This Week on WhiskyCast

We’ve seen whisky and movie tie-ins before, but Old Forester’s new Statesman Bourbon is a bit different. It’s featured in the upcoming movie “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” with Jeff Bridges as the leader of Statesman, a secretive private espionage unit that just happens to make Bourbon in Kentucky and teams up with the London-based Kingsman to save the world. Old Forester President Campbell Brown and his team worked with director Matthew Vaughn during production, and Master Taster Jackie Zykan helped create Old Forester Statesman, which is featured in the film. Campbell Brown and Jackie Zykan join us for this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth with Statesman’s origin story and updates on this year’s Birthday Bourbon and the new Old Forester Distillery under construction on Louisville’s Whiskey Row. We’ll also discuss whisky and Cognac with fifth-generation Cognac maker Cyril Camus, along with the challenges of selling Scotch Whisky and Bourbon in China.

In the news, Billy Walker is back in the distillery business after a deal to buy Scotland’s Glenallachie Distillery from Chivas Brothers, and that deal also means changes at the top of Inver House as managing director Graham Stevenson departs to join Billy Walker and former BenRiach veteran Trisha Savage as partners in the Glenallachie Consortium. Möet Hennessy is entering the American whiskey market for the first time with a deal to buy the Woodinville Whiskey Company in Washington, and we’ll have an exclusive interview with Woodinville co-founder Orlin Sorenson. We’ll also update the saga of Australia’s Nant Distillery, look at new whiskies from around the world, and debunk a myth that it’s illegal to take Scotch Whisky out of Scotland!

WhiskyCast pioneered the genre of whisky-focused podcasts, and we’re still going strong in our 12th year! 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

We’ve shared this before, but it’s one of my favorite whisky photos ever. Caught The Dalmore’s Richard Paterson in the act of his traditional “whisky toss” with a shutter speed of 1/6400 of a second and a high-speed flash.