WhiskyCast features cask strength conversation each week with in-depth interviews, the latest news on whiskies from around the world, whisky events, Mark Gillespie’s tasting notes, and more!
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This Week on WhiskyCast
Building a New Whisky Legacy in Dornoch (Episode 881: July 19, 2021)
The Scottish town of Dornoch has a lot of history, and the Thompson brothers are adding a new chapter to the town’s legacy. Their family owns the historic Dornoch Castle Hotel, and after managing the hotel and its world-class whisky bar for several years, Phil and Simon Thompson decided to open their own distillery near the hotel four years ago. They’ve only bottled one cask of their own whisky so far as a thank-you for supporters who helped crowdfund the project, and have also started their own range of independent bottlings to keep the business going while their own whisky continues to mature. That’s also given them a unique perspective of the whisky industry as connoisseurs, whisky makers, and bar owners…and not everything they’ve seen in recent years makes them happy. We’ll talk with the brothers on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the relaxation of some pandemic-related health restrictions could open up more whisky travel and event opportunities soon, and we’ll have the details on the week’s new whiskies. We’ll also have a tribute to one of the great distillers of his day and tasting notes for a rare whisky sample that slipped through the cracks years ago!
American History…With the Whiskey Stuff Included! (Episode 879: July 12, 2021)
There are lots of things about American history that never make into the history textbooks. For instance, the Mayflower left for America with three times as much beer on board as drinking water, and while George Washington may have been the first U.S. President to become a whiskey distiller, at least two of his successors also owned whiskey distilleries. Harris Cooper digs into some of the things the textbook writers left out in his new book “American History Through a Whiskey Glass,” and he’ll join us on this week’s podcast. In the news, the Scotch Whisky Association is looking for a new leader as chief executive Karen Betts prepares to move on, while British officials may be ready to act on the American whiskey tariff soon. We’ll have those stories and much more, and on Behind the Label, we’ll explain what the story behind WhistlePig Rye’s newest release has in common with a Margarita.
Join us every Friday at 5:00pm New York time (21:00 GMT) for our live #HappyHour webcast on the WhiskyCast YouTube channel, our Facebook page, Twitter, and Twitch. You can also catch on-demand replays of all of our previous webcasts on the YouTube channel, too!
Bob Baxter of Yukon Spirits/Two Brewers Whisky and Todd Leopold of Leopold Bros. in Denver joined us on Friday night’s live webcast. We’ll have an audio version available soon.
If you have an idea for a guest you’d like to see on one of our webcasts or a way that we can help you learn more about whisky, just use the contact form or catch us on social media. We’d love to hear from you!
We’re humbled and proud that Whisky Magazine named WhiskyCast’s Mark Gillespie as “Communicator of the Year” in the 2021 Icons of Whisky Awards! That follows the February announcement that Mark won the award in the U.S. regional competition. It’s only the second year that this award has been presented on the global level, and thanks to all of you for listening along with our sponsors. Without your support over the years, this wouldn’t have been possible. Thanks!
Each month, we honor a whisky club as our Whisky Club of the Month, and the club receives two dozen WhiskyCast Glencairn glasses to use at their club tastings thanks to our friends at Glencairn Crystal. Congratulations to July’s winner, the Cotswold Dram Busters in England!
If you’re in a whisky club and would like to nominate your club, just use the contact form to get in touch with us and tell us about your club. If your club has a web site or is active on social media, we’ll also be glad to add a link on our directory of Whisky Clubs around the world so other whisky lovers can find you. You only need to nominate your club once, since we carry over entries from month to month.
Our very first episode of WhiskyCast dropped on November 12, 2005, and thanks for joining us each week as we continue our 16th year as the world’s longest-running whisky podcast series!
Each week, veteran journalist Mark Gillespie brings you the latest whisky news, in-depth interviews, tasting notes, and much more. Each podcast features brand-new content, and unless there’s a special occasion, we don’t do “best of” shows.
If you’re just discovering us for the first time, here’s a bit of our own story. WhiskyCast pioneered the genre of whisky-focused podcasts back in 2005, when most people had never heard of podcasting! Since then, we’ve produced hundreds of hours of original – and free – audio and video content for whisky lovers like you around the world. Our community spans the globe, 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.
Please explore the website. We’ve collected all of our past episodes here, and post the latest whisky news as it happens – often several days before the next episode of WhiskyCast. All of our web content is free, including Mark’s database of more than 3,100 tasting notes for whiskies from around the world and our calendar of upcoming whisky festivals and tastings.
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Slainte!
The WhiskyCast Team
Mark Gillespie’s Whisky Photo of the Week
Most people don’t get the chance to look around distilleries at night, when the shadows can take an ordinary row of barrels and emphasize the texture in both the wood of the barrels and the stone walls of the Pulteney Distillery still house in Scotland.
