WhiskyCast

Diageo's Brora Distillery in the Scottish Highlands celebrated the third anniversary of its revival this summer, and is now pouring new Brora single malt whisky on its tours. The venerable distillery underwent four years of restoration work before reopening in 2011, and its whiskies from the days before 1983 when the distillery closed are becoming harder to find. We'll talk with Brora's Andrew Fla...

Two years ago, the Treasury Department's Tax & Trade Bureau opened the bureaucratic process for issuing an official definition of American Single Malt Whisky. After a brief public comment period, the agency has yet to act on the proposal, and that has distillers of American Single Malts frustrated with the lack of action. We'll talk with Steve Hawley, executive director of the American Single Malt...

The wife and husband team of Georgie Bell and Fabrizio Leoni gave up their day jobs last year to launch The Heart Cut, an independent bottler dedicated to finding great drams from all over the world. They've released seven single casks so far from distilleries in Israel, Finland, Denmark, and the U.S., and did it all while Georgie was pregnant with twins. We'll talk with Georgie Bell about The Hea...

Utah's High West Distillery moved production operations from its downtown Park City gastropub to a state of the art distillery in nearby Wanship. The mountaintop distillery is producing award-winning whiskies and equally winning awards for its food and bar programs. This week, High West celebrated its annual Protect The West gala to raise money for three regional charities, and raised $100,000.  W...

Speyside's Dallas Dhu has been a historic site since it closed in 1983, left intact the way workers left it on the final day of production. Now, there are plans in place to revive the venerable distillery, which is owned by Historic Environments Scotland. HES has signed a deal with Murray McDavid owner Aceo Limited to resume production at Dallas Dhu while maintaining it as a historic site. We'll t...

Uncle Nearest Whiskey founder Fawn Weaver spent eight years researching and writing "Love & Whiskey," the story of Nearest Green and Jack Daniel. During that time, she also launched the Uncle Nearest brand, one of the fastest-growing whiskey brands on the market, and the book also tells that story as well. We'll talk with Fawn Weaver on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth, and share tasting notes for...

Canadian Whisky pioneer J.P. Wiser started making whisky 165 years ago in eastern Ontario, and the brand that bears his name to this day has now released its oldest whisky ever, the J.P. Wiser's 42 Year Old. We'll talk with master blender Dr. Don Livermore, who created the new whisky, about Wiser, his legacy, and the new Decades Series that begins with the 42 Year Old. In the news, Ian Macleod Dis...

Heaven Hill's new $130 million distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky is still about six months away from being finished, but this week on WhiskyCast In-Depth, we're getting a hard-hat preview tour from Master Distiller Conor O'Driscoll. We'll also have details and tasting notes for the new Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Collection of whiskies as well. In the news, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is celebrating...

Kentucky's Wilderness Trail Distillery has grown over the last decade from a small barrel-a-day distillery to become one of the nation's largest Bourbon distilleries. Dr. Pat Heist and Shane Baker founded Wilderness Trail as an offshoot of Ferm Solutions, their consulting business that works with distillers and brewers around the world. This week on WhiskyCast In-Depth, we'll talk with Pat Heist a...

Barry MacAffer is leaving Laphroaig Distillery and his native Islay for a new adventure: building a malt whisky distillery in South Korea. This week on WhiskyCast In-Depth, Barry tells us why he's making the move now and what he'll miss most about Islay. In the news, the threat of tariffs hangs over the whisky industry again as the U.S. Presidential election heats up, another new distillery is in...

There's one distillery on Scotland's Isle of Jura, and Jura master whisky maker Dr. Kirstie McCallum joins us from the island this week on WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll talk about Jura's festival day as part of the Islay Festival of Malt and Music, this year's Festival bottling, and her 25-year-long career in the Scotch Whisky industry. We'll also have details on the week's new releases, tasting note...

Many distilleries take great pains to be involved in their surrounding communities, but Scotland's Glen Wyvis Distillery goes to an extreme. That's because many members of the Dingwall community are shareholders in the community distillery, which was built with a crowdfunding campaign. The distillery donates a percentage of its profits each year to grants for local community programs, with a goal...

Islay's Ardnahoe Distillery has released its first single malt since the distillery opened in 2019, and we'll talk about the journey with Scott Laing of Hunter Laing & Co. on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, longtime Glen Grant master distiller Dennis Malcolm is retiring after 63 years in the whisky business, while Oregon officials have decided not to prosecute six former state liquor...

James Espey and Tom Jago founded The Last Drop 15 years ago with a goal of finding casks of rare whiskies and other spirits and bottling them. Since then, the company has been sold to Sazerac and Tom's daughter Rebecca is now in charge, but the goal remains the same: finding those unicorn whiskies that may have fallen through the cracks…or just don't fit into someone else's plans. We'll talk with...

O'Shaughnessy Distilling master distiller Brian Nation arrived in Minneapolis nearly three years ago after leaving Ireland's Midleton Distillery, and it's been an interesting transition. We'll catch up with Brian and learn about the new Keeper's Heart 21-year-old Irish single malt coming later this summer on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Beam Suntory has changed its name to Suntory Global Spir...

Dixon Dedman's family history in the whisky business goes back more than a century. 2XO (for Two Times Oak) is his second act in the Bourbon business after reviving the family's Kentucky Owl Bourbon brand in 2014. Dedman has just released the latest edition in 2XO's Icons Series, the Kiawah Blend, named for his family's favorite vacation spot, Kiawah island in South Carolina. He'll join us on this...

Beam Suntory has successfully tested the use of green hydrogen as a fuel source for directly-firing stills, and is part of a pilot project to create a hydrogen conversion unit that could be deployed at remote distilleries. We'll learn more about the potential of hydrogen as a fuel source for distillers on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Laphroaig is looking for a new manager, while R...

For 41 years, the Port Ellen Distillery on Scotland's Isle of Islay sat silent. Last month, a multi-million dollar restoration of the distillery was completed when the first spirit flowed at Port Ellen since 1983. While it'll be years before we see new bottlings of Port Ellen, the distillery will be open to Islay visitors from around the world. Diageo's Ewan Gunn was on hand when that first spirit...

Texas is booming as a whiskey region, with distilleries all over the Lone Star State. That history only goes back about 15 years, when pioneers like Balcones Distilling and Garrison Brothers started out. During the recent 15th anniversary celebrations at Balcones, Texas Whiskey Festival co-founder Jake Clements moderated a panel (and tasting) on the first 15 years of Texas whiskey. We're bringing...

Louisville's Michter's Distillery took top honors in the 2023 Drinks International survey to find the "world's most admired" whiskey brand. Andrea Wilson is the Master of Maturation for Michter's, as well as the company's chief operating officer, and has the final say on any whisky that carries the Michter's name. We'll talk with Andrea about the pressure of living up to that reputation, as well a...

James Saxon took on the role as chief whisky maker for Compass Box following founder John Glaser's sudden departure several weeks ago. It's a journey that started with a Compass Box tasting Saxon organized as a student at the University of St. Andrews a decade ago. He'll answer your questions about Compass Box in this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Port Ellen Distillery is alive and humm...

Carin Luna-Ostaseski wanted an approachable Scotch whisky for newcomers, so she decided to blend her own. 11 years ago, the first bottles of SIA Scotch Whisky hit the market, becoming one of the first crowd-funded whiskies to successfully go on sale. We'll catch up with Carin on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Irish Whiskey sales took a hit on 2023, but remains one of the fastest-gro...

Chivas Brothers recently introduced two new Longmorn single malts. The 18 and 22-year-old malts represent a long-term commitment to the brand, with all future Longmorns to be at least 18 years old. Chivas Brothers blending manager Kevin Balmforth was instrumental in creating both whiskies, and he'll join us to discuss them and his day-to-day life in the blending lab on this week's WhiskyCast In-De...

Waterford Distillery founder Mark Reynier has no shortage of opinions about how he feels whisky should be made, and he's putting those opinions into the bottle. Reynier has butted heads with the whisky establishment many times over the years because of his passion for flavor above all else, critics be damned. He'll share some of his opinions with us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news,...

Scotland's Nc'Nean Distillery is one of a handful of whisky distilleries certified as "B Corp" for their sustainability efforts. At Nc'Nean, that goes all the way to the use of renewable energy for the distillery and using recycled glass for its bottles. We'll talk with founder Annabel Thomas about the challenges of making whisky sustainably and organically on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In t...