  not? I just think sometimes it's it's
• 32:53
  done for a marketing employee and that's where you miss the
• 32:55
  trick because who's actually going to get to taste it?
• 32:58
  It is. Has it made the liquid better?
• 33:00
  And I think coming from a cocktail background going into
• 33:02
  whiskey like that, that's always the thing, the flavor there.
• 33:05
  And is there a story to tell about it?
• 33:07
  Absolutely. Well, this might be a good
• 33:08
  point. We have whiskey in front of us.
• 33:11
  Read my mind. Read your mind.
• 33:12
  That's great. We have whiskey in front of us.
• 33:15
  Now Chucks not got any whiskey Chucks not got.
• 33:17
  Nearly by we know why I'm here. It's.
• 33:19
  Really hot. You've been sipping away.
• 33:22
  Have you got, do you want to do a Ross Bar?
• 33:24
  And I'm not even going to try. No, I'm going to try, yes.
• 33:27
  So what whiskey in a glass. That's the first class.
• 33:29
  You've got Glen Orange 12. Fantastic.
• 33:31
  So I've never had this before. I've only ever had the 10 before
• 33:34
  it became the 12 and that's the 12.
• 33:36
  Yeah. Can I try that?
• 33:37
  Yeah, absolutely. Shall we?
• 33:39
  I'm saying yeah, absolutely. Shall we try?
• 33:42
  So yeah, you asked for you. You.
• 33:43
  You asked for something nice. Refreshing.
• 33:45
  Or do a sniff at Sip at Score at 62nd Whiskey Review.
• 33:48
  I think we should. Do one at the end.
• 33:50
  And Chuck, Chuck Point today said give give Graham the
• 33:53
  Glenmore G12. What?
• 33:54
  Yeah. What?
• 33:54
  What's our ABV on that? It will.
• 33:56
  Just be 40% I think. 4043 maybe. 43 maybe?
• 34:01
  It says. It's 404040.
• 34:03
  Yeah, good. It's easy going.
• 34:05
  That's what we want. Your second DRAM I can't
• 34:08
  remember the independent bottler bro, I can look it up.
• 34:12
  I. Can look it up at the next
• 34:14
  interval and credit them. It's a tormor 10 year old in a
• 34:18
  cream cherry cast. That's cherry.
• 34:20
  That's a official Tormor. That's that is official Tormor
• 34:23
  the. New Nice.
• 34:25
  So they did a urban cask, Sherry cask and cream Sherry.
• 34:30
  This is This is why Charles Carroll's here.
• 34:32
  They're interesting. So that is, yeah, something
• 34:35
  something I've not had before. That's the official tasting
• 34:39
  note. I bet the panel didn't get that.
• 34:42
  Yeah, and he's like cream. And your third drum is a 12 year
• 34:49
  old Spring Bank cask. String superb thank.
• 34:51
  You so there's there's your we your flight for this.
• 34:54
  Evening. I'm actually annoyed at you,
• 34:56
  right? Because if you hadn't told me, I
• 34:58
  think I'd have got that. Creamy one, yeah.
• 35:02
  All those, I was actually thinking that's quite creamy,
• 35:05
  but that's definitely that. Spring Bank holiday.
• 35:07
  You could. You would have got that.
• 35:08
  You would have got that. That's good.
• 35:09
  That the Hindsight whiskey taster.
• 35:11
  Yeah. There you go.
• 35:12
  That that's like what? So are you on?
• 35:14
  Are you on the same? I'm on the exact same just out
• 35:16
  of out of. I can remember 3 drams, but
• 35:19
  remembering 6 would be a challenge.
• 35:20
  So that's I had a research ally. We never ask our guests to bring
• 35:25
  any bottles on with. Well, I did.
• 35:26
  Well received. I knew I was going to be in a
• 35:28
  cellar with three Scotchmans. I was just like I was bringing
• 35:31
  something. So please feel free as I say to
• 35:33
  if you want to bring your bottle out and pour away, you're
• 35:35
  welcome to you. Thank you very much for that.
• 35:38
  But yeah, I mean. So well, yeah.
• 35:41
  I do have a question. I mean, you're working at
• 35:44
  stoning until the sad news I'll. Just keep.
• 35:49
  Pointing out you're just thinking Good idea.
• 35:51
  Ask the guy that just handed you his microphone a question I.
• 35:54
  Know, but I mean they were doing tons of experimental stuff when
• 35:58
  it came to distillation, fermentation yeah task
• 36:02
  maturation as. Well, yeah, it was honestly like
• 36:07
  moving from Johnny Walker over to astounding was it was quite
• 36:12
  the learning curve because they had really taken this direction
• 36:14
  on concentrating on rye as a grain.
• 36:16
  Yeah. So there was getting my head
• 36:18
  back into, I guess American style whiskey.
• 36:21
  But like in in its entirety, it was a Danish whiskey.
• 36:25
  You know, they weren't really restricted by any cask laws or,
• 36:28
  you know, what they could and couldn't use.
• 36:30
  And there was probably about anywhere between 90 to 100
• 36:32
  experiments going on at the distillery at any one point.
• 36:35
  But what I loved about it was when I went over for my final
• 36:39
  interview, which was actually at the distillery on the West Coast
• 36:42
  of Denmark, it was a it's, it's all farmland.
• 36:46
  I think they're now using single farm to get all their grain in
• 36:52
  Denmark, the the water source in Denmark, the peat sourced in
• 36:56
  Denmark. So it's a truly Danish whiskey.
• 36:58
  But every single thing they're doing is looking back at old
• 37:01
  Scotch methods of producing whiskey.
• 37:02
  So they're doing their own floor moltings.
• 37:04
  They were direct fire heating 24 copper pot stills like it was
• 37:08
  insane frightening. And if you if anyone wants to
• 37:11
  kind of Google just an image of the the stunning distillery, I'd
• 37:15
  recommend doing. It and all the, all the copper
• 37:17
  pot, it's a really unique look because obviously we used to see
• 37:19
  in Scotland, you know, obviously we have copper pots and like
• 37:23
  Dornish distillery, but it's a small scale thing.
• 37:25
  But to have a look at that I I had a look at the picture this
• 37:28
  afternoon and it was just it was almost like if you can imagine
• 37:31
  something like Glenmorangie where you, you know, you have
• 37:33
  that kind of hall of yeah stills.
• 37:36
  Yeah, it's that, but like where we copper pots, it's kind of.
• 37:38
  It's kind of, they're tiny weird things.
• 37:40
  Yeah, it really is. But I mean, there's the Danish
• 37:43
  do two things very well, which is like their focus on
• 37:47
  sustainability and looking at nature.
• 37:49
  I was worried where you're going to go with.
• 37:50
  That grains of glass as well. I'm bacon.
• 37:54
  Bacon and pornography. I'm beer.
• 37:58
  Bacon and pornography. Two things that shouldn't,
• 38:03
  shouldn't really make sense, yeah.
• 38:05
  A lot of burns. But also design is what it's
• 38:07
  going to say. Design.
• 38:08
  There you go. That's what we Lego.
• 38:10
  Lego that's dead. We've had a real insight.
• 38:15
  I'm still thinking of Germany, but I'm going to pull this
• 38:18
  whiskey. Thank.
• 38:19
  You. Very much so.
• 38:20
  Thank you. Why have you brought this
• 38:22
  whiskey? Well, AI didn't know whether
• 38:24
  anyone wanted to, whether we were sharing drums, who who was
• 38:28
  bringing whiskey. But you know, don't turn off
• 38:29
  empty handed. Thank you.
• 38:31
  So this is a 13 year old Glenn Elgin from Adelphi which has
• 38:36
  spent I believe three years in a Ola Rosso Sherry Hogs heads.
• 38:44
  Brilliant. Oh, lovely.
• 38:46
  But Glen Elgin is. Is.
• 38:48
  One of one of my favourites. Any reason for behind it being a
• 38:50
  favorite? So I guess from the cocktail
• 38:53
  background and and highballs kind of being the the the
• 38:56
  cocktail for for Scotch whiskey. I challenge anyone to find a
• 38:59
  better whiskey than Glen Elgin 12 and soda.
• 39:02
  It tastes like tiramisu. Wow.
• 39:05
  I was sat with Irvin Tchaikovsky, who works for
• 39:09
  Diageo now. He's a global malt ambassador
• 39:12
  for them. But we're just doing that
• 39:14
  annoying thing of like, passing each other drinks and like,
• 39:16
  sharing drums. But I asked for Glenelg in 12
• 39:19
  and soda. And I was like, try that,
• 39:20
  That'll be the best highball you've ever tried.
• 39:21
  And he was like, no, fucking shut up.
• 39:25
  Took one sip and he's like, I fucking hate you.
• 39:26
  That's delicious. Yeah.
• 39:28
  So that's my go to. But this one's got a nice story
• 39:31
  around the RAF and. Yeah, notice they're bad.
• 39:33
  Yeah, it was raising funds for the RAF fund and there's a
• 39:40
  really nice story inside about a pilot who was one of the flying
• 39:44
  aces of the time, Brian Carberry, who was who, who was
• 39:47
  at number six O 3 sated about Edinburgh Squadron.
• 39:50
  But yeah. Brilliant.
• 39:52
  Yeah. Well, thank you very much for
• 39:53
  sharing that. Very fantastic.
• 39:54
  Now let's let's dive into it then, right.
• 39:57
  Brand ambassador for Johnnie Walker working for Diageo.
• 40:03
  I will say I think one of the a great whiskey story, I don't
• 40:06
  know if it was a what 3 drams or not, but it was Hector McLean
• 40:09
  who is the cousin, cousin, cousin, cousin of Charles
• 40:14
  Charles McLean and he told the story about significantly.
• 40:16
  Younger than him as. Well, yeah, a lot younger.
• 40:20
  Second, I don't know, but he tells the story about Charles,
• 40:22
  Charles McLean. And I tell the story very
• 40:24
  regularly. I've repeated the story to a lot
• 40:26
  of people, particularly anyone who's maybe a whiskey cynic,
• 40:30
  like maybe somebody like myself was 5 or 6 years ago about
• 40:33
  blends and very easy to turn your nose up and stuff.
• 40:36
  And the 2 Johnny Walker things that we're going to talk about
• 40:37
  before I ask you to explain, you know what it was like and things
• 40:42
  like that. Number one, Hector McLean tells
• 40:45
  the story. Charles McLean walks in what was
• 40:47
  the what's the bar across the Bay, Uska Bay.
• 40:50
  And the young lad by Nabar was like, Oh my God, that's Charles
• 40:53
  McLean. Oh my God, that's Charles
• 40:54
  McLean. It comes up and he's like, I'm
• 40:55
  about to serve the Charles McLean.
• 40:58
  And Charles McLean asked for Johnny Walker Red and in the
• 41:01
  bar, back bar there. I don't know you, Chuck.
• 41:04
  Did you work there for a while or did you drink there?
• 41:07
  Yeah, The back bar would have had some back bar.
• 41:11
  Yeah. So the Charles McLean to come up
• 41:13
  with all the things he wanted to order that night.
• 41:15
  It was a Johnny Walker Red label.
• 41:17
  And the guy, he said he didn't have enough Johnny Walker Red in
• 41:23
  the bottle for a full drum. And he said, don't worry, just
• 41:25
  top up with some black black label.
• 41:28
  And I just couldn't believe it. And I think Hector Mclean's
• 41:31
  story was basically about the fact that this guy's face was
• 41:33
  such a picture. And it backed up that Charles
• 41:36
  McLean was just constantly said that the whiskey industry was
• 41:39
  built on blends. The second Johnny Walker story
• 41:41
  that we've had on this podcast was, and I I do, I can say it
• 41:46
  now, right? Simon Smith, who great friend of
• 41:49
  the podcast. Yep.
• 41:51
  And as we were recording this last week or this week, open the
• 41:54
  bench brilliantly and we need to go back.
• 41:58
  We need to go down, go down, have a drive in there, we'll go
• 41:59
  down. This week I'm going down on
• 42:01
  Sunday. Yeah, let's do that.
• 42:02
  Get myself some 80s Malibu. Yes, let's do.
• 42:05
  That yeah, it's so good, right? This is it not had any of it.
• 42:08
  Yet. Oh my God.
• 42:09
  Also sorry, sorry. We'll do that later.
• 42:11
  No, you're talking about Shake the case.
• 42:13
  But but but The thing is, it's the only time I thought I'm
• 42:16
  Early Doors because that was an early episode that we did with
• 42:19
  the Whiskey Stories podcast and Early Doors.
• 42:21
  I thought maybe see about driving, driving some listeners
• 42:24
  up by plugging us on Reddit. No, never do that again.
• 42:30
  I stuck a Simon Smith said this great.
• 42:33
  And with the waste, when Simon gets going and he goes and he
• 42:36
  gets really animated and he was sort of saying, like I will
• 42:39
  challenge anybody to say that Johnny Walker Black Label is not
• 42:43
  the best whiskey in the world on the basis of volume of
• 42:47
  production, volume of sale. And you can go anywhere in the
• 42:51
  world and you will you should be able to find a bottle of Johnnie
• 42:56
  Walker Black Label any corner of the world.
• 42:58
  You can go anywhere and you can say and and that was it.
• 43:01
  That was. One of you was one of my.
• 43:02
  Yeah, because that reason. Being in a kind of very obscure
• 43:06
  place in Greece, yeah. And and and that was it.
• 43:08
  I start that and read it and he got slaughtered.
• 43:12
  Don't look up Simon, whatever you do, because they were like,
• 43:16
  there was so many people that just read.
• 43:18
  It was not a nice place for that, right?
• 43:20
  But obviously there'll be people listening.
• 43:22
  I said there's hundreds of. Whiskey on the Internet to give
• 43:25
  you unfiltered opinions. You.
• 43:26
  Know what I mean by was particularly bad?
• 43:29
  There was nobody that agreed with them.
• 43:30
  In that sense. Go.
• 43:31
  Into like a whiskey subreddit and be like, you know, what's
• 43:34
  the best thing ever? Is this really affordable thing
• 43:36
  that everyone can get access to? Yeah, but absolute.
• 43:38
  Fucking moron. But from that point of view,
• 43:40
  now, now there will be lots of people, maybe even less.
• 43:43
  There's this podcast who will look at Johnny Walker and go up
• 43:46
  there. They're like, they're the big
• 43:47
  guys. Yeah.
• 43:48
  Why would I drink that when I can drink anything?
• 43:50
  What was it like? How did it start with the brand
• 43:53
  ambassadorship? How?
• 43:53
  What was it like working for a company like Diageo, getting
• 43:56
  into a brand like Johnny Walker? And where did it take you?
• 43:59
  Wow. It took me into this cellar,
• 44:04
  apparently. Welcome.
• 44:06
  Potentially I can see, I can see, I can see 2 bottles on the
• 44:10
  shelf now. And you know, I think, I think
• 44:12
  it was, it was hard to do. What I initially found was it
• 44:17
  was hard to do trainings around it.
• 44:19
  So I would turn up to bars in London with a bottle of Black
• 44:22
  Label, bottle of Green Label, bottle of Gold Label, bottle of
• 44:24
  Blue Label and then anything else that I could get my hands
• 44:26
  on above that. It was hard to talk about that
• 44:31
  story and talk about flavours within a in a blend in in one
• 44:36
  session. So what what I was really
• 44:38
  appreciative of was when Diageo started marketing these four
• 44:41
  corners and we could break down what the key components of Black
• 44:44
  Label were. And the four corners they are.
• 44:47
  They are now. Glen Kinchy.
• 44:48
  Kinchy Taliskar is it? Glen Kinchy, Kleinich Kalila and
• 44:55
  Kardu Kardu, thank you the home. Well done.
• 44:57
  I'm doing your research at home. I know.
• 44:59
  Well, I I got. It's been a minute, but yeah,
• 45:03
  it's I think that was really helpful the the opening of the
• 45:07
  brand homes. But I, I used to kind of get a
• 45:10
  hold of any of the floral faunas I could get a hold of, you know,
• 45:13
  whiskeys that Diageo don't really talk about and talk about
• 45:16
  what actually goes into Black Label because, you know, it's,
• 45:19
  it's, it's mad to think the amount of whiskeys that a go
• 45:21
  into that blend. Shining a light on grain as well
• 45:24
  is always really important. And we'll get to that when we
• 45:27
  talk about when we talk about our three favorite whiskeys.
• 45:29
  But with, with Johnnie Walker, and I don't know if this story
• 45:33
  is true or whether it's something I've I've heard, but I
• 45:35
  know, I know there was kind of, you know, senior figureheads of
• 45:39
  whiskey master blenders, master distillers got together and they
• 45:41
  were all asked if you, if you were to have 1W or would, you
• 45:45
  know, create 1W, what would it be?
• 45:46
  And over half the the panel kind of said Johnny Walker Black
• 45:50
  label, not because of the taste or the profile, but because of
• 45:52
  what it's done for Scotch whiskey.
• 45:54
  And that was always the selling point.
• 45:55
  And you know, this, this the whole story around, you know,
• 45:59
  the striding man and everyone's seen that amazing advert with.
• 46:04
  Robbie Coltrane and not Robbie Coltrane.
• 46:07
  Hi, Grace. That's hi, Grace.
• 46:09
  I'm not going to. What was his name?
• 46:11
  Arrow Whiskey, Harry. It's, I wonder, a walking state.
• 46:20
  No. What's his name?
• 46:21
  Robert Carlisle. Robert Carlyle?
• 46:23
  Yeah, probably 1. Take Carlyle.
• 46:25
  You did that one take, did he not?
• 46:27
  Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's the, that's
• 46:29
  the rumour. And I can imagine he can.
• 46:30
  But like, like all of that stuff was great and the marketing has
• 46:33
  been great and like all of you know, their, their pitch when
• 46:36
  they first started to be like a mixed whiskey, you know, and,
• 46:39
  and the global outreach. It's it's a fantastic brand.
• 46:42
  And, and also I, I think once Princess St. opened and I know
• 46:46
  you guys are going soon, I was amazed by the amount of feedback
• 46:50
  from competitor brands in, in such a positive light because
• 46:54
  they were like, this is going to shine such a light on, in
• 46:57
  Edinburgh on Scotch. And that's what's important.
• 47:00
  And you know, whether it's Diageo or or whoever, it just
• 47:03
  makes Scotch relevant. And when you say competitor
• 47:05
  brands, you're talking about competitor brands in the whiskey
• 47:07
  industry? Yeah, so I mean, I was getting
• 47:09
  messages from people like Mark Thompson, you know, over at
• 47:12
  Glenfiddich. I was getting messages from
• 47:14
  people at Porno and like all these people came through the
• 47:16
  doors and they wanted to see what what we we were doing with
• 47:18
  this massive investment. But the fact that it's there on
• 47:20
  Princess St. cheers, sorry is great.
• 47:23
  And that's what it needs. It needs a light shining on it.
• 47:26
  I think we're always kind of trying to pitch to the younger
• 47:29
  audience and the upcomer investor into Scotch and yeah,
• 47:33
  they're doing a good job of do you.
• 47:34
  Come up for that right as it was opening up.
• 47:37
  So you would have been at the Johnny Walker experience when
• 47:41
  Covad hit? And yes, yeah.
• 47:43
  So that must have been a it was supposed to be a massive opening
• 47:45
  for the bicentenary. Well, I moved.
• 47:46
  I moved up here with with my two kids and I was living on
• 47:51
  Cumberland St. in a in a basement sub basement flat and,
• 47:54
  you know, thought, oh, I get to explore Edinburgh.
• 47:56
  The fringe is going to happen. This fucking massive things
• 47:59
  opening. It's going to be all about
• 48:00
  whiskey. And it was like straight into
• 48:01
  lockdown. I was like you.
• 48:02
  Got your daily Walker day? Yeah, this is this is, this is
• 48:05
  really depressing, especially with a 2 year old bashing you
• 48:06
  over the head, you know, the latest toy whilst you're trying
• 48:09
  to film online videos of, you know, what Green Label tastes
• 48:11
  like to anyone that would listen.
• 48:13
  But you know, it was it, we got through that that period and we
• 48:17
  got, we got to where we are now and it's it's, I was up there
• 48:19
  the other day having a cocktail on the rooftop and the drinks
• 48:23
  are insanely good. Have you got any favorites
• 48:25
  there? Cuz I really.
• 48:27
  People or drinks? I haven't been for a while
• 48:31
  actually, but last summer I was there.
• 48:33
  Well, actually I've been there a couple of times.
• 48:36
  I can't not order. It's the Lagoville and ice cream
• 48:40
  cocktail. Yes, it's just amazing.
• 48:41
  I don't know if it's still on there.
• 48:42
  I know I think it might have gone now maybe.
• 48:44
  I love the I love what they did with the whiskey bar menu and
• 48:47
  all the drinks were focused around whiskey for the whiskey
• 48:49
  lover. But obviously in the in the main
• 48:51
  bar, they've got, you know, the vodkas, the gins, the tequilas
• 48:54
  there. But the drinks are so well put
• 48:56
  together by that team. And I love the fact that they're
• 48:58
  still focusing on Scotland with a place that's like, as, you
• 49:02
  know, international as that would be tourists coming in,
• 49:05
  They're still, you know, focusing on Scotland.
• 49:07
  I like that we had that's the trope on the podcast,
• 49:12
  effectively as me talking about sharp elbows in the whiskey
• 49:15
  industry and just kind of not being able to get my head round
• 49:18
  how friendly everybody actually is with each other.
• 49:21
  Yeah. And just like what you said and
• 49:24
  who do we have from the the Scotch Whisky Experience?
• 49:26
  We had somebody maybe in Ally Baxter.
• 49:28
  I can't remember exactly who it was that was on the podcast.
• 49:31
  And I sort of said, was it like Doomsday for the Scotch Whisk
• 49:34
  Experience? When you hear the Azure moving
• 49:36
  into town and they're building this big, huge thing, like not
• 49:39
  all. And then they explained the
• 49:41
  process. Like they actually explained
• 49:42
  what you got to remember is that the Scotch Whisk experience is
• 49:45
  owned by an industry. Yeah.
• 49:46
  So there's Diageo are part of that who own.
• 49:49
  Yeah. I mean, the the bloody whiskey
• 49:51
  collection that's on display. Is it what was was that not
• 49:55
  Diageo that paid for the the, the largest whiskey collection
• 49:58
  in the world? They certainly had an
• 50:00
  involvement. Actually bringing up by the
• 50:01
  castle. Yeah, no, well, yeah, the one
• 50:03
  that's got whiskey experience. Yeah, Yeah.
• 50:04
  So basically Diageo, was it not the did they not get told that
• 50:08
  on the podcast? Diageo paid the duty, yes, on
• 50:10
  the whiskey to get so. So I mean, yeah.
• 50:12
  And the you know, so suddenly you you look at it and going.
• 50:15
  No, that's got whiskey experience.
• 50:16
  I'm doing that and, and everyone was just going this is
• 50:18
  brilliant. And I remember my cousin who
• 50:19
  works in, he sort of works in property in Edinburgh and it was
• 50:23
  old Burtons building wasn't it? And he, he said just as Burton's
• 50:28
  get kind of shut. So House of Fraser, House of
• 50:30
  Fraser, Sorry, Yeah, he said that you know what's going in
• 50:33
  there? And I said no.
• 50:34
  And he said that the as you are putting a huge big Johnny Walker
• 50:37
  experience thing in there. Oh, really?
• 50:39
  And he went, but he was talking about the fact that he's like,
• 50:41
  you go to Dublin and you got the Guinness.
• 50:43
  Yeah. You go to Heineken in Amsterdam.
• 50:46
  Yeah. You go to all these cities and
• 50:47
  they have this and he's like, Scotland didn't have it.
• 50:50
  Scotland were. Rather more Edinburgh.
• 50:52
  Didn't. Well, yeah, Edinburgh, because
• 50:53
  Scotland was represented by all the brands around.
• 50:55
  You can go to any distillery. But as much.
• 50:58
  I love tenants. It doesn't have the same pool as
• 50:59
  the Guinness, no. No.
• 51:01
  And nobody outside of Scotland drinks tenants either so well.
• 51:04
  How dare you tenants super is. That an Italian drink apart
• 51:08
  from. There's a public shortage at the
• 51:09
  moment that are doing it, which is a rarity to see tenants in
• 51:13
  London. But I think I think exactly what
• 51:16
  you're saying. I had so many people who would
• 51:20
  come to Edinburgh and be like, I was like, oh, what you doing?
• 51:23
  Oh, we're here for three days. Can you recommend some places to
• 51:24
  eat? And then we're going to go up
• 51:26
  to, you know, the Highlands and go and see a distillery.
• 51:28
  I say, are you now like, are you actually going to find the time
• 51:31
  to do that? No, you're not.
• 51:32
  And I think what the experience offered was, you know, getting
• 51:36
  people into Scotch because how many people will leave that
• 51:38
  building now and then go to places like Devil's Advocate or
• 51:41
  or Black Cat or like, you know, where do I get a good whiskey?
• 51:45
  Where do I get and and that's it.
• 51:46
  And then, well, I'm actually in the process.
• 51:48
  So guys that I know in India, they, they, they have people
• 51:54
  arriving next week, which is really unfortunate time because
• 51:56
  I'm out in India whilst they're arriving and he was asking.
• 51:59
  Probably. A reason, yeah, but he was such
• 52:02
  saying to me like they want to visit a distillery, right?
• 52:05
  They're not whiskey drinkers. And I said fine, but I said if
• 52:08
  they're not whiskey drinkers and they're in Edinburgh, just the
• 52:11
  Scotch whisky experience. And then you have the
• 52:13
  opportunity to go to, you could either go to Johnny Walker
• 52:17
  Experience or you could either go to Hollywood or Porter Leaf.
• 52:21
  And he's like, no, they want to go.
• 52:22
  Is there a distillery? Right about an hour away?
• 52:25
  OK, So I said Glenn Kinchy. Yeah.
• 52:26
  I said there's Glenn Kinchy, but Glenn Kinchy aren't in
• 52:28
  production at the moment. Yeah.
• 52:29
  So I said, well, what to do is go to Lindor's Abbey or Lindor's
• 52:33
  Abbey will be, you'll get, you'll get Scott or That's
• 52:38
  terrible. Not Blair Athol.
• 52:39
  Yeah, not eating milk. What's what's the other one in
• 52:41
  Saint Andrews? Kings Barns.
• 52:42
  Kings Barns, I said, I said, like I said, I said these.
• 52:47
  I said six of them, right. I said go to Lindo's Abbey or
• 52:50
  Kings Barns. I said, can you?
• 52:52
  What's the price of a taxi? Bear in mind we're speaking to
• 52:54
  guys from coming from India, £150 each way right to get from
• 53:01
  Edinburgh to that neck of the woods, plus a £30 per hour
• 53:05
  charge for the driver to wait. You guys are going to spend a
• 53:09
  bit. Best part sorry coach, but well,
• 53:12
  this is the thing. So now, but but I, I kept
• 53:14
  trying. Now this is the problem trying
• 53:16
  to explain the guy. Look, go if you can go, go an
• 53:20
  hour at a time, right? And go and see.
• 53:22
  And you'll get, Listen, driving through the rolling hills of
• 53:25
  Fife, you'll never get a better experience.
• 53:29
  But what I was also saying is, But you don't have to.
• 53:31
  Yeah. And they're like, oh, but we
• 53:32
  want the picturesque. Yeah, they started.
• 53:35
  But The thing is, you're not appreciating what Edinburgh's
• 53:38
  like as a city, but you're. Also.
• 53:40
  I think there is one thing about driving the roads to five.
• 53:43
  I got my heart. My car got hit in the windscreen
• 53:46
  by a piece of carpet on the motorway like like a week ago
• 53:50
  and that was potentially one of the most horrifying scenes in my
• 53:53
  life. That's part of five, though.
• 53:54
  I was leaving Kirkcaldy. I know I.
• 53:58
  Was I was like coming out of Glenrothes back on the.
• 54:01
  Movie there, yeah. Oh my God, absolutely.
• 54:03
  I really careened off the road like I tried to avoid.
• 54:05
  Him. It smacked back.
• 54:06
  Can't imagine. Yeah, that's never.
• 54:09
  Happened. I've seen some things, yeah.
• 54:12
  I'll show you the roads to fight the road through that.
• 54:14
  But though I it, there is an element of that, like we talk up
• 54:19
  Edinburgh a lot. We talk about I talk up five a
• 54:22
  lot because that's my, my God-given right to us, somebody
• 54:25
  from the Kingdom. But but what what I would say is
• 54:28
  that like Edinburgh is growing as a whiskey place to be.
• 54:33
  So many people would come to Edinburgh and then have to
• 54:35
  travel elsewhere to Isla Highland space side, whatever to
• 54:38
  go to see, to get to experience whiskey.
• 54:40
  Now within Edinburgh you've got so many different things to do
• 54:44
  and, and then you've got the pubs on, on the side of it and
• 54:46
  on all that I, I. Totally agree with you.
• 54:48
  But I, I, I can see it from the tourist where they want to go to
• 54:53
  somewhere like Balblair that it's just scenic.
• 54:56
  It's got, you know, the sea, the mountains, the mess.
• 54:59
  Yeah. And this kind of old.
• 55:02
  They can't understand. What anybody says and what?
• 55:05
  Yeah, exactly. So I, I think, I think there's
• 55:07
  an element where, you know, as a tourist, you kind of want the
• 55:11
  cliche in a way. So I can understand that.
• 55:14
  But equally, you know what's happening in Edinburgh is
• 55:16
  fantastic. Can I use the bathroom before
• 55:18
  we? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
• 55:20
  Yeah, we can take a little. I need a a lot of concert.
• 55:23
  Break. Yeah, yeah.
• 55:24
  Right, sorry. That's quite all right.
• 55:25
  That's all right. Toilet breaks out, I clap.
• 55:27
  Clap us back in, I guess. Right.
• 55:31
  So I don't like it. Good, good club.
• 55:36
  Welcome back to the Whiskey. I ran my, I ran outside and I
• 55:39
  was like looking for that hatch again back into the cellar.
• 55:41
  And I was like, imagine if I just never came back 20.
• 55:45
  Minutes. The first ever ever get.
• 55:48
  To do a runner, yeah. Vodka, Right.
• 55:51
  Well, we're back. Always gone for a pee.
• 55:54
  Everything's fine. We heard it, actually.
• 55:56
  And yeah, well, well done. Washing my hands here.
• 55:58
  Washing your hands. Actually, it was really good.
• 56:00
  Yeah. But when you when you when you
• 56:02
  talk about like, let's look at Johnnie Walker Ranges and things
• 56:06
  like that, right. Because we just get exposed to
• 56:09
  the the, the red and the black label and things like that.
• 56:12
  And we see that all the time. But, you know, there's a blue
• 56:14
  label as well, which people will see as a premium.
• 56:15
  You mentioned the green label. Green label's been mentioned
• 56:17
  behind the. Yeah, yeah, it's upstairs away
• 56:20
  from this sort of main brand of the main releases of Johnny
• 56:25
  Walker, the blind label. What was your sort of favorite
• 56:27
  one to pull out a tasting or when you were doing these
• 56:31
  trainings or anything that actually got people going?
• 56:34
  Oh, wow. You know, that's that's not
• 56:36
  something I expected. I think for the for the, for the
• 56:38
  bartenders and the people that know Johnny Walker already as a
• 56:41
  brand and and know the liquid well, Green Label was always a
• 56:45
  good one. And, and back when it was pure
• 56:47
  malt. And I think the fact that it was
• 56:49
  the only one that had no grain in it shows, I think A the skill
• 56:54
  of the blender, but B, kind of the wealth of distilleries that
• 56:57
  Diageo have. So look at how here we go,
• 57:00
  rewind, Cragenmore, Linkwood, Talisker and Khalila.
• 57:05
  Just those 4 whiskeys all aged over 15 years put into a blend.
• 57:08
  When I said Talisker for the Four Corners, I was thinking.
• 57:10
  You were thinking about Green Label.
• 57:11
  I know, I know you were. Yeah, I know.
• 57:12
  I know. I know.
• 57:14
  Where were the other three wrong as well?
• 57:26
  Chuck has hated me as a fraud. Very well done, Sir.
• 57:32
  But yeah, I think that was always one.
• 57:34
  And then there were King George the Fifth was always a nice a
• 57:38
  nice plan to get out. But what I did love was when
• 57:41
  they started doing the Ghost and Rare series, OK, which were
• 57:45
  focusing on the the closed distilleries.
• 57:47
  So the first release was with Bora.
• 57:48
  Yeah. And they did Port Ellen and then
• 57:50
  I think they went through was it Port Dundas and Glenn Ewry
• 57:53
  Royal. Glenn Ewry.
• 57:56
  Yeah, idiot. One of the one of the things
• 58:00
  that Mark Thompson who was on my.
• 58:04
  Ugly guy. Yeah, the second best looking.
• 58:08
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Podcast guess that we've had.
• 58:10
  Yeah, exactly. But when we come to do the
• 58:12
  Whiskey Stories calendar. He could.
• 58:15
  He could be December. Yeah.
• 58:18
  But one of the things he talked about was working for that brand
• 58:20
  by working from a a brand like William Grant and Sons that he
• 58:26
  was working for at the time, you know, Glenn Fedeck.
• 58:28
  And what he said was he loved the fact that made a family
• 58:32
  operate oriented business. They he has words where they
• 58:36
  gave him enough rope to hang himself with.
• 58:39
  Basically. They were very good with them in
• 58:40
  the sense of out you go, go wild, you know, don't you don't
• 58:44
  have too much boundaries to work in.
• 58:46
  But then I'd imagine when you work for a company like Diageo
• 58:48
  and you're representing Johnny Walker, how restricted was it or
• 58:52
  restricting was it? How much were you let loose to
• 58:54
  go around and how on brand what? What was on brand looking like
• 58:58
  for you? Very, very restrictive at times.
• 59:01
  Yeah, we got freedom to do, you know, all the things we wanted
• 59:05
  to do with flavour and serves and, and things like this and
• 59:08
  who we were kind of partnering with in terms of on trade and,
• 59:12
  and different bars. And, you know, it's a, it's a
• 59:13
  recognised brand. But I think at that same point,
• 59:17
  because it's so well recognised and it's such a huge trademark
• 59:20
  and such a big part of Diageo, they need to be very careful
• 59:22
  with what they're doing. And you know, the conversations
• 59:26
  I used to have around silly little things that I thought
• 59:28
  were, you know, pointless. Like, I've got a little boy
• 59:30
  called Hector. And I, I remember sharing on
• 59:33
  Instagram an image of him being, I was throwing him up in the air
• 59:36
  outside the Glen Kinchy distillery.
• 59:38
  And the picture must have been up on Instagram for about 5
• 59:40
  minutes. And then I got a call, like, can
• 59:42
  you take that picture down? I'm like, who the hell cares,
• 59:44
  man? Like this is a place that kids
• 59:46
  are allowed in it. And, and, you know, they were so
• 59:49
  very worried about the trademark and the image, Yeah, and all
• 59:55
  that stuff. And I, I get it, you know,
• 59:56
  you're representing an alcohol brand.
• 59:58
  But you know, at the end of the day, I'm, I'm taking my child to
• 1:00:00
  a place where kids are allowed. And granted, it's, it's got big
• 1:00:03
  language words and I'm throwing them in the air.
• 1:00:05
  But, you know, don't throw your kids in the air whilst drinking
• 1:00:08
  whiskey maybe was the message. I think, I think ultimately
• 1:00:11
  with, with, with in regards to that sense of things you always
• 1:00:16
  as a brand ambassador you want. You want the best images, you
• 1:00:18
  want the best, you know, experience and you want to
• 1:00:20
  showcase like that it's a lifestyle brand.
• 1:00:22
  But of course it has to be in, in, in their, their, their kind
• 1:00:26
  of sphere, so to speak. But I think, I think with
• 1:00:29
  regards to Mark and what he does, he, I've, I've been to
• 1:00:32
  some amazing tastes with Mark and the fact is that they, yeah,
• 1:00:34
  they give him enough rope and enough slack to make things
• 1:00:37
  really good. And I remember going to tastings
• 1:00:40
  with him when, you know, it's, it's Glenfiddich 12/15/18.
• 1:00:43
  And then he's got the single cast 28 year old out of fucking
• 1:00:47
  Noble. Yeah.
• 1:00:48
  And you're just like, well, this has made the whole day more
• 1:00:50
  special, hasn't it? Yeah.
• 1:00:51
  And besides his kind of his charm and his knowledge as well,
• 1:00:55
  it's nice to actually sit and experience those things.
• 1:00:58
  And he used to try and do it as often as possible.
• 1:01:00
  And it's. Really important, yeah.
• 1:01:01
  And I guess that side of things, was that more difficult as well
• 1:01:03
  or were you able to get the odd and piece from Diagio?
• 1:01:07
  Yeah, really special things, kind of unmarked bottles that
• 1:01:10
  sort of. So if you had the right.
• 1:01:12
  Audience got a lot of that and I think it always had to be the
• 1:01:15
  right audience and always had to be a purpose of doing those
• 1:01:17
  tastings. And I've had the luxury of doing
• 1:01:21
  5 star hotels and Michelin star restaurants and the Johnny
• 1:01:25
  Walker 50 year old blend, you know all these different blends,
• 1:01:29
  you know, creating a blend anyway out of like 7 different
• 1:01:32
  50 year old whiskey is it boggles my mind and it's
• 1:01:35
  entirety. And that's why I'd always talk
• 1:01:36
  about the artistry of it, the production of it.
• 1:01:39
  But then also like the wealth of stock that that Diageo have at
• 1:01:43
  their disposal. One of my favourites for
• 1:01:45
  example, was we did the Blade Runner film the 2049 and we did
• 1:01:49
  the black Lego bottling for that.
• 1:01:50
  And I remember in the back of my mind I was like, you should
• 1:01:53
  really buy some bottles of this and they were like £80 on Amazon
• 1:01:56
  and now I can't find. It for cheap grand.
• 1:01:58
  Like really, do you have all the Game of Thrones?
• 1:02:01
  Game of Thrones, I actually had that.
• 1:02:02
  I had the whole collection at one point and we I launched a
• 1:02:05
  competition in London to kind of help promote it all.
• 1:02:09
  And then the winner got all those bottles.
• 1:02:11
  So, yeah, I remember like should I have these?
• 1:02:17
  But I don't know. I don't know whether whether
• 1:02:18
  that's going to increase in value.
• 1:02:19
  But the Blade Runner thing, I knew because I did my previous
• 1:02:22
  research and remember the original 1, the big bottle that
• 1:02:25
  Harrison Ford is holding in the original film, there's a guy
• 1:02:28
  that sells the molds, just the mold for that online for I think
• 1:02:32
  it's like €300 apart. But like as soon as that bottle
• 1:02:35
  came out, I was like, I need it. I.
• 1:02:36
  Need that. Yeah, that bottle.
• 1:02:37
  But then some of the collaborations have been
• 1:02:38
  unbelievably. Good.
• 1:02:39
  But that bottle in particular, I remember being like, oh, I want
• 1:02:42
  to buy that. Yeah, but it it's like no
• 1:02:45
  offensive. It's like it's a lot of money
• 1:02:47
  for just a bottle. Of.
• 1:02:49
  It's a bottle of of Johnny Worker 12 and now the empty.
• 1:02:52
  Actually. Empty bottles on eBay sell for
• 1:02:54
  100. And fifty, yeah, well, that's
• 1:02:55
  good to know. But the IT would this is the
• 1:02:58
  beautiful thing about it and it's the small things that
• 1:03:00
  people don't notice. But that it was a different
• 1:03:02
  blend to Black label. It wasn't a 12 year old whiskey,
• 1:03:04
  but it was bottled at 49% for Blade Runner 2049, right.
• 1:03:07
  So all these little things that come in and, you know, actually,
• 1:03:11
  I, I think one of the biggest pleasures I had with Diageo was
• 1:03:14
  actually getting to meet the people behind the city like Jim
• 1:03:16
  Beveridge. Yeah.
• 1:03:17
  Emma Walker's one of my heroes, who's the master blender now
• 1:03:20
  and. Jim Beveridge is a great
• 1:03:21
  normative to determine. I know.
• 1:03:23
  Well, And then Emma Walker takes over.
• 1:03:25
  It's like, oh, you guys, you guys are planning this, right?
• 1:03:29
  But then did you find that Johnnie Walker as a brand
• 1:03:32
  travels better than it is back home?
• 1:03:35
  So if you were suddenly saying, Oh yeah, you go abroad, I mean,
• 1:03:38
  that's. Yeah.
• 1:03:38
  So. So what were you having to first
• 1:03:41
  of all, as a brand ambassador, jump a hurdle straight away if
• 1:03:44
  you were doing a home Johnny Walker type thing where you'd
• 1:03:47
  have guys going, but you can get Johnny Walker anyway.
• 1:03:50
  Yeah. And Johnny Walker's ass.
• 1:03:52
  And it's it's cheap, so it mustn't be great.
• 1:03:54
  And. I mean, a lot of the a lot of
• 1:03:56
  the blends are cheap. I think what, what, what I tried
• 1:03:59
  to do initially was, you know, not, not pitch it against the,
• 1:04:04
  the competitors so much, but just show people that it makes a
• 1:04:07
  very good cocktail. And, and with all those flavours
• 1:04:09
  within it, there's, there's nothing you can't really do with
• 1:04:12
  it in terms of a whiskey cocktail.
• 1:04:14
  It's, it's quite hard to put certain single malts into
• 1:04:17
  classic cocktails. But, you know, Johnnie Walker,
• 1:04:19
  it's versatile, it works, and that's why it's, you know.
• 1:04:21
  Remember Peter Allison being on from Woven and talking about
• 1:04:25
  when he worked? He worked at Edrington and he
• 1:04:27
  was talking about, you know, the time Edrington had the famous
• 1:04:30
  Grouse and he was like, everyone turns their nose up by the
• 1:04:32
  famous Grouse and blending and stuff like that.
• 1:04:34
  He said, yeah, all right, it's the cheap option of what
• 1:04:38
  Edgington have or had what you said have at the time.
• 1:04:41
  But what he was saying is, but it's Edgington and Edgington
• 1:04:44
  have a standard of cask management.
• 1:04:46
  Edgington have a standard of like liquid management.
• 1:04:49
  So basically what they're saying is that, you know, it doesn't
• 1:04:52
  matter whether you're Famous Grouse or the McAllen or the
• 1:04:55
  Glenrothes or anything like that is there is a standard that they
• 1:04:59
  will not drop below for the wood that's used for the casts that
• 1:05:03
  are matured etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
• 1:05:05
  And I suppose that would be the same with Diageo as well.
• 1:05:07
  Diageo will automatically as the biggest brand in the industry
• 1:05:12
  will be able to go to the bodegas and or have probably
• 1:05:15
  their own bodegas in in her F and will be able to have the
• 1:05:18
  best line of McAllen do right. Well, well, yeah, but but Diageo
• 1:05:21
  will probably have, you know, Diageo will have, yeah, it'll be
• 1:05:24
  they're, they actually won't be scrimping to try and get hold of
• 1:05:27
  stuff, right. So, So what you're saying is
• 1:05:29
  that even though it's, and that's probably the, the, the
• 1:05:32
  merit and the fact that they can turn out so much of the Johnnie
• 1:05:34
  Walker Black Label and and so much of the Blue Label and what
• 1:05:37
  have you have that level of consistency?
• 1:05:39
  Is that not just the volume of stock that they've got to hold
• 1:05:41
  onto, but the quality of the stock they've got to hold on.
• 1:05:43
  To and the grain, grain distilleries, which is, yeah,
• 1:05:46
  which is going to help a lot, but yeah, I think it's it's what
• 1:05:50
  it's it's around about half of the casks aging in Scotland are.
• 1:05:54
  And Diageo's kind of watchful. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:05:57
  So it's a lot of them in Fife. Yeah.
• 1:05:59
  I mean, I'd like to know. I'd like to know, and I don't
• 1:06:02
  know how manager too. Yeah, but I would like to know
• 1:06:05
  what the volume of whiskey stored in Fife actually is,
• 1:06:10
  because you have the two bonds in, you know, you got.
• 1:06:13
  What's that? Black Grange.
• 1:06:15
  Black. No.
• 1:06:15
  You have the two bonded warehouses in Fife.
• 1:06:17
  You have the Clooney bond and you have the the leaving bond as
• 1:06:21
  well up there. I mean, you see that?
• 1:06:22
  And when you're driving up to Saint Andrews and you drive past
• 1:06:25
  the big Diageo part and leaving, Yeah.
• 1:06:27
  And you look at those warehouses now, I don't know, all of them
• 1:06:30
  are going to be storing whiskey cast in there, but it's line
• 1:06:33
  after line after line. And I've driven past that for
• 1:06:36
  years and years. And it isn't until I got into
• 1:06:37
  whiskey that you actually drive past and suddenly become really
• 1:06:39
  interested. And then you've got the Clooney
• 1:06:41
  bond over including, which is like, you know, it's, you have
• 1:06:44
  to it's like a real high security sort of area to get
• 1:06:47
  into and things like that. So the volume of liquid that's
• 1:06:50
  must be getting stored in that area.
• 1:06:51
  It's huge. You know, it's, it's but anyway,
• 1:06:54
  stoning talk us about the, the, the changeover.
• 1:06:57
  What was, what was what, how did that come about?
• 1:06:59
  What was it? What happened?
• 1:07:02
  So they Diageo wanted the Johnny Walker role to be based out of
• 1:07:07
  London, right. And I was like, I've got two
• 1:07:10
  kids up here, I'm not moving back down to London.
• 1:07:15
  And that was it. I found standing job come across
• 1:07:22
  the my desk and a really good friend of mine at the time was
• 1:07:25
  working as there sales manager Kieran Kuska, who was all
• 1:07:33
  bartender from Nottingham as well.
• 1:07:34
  But it was doing a great job of stoning mentioned.
• 1:07:38
  I bumped into him at the whiskey show and he, he mentioned what
• 1:07:40
  they were doing and what they were trying to achieve.
• 1:07:42
  And I'm just, yeah, I'm just, I'm gutted that I, I, I had to
• 1:07:48
  leave when I did because we had so many exciting things planned
• 1:07:51
  this year. And again, it's all business at
• 1:07:55
  the end of the day. But they were part of distilled
• 1:07:57
  ventures. So Azure would cut the funding
• 1:07:59
  to that and play astounding woven field and these great
• 1:08:03
  whiskeys kind of all fell under that.
• 1:08:04
  And unfortunately, I think for most brands, marketing is a
• 1:08:07
  luxury and I obviously fell under that, I think, but you
• 1:08:11
  know, I'll be an ambassador for astounding as as long as I will
• 1:08:14
  be like the the liquid's great, the people are amazing.
• 1:08:17
  And I really fell in love with, like, Denmark as a place as
• 1:08:19
  well. And did you get a chance to go
• 1:08:20
  out quite a bit then? I was global ambassador for
• 1:08:23
  them. So I was, I was travelling all
• 1:08:24
  over the world, Australia, Singapore, you know, France,
• 1:08:28
  Germany, Denmark, UK, every USA, which was, you know, our kind of
• 1:08:33
  like focus market at the time. But yeah, it was it was really
• 1:08:37
  good fun and it is a great liquid.
• 1:08:39
  There were great people to work for, very open and honest.
• 1:08:41
  And I think going from such a big team to a smaller team,
• 1:08:44
  watching how kind of quickly ideas just appeared, it was, was
• 1:08:49
  great. But yeah, the liquid and the
• 1:08:50
  distillery, fuck me, like. And that works so good.
• 1:08:54
  And what's the challenge then when you're travelling abroad
• 1:08:56
  and you've gone from Scotch? Now Scotch sells anywhere.
• 1:08:59
  And of course, yeah, you say Johnny Walker sells anywhere to
• 1:09:02
  then trying to say or this is a Danish one.
• 1:09:04
  Yeah, that that must be a challenge in itself.
• 1:09:06
  But then you know getting that the the phrase.
• 1:09:09
  Danish like rye. Liquid to.
• 1:09:11
  There was, there was. 22 memories I've got from it were
• 1:09:14
  always like the normal whiskey shows like Paris live and you
• 1:09:19
  know all the all these big kind of whiskey shows, London whiskey
• 1:09:22
  show people would come up to the stand and be like what the fuck
• 1:09:25
  is Danish whiskey? And then it was only when I was
• 1:09:27
  we were launching I think in Dubai and I was with one of the
• 1:09:30
  founders, Hans Martin and we were stood behind this stand and
• 1:09:35
  these these three guys came up to us and went can you show us
• 1:09:38
  what the best country in the world does with whiskey then?
• 1:09:40
  And I was like, so that's the, it's Denmark that's drawing
• 1:09:43
  people in because they, they have all this, you know, amazing
• 1:09:46
  kind of quality of living and these world's best restaurants.
• 1:09:50
  Great bacon and great pornography Anger.
• 1:09:51
  Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
• 1:09:53
  And Michelin star restaurants and beer.
• 1:09:55
  Can we keep it, kid friend? What's?
• 1:09:58
  The avocado? Avocado as well.
• 1:09:59
  Is it avocado? I thought there's not something
• 1:10:03
  about avocado and brunches in Denmark possibly.
• 1:10:07
  I think my brother went to Denmark and had an absolute
• 1:10:09
  blast with the avocado. And brother probably made sure
• 1:10:11
  that they had more. Your brother going to Denmark
• 1:10:14
  probably made the avocado say yeah.
• 1:10:16
  Obviously avocado and told that boy but.
• 1:10:18
  I think I. Think it's just the shame of his
• 1:10:20
  head, is it? But so, so, so, yeah, so, so
• 1:10:26
  people thought like, so Denmark being like.
• 1:10:29
  Yeah, it was. It was just not a place to make
• 1:10:30
  whiskey, right. Everyone, everyone.
• 1:10:32
  It's America, Japan, Scotland and Ireland.
• 1:10:35
  You know that. That's it.
• 1:10:36
  But, you know, you look at whiskeys coming out of
• 1:10:37
  Scandinavia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, you know, English
• 1:10:43
  whiskey now. And I guess that's a nice segue
• 1:10:45
  to. So with the new company now, one
• 1:10:50
  of my first clients is up at the Craig Ella Key Hotel and working
• 1:10:53
  for Space Life Spirits and Space Soda.
• 1:10:57
  Tom Jolly, who was at McAllen, has has gone over to be the
• 1:11:00
  managing director of The Great Galeke, but Sarah Burgess who
• 1:11:03
  was at McAllen, who's now doing the Lakes Whiskey which is
• 1:11:08
  phenomenal. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:11:09
  Yeah, she actually did a lot of work on the sodas as well.
• 1:11:11
  So we're, you know, the work I'm doing for them now is, is very
• 1:11:15
  much, I guess a marketing exercise for them and, and
• 1:11:19
  social content. But what we want to do is create
• 1:11:22
  some of the best sodas to go with whiskey.
• 1:11:24
  OK, sure. And then we have the gin and the
• 1:11:26
  vodka and hopefully whiskey projects down the line cuz.
• 1:11:28
  A pretty Eleki hotel had copper dog.
• 1:11:31
  It did, didn't they? But that's no longer a thing.
• 1:11:33
  Is. It I'm not sure.
• 1:11:35
  What? I'm a bit sketchy.
• 1:11:36
  I'm not sure what the focus was. I know Diageo Diageo took it and
• 1:11:40
  tried to make it into, you know, this, this great blended whiskey
• 1:11:43
  out of the heart space side. Whether that was a success or
• 1:11:47
  not, I'm, I'm not too sure, but I think the whiskey's still
• 1:11:49
  around. But I, I know for a fact what
• 1:11:50
  the Craig Allockey are doing now is, is certainly concentrating
• 1:11:53
  on the kind of heritage being that that focal point for space
• 1:11:57
  side. And it's a fantastic hotel.
• 1:11:59
  So, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, when when you look
• 1:12:01
  at like on to the new projects, the new business, yeah, it's
• 1:12:03
  actually exciting. And I think we'll we're we're
• 1:12:07
  we're in an exciting space with whiskey.
• 1:12:09
  I think one of the things that we've heard a lot of people
• 1:12:11
  talking about was it sounds terrible to say it on one side,
• 1:12:15
  but COVID really helped the whiskey industry in one's hand
• 1:12:18
  by accelerating the whiskey industry into a world where
• 1:12:23
  doing mass tastings, doing online tastings, bringing the
• 1:12:27
  digital side into whiskey because, you know, whiskey is a
• 1:12:29
  slow moving process and the whiskey industry is a very old
• 1:12:32
  and traditional industry. So bringing in these new, you
• 1:12:38
  know, technologies. Platforms.
• 1:12:39
  And platforms and marketing and things like that.
• 1:12:41
  But now what we have seen is like, it's massive, you know,
• 1:12:43
  yeah, like I said, we're on TikTok, lads.
• 1:12:45
  Yeah, What's the Tik Toks are great.
• 1:12:47
  You know, look at like a Stewart Dick from Torrevig and I can't
• 1:12:49
  remember the talk. Is it the DRAM dambler?
• 1:12:51
  The DRAM rambler on TikTok? Right, Yeah, it's like 50 odd
• 1:12:56
  1000. Yeah, followers and people, you
• 1:12:58
  know, we want, we live in the age of information.
• 1:13:01
  People want information. We're hearing about it.
• 1:13:03
  QR codes on the back of bottles and giving people information on
• 1:13:06
  where the wood comes from and making that whole building a
• 1:13:09
  story so that people can actually understand and and not.
• 1:13:12
  Giving them the information to talk about it to their friends,
• 1:13:14
  yeah. It's, you know, Chinkapen.
• 1:13:16
  We were hearing about Chinkapen. Yeah, they.
• 1:13:18
  Glen. I think Glen, OK and we're and
• 1:13:20
  again they've got yes and you're hearing about the wood coming
• 1:13:24
  from the Ozarks region. Yeah, this year, the woods from
• 1:13:26
  the Ozarks. Next year, the woods from an old
• 1:13:28
  brilliant. But but people love that.
• 1:13:30
  So when you're when you're looking at into that, what, what
• 1:13:33
  are you, what we're looking at for the marketing side, if at
• 1:13:36
  whiskey, what, what are you seeing brands that you're
• 1:13:39
  working with at the moment looking to try and explore?
• 1:13:42
  Where do you see it? Do you see sort of any avenues?
• 1:13:45
  Do you look ahead and say the next five years, that's where
• 1:13:47
  where brands are going to be looking towards?
• 1:13:50
  Yeah, I think, I think, I mean, that's always on on them.
• 1:13:53
  That's going to be their decision at the end of the day.
• 1:13:54
  I think with Astounding, we had this big learning curve of what
• 1:13:57
  what, what was it that we were trying to achieve?
• 1:14:01
  I think Dave Broome was one of the people that, you know,
• 1:14:03
  visited this distillery. We had this sustainability,
• 1:14:07
  though. The topic was sustainability at
• 1:14:09
  the World Whiskey Forum, which was hosted at Astounding.
• 1:14:11
  And then the following year we won world's most sustainable
• 1:14:14
  whiskey distillery. I think that in itself is a
• 1:14:19
  story, I think what what people want to how they want to serve
• 1:14:23
  their whiskey and, and in what environment with the Danish
• 1:14:26
  whiskey. There's this word in Denmark
• 1:14:28
  called higa, which is just kind of like enjoying the moment
• 1:14:30
  with, with friends and like appreciating the whiskey in
• 1:14:33
  front of you and actually appreciating where you are, not
• 1:14:35
  just the the liquid in the glass, which I think is really
• 1:14:37
  nice. But yeah, serve strategy, what
• 1:14:41
  what you want to achieve and what your target audience is is
• 1:14:45
  really important. And, you know, we're seeing more
• 1:14:46
  things about, you know, getting women involved in whiskey and I,
• 1:14:51
  I, I really want Sarah to come down and do an event in August.
• 1:14:54
  And it'd be nice just to hear from someone that's worked at 2
• 1:14:57
  amazing distilleries, Sarah, who's done McAllen and is now at
• 1:15:01
  the Lakes. I, I think it's, it's nice to do
• 1:15:05
  that. And as you were saying it, it
• 1:15:07
  was normally just invite only guys sat around a table talking
• 1:15:10
  about drums that none of them can either really afford or will
• 1:15:13
  ever open again. And it's like, what's the point
• 1:15:16
  to that? And my objective was always
• 1:15:18
  flavour and like getting people to try things.
• 1:15:20
  What is it on the palette? Learning how to describe it in a
• 1:15:23
  different way that makes it more appealing to everyone else.
• 1:15:26
  And I think that's the, you know, find that little nuance
• 1:15:29
  and find that thing that makes it interesting to everything
• 1:15:31
  else is is probably the most important.
• 1:15:32
  Thing, I mean, I, I think just quickly in the highball side of
• 1:15:35
  things, we're seeing so much of the highball.
• 1:15:37
  I've personally, I'm seeing it anyway.
• 1:15:38
  Yeah, I've seen a lot of more. Five years.
• 1:15:41
  Yeah, even in the last five, five weeks, I think, Johnny.
• 1:15:44
  Johnny Walker really went for it, and it didn't quite hit
• 1:15:46
  where they wanted it to, right? Yeah.
• 1:15:47
  To it would they kind. Of yeah, I mean, I, I think
• 1:15:51
  especially for this market, like if, if anyone's going to order a
• 1:15:53
  whiskey and soda, like the choice is probably going to be a
• 1:15:56
  vodka room, you know, lime and soda or gin and tonic.
• 1:15:58
  One of the best adventures ever was the Smoky Cookie.
• 1:16:00
  Like a villain. Yeah, I'm so glad you just said
• 1:16:03
  that. I was gonna come.
• 1:16:04
  Down here today and I was thinking, I was like, what can I
• 1:16:07
  mention and what kind of what can I mention?
• 1:16:10
  I don't, I don't work for them anymore.
• 1:16:11
  And we weren't allowed to say smoky cookie.
• 1:16:14
  I'm glad you say. It's great, but.
• 1:16:16
  We got in so much. I remember doing the Isla
• 1:16:18
  festival in like a bullion. We had a cocktail bar set up in
• 1:16:21
  the in the little shed at the bottom of the car park.
• 1:16:24
  But you guys have been to like a billion, right?
• 1:16:25
  No, no, no. Neither of us.
• 1:16:27
  I have right. So you come in and you're like
• 1:16:29
  the still house is is there on the left and you go straight
• 1:16:32
  down. There's these two like just
• 1:16:33
  before the pier. Yeah.
• 1:16:35
  And we opened a bar in there and we were serving whiskey and Coke
• 1:16:37
  and the people's faces, man. They just come round and.
• 1:16:41
  We're like, oh, we're doing cocktails and they're like, oh,
• 1:16:42
  excellent. Can I just get a drama?
• 1:16:44
  I was like, you can have a Smokey cokey and they're like,
• 1:16:46
  what's that? I was like, like, like a 116 and
• 1:16:48
  Coke and they were like, their faces were just sit in a queue
• 1:16:51
  in the rain for two hours to get this fucking bottle of fucking
• 1:16:54
  whatever, and now you're offering me a whiskey and Coke?
• 1:16:56
  I was like, try it. And then it's just like I'm
• 1:16:58
  gonna have one. So good, I'm gonna smoke.
• 1:17:01
  We made it worse. I I don't like coke so.
• 1:17:04
  We did. We did a Smokey cookie floaty.
• 1:17:06
  So we're putting a scoop of Vanilla Ice.
• 1:17:08
  I'm going. To do like.
• 1:17:11
  Briefly in Scotch we did Smokey cookie with like cherry Cordia
• 1:17:15
  it was. Everyone used to hate it and the
• 1:17:18
  shit that we would get and when we first did it, Oh my God,
• 1:17:22
  people lost their minds. And they're like, you can't mix
• 1:17:24
  that with this. Like what are you on about?
• 1:17:26
  You're wasting whiskey. Dave Dave Free put it in one of
• 1:17:29
  his books. It's like one of the best
• 1:17:30
  highballs. Ever try the best thing?
• 1:17:31
  Yeah, Suddenly. Yeah, it's.
• 1:17:33
  So good man. Right, well, that's that.
• 1:17:35
  We're having smoky cookies up the stairs.
• 1:17:36
  I'm going to smoky. Cookie.
• 1:17:38
  Now we are approaching that time of the evening where we ask her
• 1:17:41
  to guess for their what 3 drums. We also forgot to tell you about
• 1:17:44
  the what? No, no.
• 1:17:45
  You told me. You told me just before we.
• 1:17:47
  Started. But yeah, so hopefully in the
• 1:17:49
  process of me telling you before we started hitting the chord to
• 1:17:52
  now, yeah, you've come up. So basically it's any 3
• 1:17:55
  whiskies, doesn't matter what they are, they're, you know, a
• 1:17:58
  meaning or story or anything behind them.
• 1:18:00
  So sure. Ali Reynolds here.
• 1:18:01
  What 3 drums? My 3 drums, I think we've I've
• 1:18:07
  already mentioned Glen Elgin, so I'm not going to mention it
• 1:18:09
  again. So that one's that one's
• 1:18:10
  dropping out of the three, but Cline leash 14.
• 1:18:14
  I just think pound for pound, one of the best single malts out
• 1:18:18
  there, I think from the flavour it offers and everything else.
• 1:18:21
  And I adore that distillery. It's a really nice place.
• 1:18:24
  And and before you get there, you can get pop in and see
• 1:18:27
  Dornak as well and see the Thompson brothers if they're
• 1:18:30
  about, you know, there's always a few drums sucking around.
• 1:18:32
  But Cline leash 14 LB for pound. If I'm not doing Glen Elgin, I'm
• 1:18:40
  honestly just going to say Glenn Farkle's Ten.
• 1:18:43
  Yeah, my girl, my girlfriend loves it.
• 1:18:45
  I think it's a great drum. I I'd like that distillery a
• 1:18:48
  lot. I've tried some amazing stuff
• 1:18:49
  from them and I just, I think it's just ticks all the boxes
• 1:18:52
  for me. Have you tried the M&S Glenn
• 1:18:54
  Farkle's 10? I have not, no.
• 1:18:56
  It's great. Is it actually I'm I'm is it?
• 1:18:58
  Different than the regular? I don't know if it is, I thought
• 1:19:01
  it was 12. It's bold.
• 1:19:02
  No, it's a 10. OK.
• 1:19:03
  Sorry, there's a 10. I've been in M&S, there's a 10.
• 1:19:05
  And it does say bold exclusivity.
• 1:19:07
  I'm not. I'll see our smart card there.
• 1:19:09
  Did you just buy the 10 in M&S and then?
• 1:19:11
  No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I did buy the tenant M&S, but it
• 1:19:15
  does have exclusively for M. And S OK.
• 1:19:18
  It must be different in some way.
• 1:19:20
  I'm looking for sponsorship. Anyone from Marx's best?
• 1:19:23
  I mean he always talks about the Co home and that you get the Co.
• 1:19:25
  Home and M&S as well. Anyway, I've demolished the.
• 1:19:28
  Farmers stand there with my finances.
• 1:19:30
  Yeah. Yeah, but I did.
• 1:19:33
  Glenn Falklas Yeah, that's. Great.
• 1:19:37
  It's it's as a easy entry level whiskey.
• 1:19:42
  I don't it's. Not just an easy entry level,
• 1:19:44
  it's one of those drams that if you just you just like, I want a
• 1:19:47
  whiskey tonight. I just like.
• 1:19:48
  There it is in your cupboard. Yeah.
• 1:19:50
  It's great. It's great.
• 1:19:52
  Client H does the same job but client HI think flavour profile
• 1:19:54
  wise there's a lot going on in there.
• 1:19:56
  It's great not. Drank an awful lot 14.
• 1:19:59
  Year old's so underrated. Really, it's quite.
• 1:20:01
  You don't see it as much as. You what was it as actual?
• 1:20:05
  At least. The 14 is their entry level,
• 1:20:08
  yeah. Trouble with fruits waxiness.
• 1:20:10
  It's great. Yeah.
• 1:20:12
  I've had it before, but a long long time ago and I can't really
• 1:20:15
  remember anything about it, which is probably not exactly
• 1:20:17
  so. It's a beautiful decision.
• 1:20:19
  I definitely need to revisit. It Yeah, I went up after the
• 1:20:22
  revamp. Solid tour.
• 1:20:25
  Really, really good tour and great liquid.
• 1:20:27
  They were not happy when we asked if we could see Bora.
• 1:20:31
  No, the 2 are very separate to people that visit client nation
• 1:20:35
  one of visit Bora. Yeah, even though it's just that
• 1:20:38
  thin strip of tarmac dividing the two.
• 1:20:40
  But yeah, Bora. Especially £300 just across the.
• 1:20:46
  Can you have me really £300 fees?
• 1:20:48
  Yeah. So there's a lot.
• 1:20:49
  Sensor but tarmac but an ocean of.
• 1:20:52
  Yeah, an ocean of wealth. Yeah, well.
• 1:20:54
  Can we have a look? Yeah, they saw him come in.
• 1:20:56
  Yeah, you can look through the iron gate and then my number.
• 1:21:01
  What? My, I guess my dream drum as I
• 1:21:04
  put Jamia Castle Deja used to have it as a, a place to host
• 1:21:08
  people. It's where I did the world class
• 1:21:10
  final. I was mentioned before in 2015,
• 1:21:12
  all right, but it was before they announced the winners.
• 1:21:15
  And we, we all were up in this field kind of doing some
• 1:21:18
  shooting and like driving quad bikes and things like, you know,
• 1:21:21
  just being, being very well looked after.
• 1:21:23
  And I'd taken a hip flask and honestly, the the room in there
• 1:21:26
  was a snooker snooker table and a whole load of drums.
• 1:21:30
  But there's the rare malts. There was brawlers over there
• 1:21:33
  like all sorts. You can just help yourself, you
• 1:21:35
  know, with in a very relaxed atmosphere.
• 1:21:40
  Are you? Are you into this competition?
• 1:21:42
  I mean, they got rid of Jamia Castle, which is absolutely
• 1:21:45
  heartbreaking, but it was the I filled up a little hip flask and
• 1:21:50
  I was sharing it with some friends before the winners had
• 1:21:53
  got announced at that competition, not knowing that I
• 1:21:55
  was, I was going to be said winner.
• 1:21:56
  But the IT was the Melbourne 25 year old which came in at 61.9%
• 1:22:03
  ABV. For a 25 year old.
• 1:22:05
  And it was it was from the rare malts.
• 1:22:07
  But yeah, Melbourne 25. If I ever see that again on any
• 1:22:11
  shelf, that would. That's probably the drama part
• 1:22:14
  ways with the only bottle I've bought over a big price was I
• 1:22:19
  used to live in Mythco but I had a bottle of Saint Magdalene from
• 1:22:23
  1983 which is my year of birth and which I opened when my
• 1:22:27
  little boy was. When was?
• 1:22:30
  It finished. Where did you drink?
• 1:22:32
  Where did you drink? In line?
• 1:22:33
  Let's go. Oh my God am I doing a plug full
• 1:22:36
  in Lithgow platform 3? Tracy, Tracy, get on the bug.
• 1:22:42
  We. Were talking about so two weeks
• 1:22:45
  ago as you listen to this, but on Tuesday one of the questions
• 1:22:48
  were asked was what's the whiskey pub or bar that you
• 1:22:51
  would take either any of the podcasts?
• 1:22:54
  I took Fraser Campbell there, he had just walked to the whole
• 1:22:56
  length of the cup. He was walking, he was doing
• 1:22:58
  obviously north to South and he stopped off at Linlithgow.
• 1:23:01
  He stayed at mine. I took him down to Platform 3
• 1:23:03
  and we had a, they had Rosebank 16 from the yeah, we had.
• 1:23:06
  That for the and. We had the and we had the Saint
• 1:23:09
  Magdalene as well. Yeah, well.
• 1:23:10
  We've drunk from the same bottle.
• 1:23:11
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but I mean, you've never
• 1:23:14
  been to I've. Not been.
• 1:23:16
  Yeah. So I mean.
• 1:23:18
  Graham a few minutes on the train.
• 1:23:19
  So, Graham? Well, let's go there.
• 1:23:20
  Graham I Yeah. Graham and I, by ways of
• 1:23:24
  supporting a certain football club, get kind of experience of
• 1:23:28
  travelling around Scotland, towns around Scotland and
• 1:23:31
  Lithgow clearly, clearly has passed by Ross and John.
• 1:23:34
  Great pains of Guinness. Great part of Guinness.
• 1:23:37
  Yeah, I, I would say the best part of Guinness in in Lithgow,
• 1:23:40
  but you can obviously do the be a be a run and get the T-shirt.
• 1:23:43
  Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:23:44
  That's it. Well, listen, Ali, thank you.
• 1:23:46
  So. Much Hey, my pleasure guys.
• 1:23:47
  It's been great having. You down here with us.
• 1:23:48
  Thanks for sharing your. Stories The British and Irish
• 1:23:51
  alliance is on. So if we can all go, Oh yeah.
• 1:23:54
  Yeah. Well, listen, guys, thank you so
• 1:23:55
  much for listening to this episode.
• 1:23:57
  Thanks for let's just thanks for everyone for getting in touch.
• 1:24:00
  Thanks for everyone get involved in the Facebook page, whiskey
• 1:24:03
  stories, Facebook page or Facebook group.
• 1:24:04
  Sorry on Facebook, you'll watch. By now we should have had a few
• 1:24:08
  more different types of videos on the YouTube channel as well.
• 1:24:11
  So check out the YouTube channel because we've got the what 3
• 1:24:13
  drams feature and by now you should have seen the What 3
• 1:24:16
  Drams Ross doing the runner through in these vaults looking
• 1:24:19
  for his favorite What 3 drams. We also did the we had good fun
• 1:24:23
  at the BBQ. What 3 drams to have whilst
• 1:24:26
  you're having a BBQ. Well done Angus and picking the
• 1:24:29
  rainiest day and the sausages. The sausages weren't as bad as
• 1:24:33
  they look, let me tell you that. Look thank you very much Sally
• 1:24:35
  for coming along. Thanks for you guys.
• 1:24:37
  Listen, don't forget give us five stars, like subscribe,
• 1:24:39
  share everything like that. All the bit of best Slangeva.
• 1:24:42
  Cheers.