This Week on WhiskyCast

Good Friends and a Dram of Whisky! (Episode 763: April 11, 2019)

Lew Bryson and Martin Duffy take their whisky seriously…but not much else! When they joined us at the recent American Whiskey Convention in Philadelphia, the laughter was a perfect complement to serious whisky discussion about the sources of whisky flavor, the growth of craft distilling, and why our discussion was taking place just feet away from valuable Egyptian artifacts in the University of Pennsylvania Museum. OK, that last part wasn’t so serious, but it did help Lew explain how he came to meet legendary whisky writer Michael Jackson for the first time at the Penn Museum. We’ll also talk with Dick Stoll, the veteran Pennsylvania distiller who made one of the Holy Grails for whiskey lovers…the 16-year-old A.H. Hirsch Reserve Bourbon.

In the news, this was a week that won’t go down in history at The Macallan, while Craigellachie is bringing a 51-year-old single malt to New York City – and pour it for free! Four Roses has completed its $55 million expansion project in Kentucky, and Woodford Reserve’s Chris Morris has to figure out how to get a special barrel down from one of the historic spires at Churchill Downs in time for the Kentucky Derby.

Writing a New Chapter in Whisky History (Episode 762: April 7, 2019)

Lindores Abbey has a unique place in whisky history, thanks to Friar John Cor and the aqua vitae he distilled for the King in 1494. Gary Haggart has a direct link to the Friar as the first distillery manager at the Lindores Abbey Distillery, built right next to the ruins of the original abbey. He’s even distilling modern-day aqua vitae instead of gin or vodka while the Lindores Abbey single malt matures. During the recent Wonderful World of Whisky show in Cornwall, Ontario, Haggart presented Lindores Abbey’s young spirit to consumers for the first time, and we’ll talk with him on WhiskyCast In-Depth. We also took our studio setup to Friday night’s American Whiskey Convention in Philadelphia to talk with whisky lovers just like you as well as some of the distillers on hand that night. There’s a lot to unpack in this episode, so make sure your battery’s charged!

WhiskyCast Tasting Panel: An Evening With the Pittsburgh Whiskey Friends

When the Pittsburgh Whiskey Friends invited us to come to their city and lead a benefit tasting in honor of the 11 people killed in the October 27, 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, we didn’t hesitate. This episode was recorded at the tasting on November 26, 2018 in Pittsburgh, with all of the proceeds going to benefit the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) in memory of the Tree of Life shooting victims. Dad’s Hat, Powers, Amrut importer Raj Sabharwal, and Liberty Pole Spirits donated the whiskies for the evening, and Christian Kahle won a raffle for one of the spots on our tasting panel. He joined Bobby Long and Scott Ritenbaugh from the Pittsburgh Whiskey Friends and public broadcasting personality Rick Seback to taste the Dad’s Hat Pre-Prohibition Style Pennsylvania Rye, Powers Three Swallow, Amrut Fusion, and Liberty Pole’s Peated Bourbon.

 WhiskyCast HD: Catching Up with Forty Creek Whisky Founder John Hall

Forty Creek Whisky founder John K. Hall has kept a low profile since selling his distillery to Campari five years ago. He won dozens of awards for his whiskies at Forty Creek, and turned his startup into one of the best-selling Canadian whiskies around – earning him a place in Canadian Whisky history. Hall returned to the 2019 Victoria Whisky Festival for the first time since the sale to serve as the keynote speaker for the Canadian Whisky Awards dinner. In an exclusive interview with WhiskyCast’s Mark Gillespie, he shared his thoughts on today’s whisky business and whether he may make a comeback once his non-compete agreement with Campari expires later this year.

There are millions of people who still don’t know what podcasts are or how to listen to them, and that’s where you can help. The best advertising of all is word of mouth – friends sharing recommendations with each other. As you’re spending time with family and friends, please take a minute and show them how to use the podcast app on their smartphone or tablet to discover the world of free content out there. You might just change a life…or at least the drudgery of commuting to work! We’ve created a special message for our fellow podcasters to use on their shows to help spread this message, with two versions available to download as our way of helping the podcasting community. Version #1 mentions WhiskyCast, while Version #2 does not. Remember, friends help friends discover podcasts!

WhiskyCast has been around longer than any other whisky-focused podcast, and we’re now in our 14th year of podcasts! We bring you the latest whisky news each week, along with 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 Gillespie’s database of more than 2,500 tasting notes for whiskies from around the world and our calendar of upcoming whisky festivals and tastings.

We’re able to do this thanks to the support of our advertisers – both past and present. They advertise on WhiskyCast knowing that they will never have any say over our editorial content, and may even have their ads running next to features on their competitors. They recognize the importance of independent, fact-based journalism devoted to telling the stories of whisky in a creative, yet ethically sound way focused on helping you learn more about whisky.

Slainte!

The WhiskyCast Team

Whisky Photo of the Week

This is one of only 51 bottles of the Craigellachie 51-year-old single cask from 1962. 150 people had the chance to taste it for free last November in London, and 150 more will get to taste it from May 7-9 in New York City. The winners are being selected from entries through April 27 at the Craigellachie web site. Two more free tastings are planned for later this year in South Africa and Australia.