This Week on WhiskyCast

Christmas came a couple of months early for some Scotch Whisky lovers with word that the iconic Port Ellen, Brora, and Rosebank distilleries will be reopened over the next couple of years. Diageo will invest $46 million to bring Port Ellen and Brora back to life, while Ian Macleod Distillers has acquired not only the old Rosebank site, but the rights to the Rosebank name and its remaining whisky inventory. We’ll talk with Diageo’s Dr. Nick Morgan and Gordon Doctor of Ian Macleod about the work that’s ahead before the spirit starts flowing from the stills. Scott Watson of The Lost Distillery Company has been reviving historic distillery legacies in Scotland for the last decade, with extensive research to recreate the whiskies those long-lost distilleries might be making today, and he’ll share some of that process with us as well. In the news, Heaven Hill completes a massive $25 million expansion at its Bernheim Distillery, while a Sonoma County craft distiller has managed to dodge the Northern California wildfires so far. We’ll also have the week’s tasting notes and some of your ideas on which heritage distillery should be revived next.

WhiskyCast pioneered the genre of whisky-focused podcasts, and we’re about to start our 13th year of podcasting! The very first episode of WhiskyCast hit the web on November 12, 2005, and since then, we’ve produced hundreds of hours of original audio and video content for whisky lovers like you around the world. Our community spans at least 150 different countries, and we’ve done stories on whiskies made in the far north of Scandinavia all the way to the tips of South Africa and Australia – and everywhere in between. We’ve met many of you at whisky festivals and while visiting distilleries, and hope to meet many more of you over time.

We’d also like to thank our many sponsors over the years, both present and past. Without their support, WhiskyCast would have faded into the mist years ago. Thanks to them, we’ve been able to continue growing and producing new content for you each week, while still maintaining our standards for quality, fairness, and ethical reporting on whisky. By the way, if you’re interested in reaching a global audience of committed whisky lovers, please get in touch with us to discuss advertising opportunities on WhiskyCast!

Slainte!

The WhiskyCast Team

Whisky Photo of the Week

When a new still is installed at a distillery, it’s usually run for several months before it’s polished, and the copper builds up a patina that can be beautiful when viewed up close, as with this still installed earlier this year at Midleton Distillery in Ireland.