Cask to Glass

What does a 6,000-mile journey from Africa to a Scottish distillery have to do with a rare 30-year-old whisky? John Johnstone shares "The Swallows' Tale", a story of family legacy, natural cycles, and the spirit of Glenkinchie Distillery. From his roots in the mining community of Tranent to his transition from engineering into the heart of the whisky industry, John shares a deeply personal look at...

There are a lot of supposed "rules" when it comes to whisky. But for Ann Miller "rules are meant to be broken". AKA The Dram Queen , Ann's been demystifying the flavour and vocabulary of whisky for years, from explaining how a drop of water unlocks the taste of a dram to explaining the science of what goes on in the cask. In this episode of Cask to Glass, John Beattie chats to one of Scotland’s mo...

Would you pay £9,000 for a single nip of whisky? Today, we’re inside the legendary Fife Arms Hotel in Braemar, home to one of the world's most exclusive whisky libraries as John Beattie chats to Tom Add y about a whisky distilled in 1833 that was hidden behind a cellar wall for decades. What was his sales pitch to Jimmy Fallon ? And did it work? Slàinte! ------- Socials: @C2GWhisky | @JohnRossBeat...

“If you’re looking to get a quick return on your investment, you don’t do whisky,” chuckles Angus MacMillan founder of Benbecula Distillery . "You don’t do salmon farming either, because that I took from egg through to plate,” he says of a previous business venture. “So I'm a bit of glutton for punishment on these things.” Angus joins John in the first week of May from Benbecula, a small island in...

"Whisky is for stories. Tequila is for jail,” jokes Chris Greta a Texan story hunter and advertising copywriter, who travels the world helping distilleries look past the stills and mash tuns to find the magic, whether it’s in people, the place, the birds, the trees, and the rivers. Chris doesn't just look for tasting notes; he looks for the “Capo d’ Astro bat", that hidden, unique detail that make...

Founding US President George Washington once said alcohol was a business for "scoundrels." So how'd he end up owning the largest whiskey distillery in the United States? Cue James Anderson, a Scottish farmer and 18th century expat. Join Scottish artist Ian Gray as he takes the whisk(e)y trail from Mount Vernon to Louisville; Lynchburg to Islay; Speyside to Shimamoto. Slàinte! ------- Socials: @C2G...

If you love whisky, there are hundreds of distilleries across the world pursuing flavour based on passion, provenance and a “taste of place”. Just look "beyond the glens" and the global "big five", says award-winning indy bottler Georgie Bell from The Half Cut. “I know I’m on a Scotch whisky podcast,” Georgie Bell co-founder of indy bottlers The Half Cut chuckles, before pressing home her point. “...

Most Scottish whisky distilleries produce millions of litres every year. But Stirling Distillery ? They produce what their owner, Cameron McCann , calls a "puddle." Yet in 2025 this tiny family operation won Best Scottish New Make Spirit at the World Whiskies Awards. Join John as he dives into how Scotland’s smallest distillery is beating the global giants, the 172-year history of their building,...

By day, Sarah Russell is “Miss Sarah”, an Australian primary school teacher in Adelaide. The rest of the time, she’s “ That Whisky Girl ”, an Instagram influencer and whisky podcaster breaking down barriers in a male-dominated industry. “I just wanted to get the girls going,” she tells John from Kyoto, Japan’s “cultural capital”, where she’s just back from visiting the Miyagikyo Distillery founded...

If you want to get David Thomson, co-founder of Annandale Distillery , started, just tell him, “You don’t make peated whisky in the south of Scotland.” “Yes, we do!” he’ll thunder. Then expect a wee history lesson. “If you go to Barnard’s book, The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom ,” he’ll tell you, referring to Alfred Barnard’s definitive whisky guide published in 1887, “you find that al...

Two months ago, in Episode 48 with Paul Bock and David Reid, they mentioned one of the regulars at their whisky and cheese gatherings brought along two bottles of Romanian whisky, which they agreed were “excellent”. “Romanian whisky?” we thought. “We need to find out more.” So we reached out to Téa Nicolae , Paul and David’s guest. And we got more than we bargained for, because among other things...

There’s only one way to drink whisky properly, insists Annabel Meikle , whisky consultant and educator, and that’s on your own terms and without regard for any supposed rules. You can have it with water, with ice, in a highball, as a cocktail, frozen, or even with green tea… Green tea? “When I travelled through Asia,” Annabel recalls, “people were drinking whisky with green tea, with ice and with...

Imagine a Scottish bar that didn’t sell Scotch whisky. Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? But for almost seven years that’s exactly what Jason Waddleton , founder and owner of The Haven Scots bar in Boston, couldn’t do. “We had a real weird anomaly that people would walk in, ask for a Scotch. We couldn’t serve them, because we had a beer and wine license only for the first six years,” Jason ex...

“If you’re looking to create a whisky,” says John Moore of Stirling Whisky Company , “you need two things. You need the body to be fit and healthy. So the distillate must be good. “And then you need to put a really good suit on it. And it’s got to be a suit that complements the whisky. And I think the GlenAllachie 15 does that perfectly.” GlenAllachie 15 is John’s “banker”; his “go-to”; the one wh...

“There’s no scientific reason that a blend should be inferior to a single malt,” insists Alasdair Stevenson of blending house Turntable Spirits . “In ways you could argue the opposite in terms of flexibility and the creative opportunities that blending gives you. It’s really all down to the strategy of the blender.” Go back 150 years or so to when blending started, Ally argues, and “it was about c...

How do you take your oysters? Yes oysters. Straight up? A splash of Tabasco? Or a couple of drops of whisky? Yes. Whisky! “I’d always have oysters with whisky rather than Tabasco,” Scottish food writer, broadcaster and 2022 UK MasterChef finalist Sarah Rankin tells John Beattie in this the 50th episode of Cask to Glass. “I love oysters and Cumbrae oysters are the best oysters there are,” she says....

“My palate has seen a lot of action,” confesses Fraser Campbell , whisky educator, brand consultant, drinks strategist. “I started off working in pubs in Speyside when I was 18. And that was pretty much it.” Twenty seven years later Fraser is now the host and creator of Whisky Bytes , producing “snackable knowledge whisky videos”. His latest venture is One for the Road, a luxury chauffeur-driven t...

Whisky and cheese? It’s a simple question really: Do they pair well together? Does a Gorgonzola go well with a smoky Bowmore? Or is it better with a sherry-flavoured Speyside? Say a Glenfarclas or a Tamdhu? And what should you have with Gruyère? Since lockdown, photographer Paul Bock and a brand marketer David Reid have been holding regular whisky and cheese soirees at Paul’s studio in Edinburgh....

“We’re going through a period of short-term volatility,” admits Mark Kent , CEO of the Scotch Whisky Association . “Volatility which,” he says, “is partly to do with international trade conditions; partly to do with the domestic situation we find ourselves in. “And you’ll know that we’ve had 17 percent duty increases; increases in energy costs, general costs of doing business at home, which is rea...

Back in Series 1 Episode 5 , Martin McAdam of Ardgowan Distillery joked that “the best thing you can do with whisky is put it in a cask, put it in a warehouse and never sell it because it’s increasing in value all the time.” “The longer you can hold onto your whisky,” he told us, “the more valuable it becomes.” On that premise you’d think that whisky is a sure-fire investment. Well yes… and no… As...

Word of Richie Gray ’s First Fifteen has been getting around, “to the point where,” the Scottish rugby and American football coach says, “I never even thought to myself you’d be getting the calls you’ve been getting over the last two or three weeks.” And Richie’s had his share of high impact phone calls. The Springboks in 2014. The Miami Dolphins in 2016. Fiji in 2020. And the Philadelphia Eagles...

The quickest way to get to Dunnet Bay Distillery by road from almost anywhere in Scotland is to take the A9 north about as far as it can go. Just before Thurso, hang a right east bound onto the A836, follow the road and you can't go wrong. The disitillery's housed in a rennovated 19th century mill built out of Caithness stone - the same stone that was used to refurbish Boston Harbour on the other...

What if there was Skyscanner for whisky and distillery tours? A one-stop-shop where you could find, compare and book your next whisky or other alcohol tourism experience? That's the concept behind Sip Seekers , the brain child of Victoria Miller, aka Scottish Whisky Girl on Instagram. "I was up north probably nearly two years ago now," Victoria explains, "and I was sat at breakfast and I thought:...

Welcome to Series 2 of Cask to Glass the Whisky Podcast with John Beattie. We're back after a break because of illness and then Christmas and New Year. And we're raring to go for 2026! But where is the Scotch and global whisky industry headed in the next year? Throughout 2025, John heard from various whisky insiders about their concerns for the immediate future of the industry. But there are more...

Unfortunately, John's had a seasonal bug. Nothing serious. But it's taken it's toll on his voice. We're very sorry we're unable to bring you this week's episode. John's on the mend, and he hopes to be back next week. Thanks for listening to Cask to Glass. Apologies once again. Catch you next time. Slàinte! ------- Socials: @C2GWhisky @JohnRossBeattie   Creator & producer: David Holmes Art...