Dramface Podcast

Almost a Podcast. Gregor wanted to ask us about our Almost a great whisky possibilities . You know, those releases, whiskie sor distilleries that could, with a wee bit of effort, be so much more enjoyed - even if it’s from the perspective of enthusiasts. On the way there we enjoy Jen’s recipe for Jalapeño syrup, tales form Rachel about how the 1700’s propaganda blighted gin, preparing for festival...

The Cheesy Wan. Or - Noobs Attempt Whisky and Cheese. The team try their best to gather similar whiskies and similar cheese, but of course don’t quite get it right. Scatter-gunning the pairings, they work out there’s an art to things and while some pairings hit, others miss. Hard. This is a self-indulgent podcast but we hope you find it as laid back and easy as we did recording it; a relaxed Frida...

The Twenty wan before the cheesy wan. The prospect of cheese made some of us nervous. It’s not a secret that these sessions are recorded in twos. This session is the one before the cheese pairing and most of us were already sat in front of cheese boards. Gregor insisted we wait. Therefore, this was recorded with the stench of all sorts of cheeses filling the air, and we couldn’t eat ‘em. That’s ou...

Buyer's Remorse. What do you regret buying? What do you regret not buying? Even better, what did you think you might regret buying, only for it to turn out to be a revelation? Joining Gregor this time are Julie, Roy, Rob and Stuart. As we share our trials, tribulations and regrets, we also touch upon branding successes and disasters before finishing on a quite remarkable (and impressive!) I Am...

14 Scores, 12 Reviewers, 7 Batches… Deep-diving into a deep-dive. Joining Gregor this time are Julie, Roy, Rob and Scott. We consider future contenders for the next mega-review thingy to test the patience of the editing team, while discussing how the last mega-review came about covering Springbank’s opinion-splitting 15yo. The I Am A Distillery challenge comes from a Dramophone contributor and mem...

“I Can’t Taste What Everyone Else Does!” Inspired by a Dramophone comment As usual we have a main topic; nosing, tasting and note-taking. As per usual, we’re all over the place and it takes us a while to get there. But get there we do. We discuss nosing, tasting and note taking. Via peanut butter, Ruffle bars, chocolate and cheese. Rob shares another killer auction steal, before breaking his mic,...

We're rusty. In case it isn’t obvious We forgot how to do things. We have a pre-meeting planning meeting to decide how to refine our intro, which we fumble, but decide just to leave it all in. Then we forget to bring a warm-up “bum” tune, so we leave it all out. From there we kinda get it together and cover some great auction tips and reflect on a year of Dramface. It gets a little self-indulg...

A Very Messy Christmas Our Secret’s Out. We try to record multiple episodes when we get together. We cue up guests and they appear without any idea of what the subject matter is. They’re asked to bring an optional dram along and that’s it. All good. However, on nights where we‘ve all opted for the drams and we’re recording back-to-back, things become a little relaxed. Messy even. Our editor said t...

'Tis The Season A Little Too Relaxed? In the first of our two Christmassy-themed sessions, we have a very easy time in the company of Jen and Rachel of The Grail . This was a fun one. PG15 rated. (18 should you like to dram along!). Gregor canvasses for boozy cocktail ideas and asks about the shifting of palates and preferences during different seasons. The Grail team tackle some whisky misinforma...

Our Podcast Editor Has Been Missing in Action. We had to encourage Wally to ‘have a word’ to get things moving again. Which would’ve been an interesting discussion to witness. Anyway, something seems to have worked because this October recording is now good-to-go and ready for your ears. There is some more good news too; there are another two episodes to follow in December, so we’re playing catch...

You’ll Know What We Did Last Summer It’s still about whisky, but we speak more about the connections it affords us.  There is a little talking pish on this one (literally) and for that we’re sorry not sorry. Gregor hosts regulars Roy, Rob and Scott as they look back on what has been enjoyed during the summer break. With various members of the team enjoying travels once more, many of them have...

We’re not going out with a bang. Because it’s not the last podcast, only the last for this season. We’ll be back later in the year, so consider this going out with a ‘pop’ instead. We invite Ben to join Gregor, Scotty, Rob and Roy for our real ‘edgy’ list of topics. Like our preferred method of making toast. We do keep things very whisky focused though and quickly bring it back to cover whiskies t...

Departing Editors, Making Tea, Dream Distilleries, Good Indies and The Devil’s Grain   Tissues at the ready.* The penultimate session of this first season has some departing words from Jason, even although he’s not actually leaving, he will step down as editor.    We also meander through our dream distillery locations, helping to choose the perfect indie bottling, our favourite whis...

Global Travel Retail, Renaissance & Dream Drink Partners.  This may be the longest ever. But still great fun. Jenny, Roy and Rob join host Gregor to discuss a varied range of topics that may occasionally be permitted to depart form whisky, such as what other drinks we enjoy. We also talk about the current state of travel retail with a few recommendations for those travelling this summer....

All four of us manage to keep our excitement in check . As we look ahead to a work/leisure mesh trip to Campbeltown and Islay we cover batch variation, not for the first - or last - time in malt whisky as well as archiving and documenting the variation along the years. We also look ahead to expectation from a few days of whisky travel to Scotland’s West Coast, to the whisky magnets that are Campbe...

You know, we do try to keep things positive. But things are sent to challenge that, constantly. There’s been so much news recently about pricing to demand, rebrands and nonsense that we occasionally just have to tackle it. Regulars Jason and Roy join host Gregor alongside Gordon and the returning Julie to discuss these topics. Since there’s nothing they can do about any of it they’re really just p...

Star Wars. Speyside. Coals To Newcastle and How’s It All Going? In this episode of the Dougie Crystal Fan Club we discover when not to visit Speyside, as well as chat Star Wars and whisky, what bottles to take along and find a moment to think about Dramface so far. We also pledge to buy Bea a decent microphone, she joined us from ‘holiday’ this time and it does sound a little like she’s dialling i...

Gregor is joined by Roy, Phil, Julie and Jenny to cover pilgrimages, PPMs, prohibited items and past bottles. It also ends with a killer I AM A DISTILLERY. Seriously.    We’re Upgrading things!   Dramface members access this early. We’re still working on other ways to reward them for their support of what we’re building, inspiration occasionally hits and we work out what could be of...

Faced with a diminished core team, Gregor pulls in Julie, Andy & Ryan to join him and Roy to discuss glassware habits and the friendships whisky can bring.  Comments Remain Important To Us! Yes, we had a curated list of community comments ready to respond to, but discussions about the perfect and not so perfect idea of whisky glassware  and where whisky has taken us and our friendshi...

Gregor McWee tries his best to extract practical guidance from the Dramface team this week with questions on opening and re-opening. With things getting somewhat back to normal, Rob, Roy, Jason and Justine consider their experiences of distillery tours as they open a few nice bottles along the way.  This Podcast was released to Dramface Members the week before public release. Music credit: Th...

Trust us - this is still a Dramface podcast. In Episode Three Gregor hosts Jason, Justine, Rob, Roy & Scotty to discuss video games, Zeitgeist, rising prices and British queueing culture. Wait, is this even about whisky? Oh yes… oh yes. All of it. Except the games bit. This Podcast was released to Dramface Members the week before public release.

Gregor is joined by Jason, Justine, Alex, Roy & Causeway Coast Whisky’s Phil as we discuss everything from FOMO to scoring, festivals to tasting notes, reader comments to what makes a dirty whisky, a grassy whisky or a bright whisky. There's some odd celebrations during the I am a Distillery quiz that we're very glad you can't see.

After our Launch podcast we had a lot of interest in releasing more of the same. We don’t know what we’re doing really, but we’re up for giving it a go. In this session we talk about the recent craziness around the Springbank releases, the reception of Dramface post-launch and we take some comments from the community. We also finish on a new game called I’m a Distillery . Please let us know what y...

DRAMFACE. What’s it all about? — What is it? — Why bother? — How did it happen? — Who’s involved? Gregor McWee hosted the team for a Q&A.