Inside Whisky

MCDXCIV – does that ring a bell? And no, it’s not a typo… It’s a Roman numeral and it stands for 1494, quite a pivotal year in the world of whisky and especially for the newly founded Lindores Abbey Distillery.1494 is the year in which, according to the Scottish Whisky Association, the earliest documented record of distilling in Scotland occurred in the Exchequer Rolls (the tax records): An entry lists “To Friar John Cor, 8 bolls of Malt, wherewith to make Aqua Vitae for King James IV.”Friar John Cor produced this water of life exactly in the place where you find Lindores Abbey Distillery today. Cool background story – don’t you think?!Mr. John Howison then bought the Lindores Abbey estate in 1913 and we had a chance to talk to his great-grandson Drew McKenzie Smith, who, together with his wife Helen, founded Lindores Abbey Distillery in 2016.We know, we know, that’s a lot of facts and numbers, but isn’t it absolutely fascinating? In our opinion, it is! We hope you think the same because if yes, this presents a perfect chance for you:Listen in and find out more about Drew McKenzie Smith and Lindores Abbey and maybe discover some more intriguing stories about its historic past, its malty present and its promising future.

10 centimetres of snow, a single track road and its end, a Viking-style longhouse, mystically lit by torches and overlooking a picturesque Norwegian fjord – wow! That’s what our arrival looked like when approaching Aurora Spirit Distillery - quite the way to arrive at a distillery…Okay, okay, you have to go there in late autumn or winter for the snow and the torches are well-animated electrical torches, but still, our “wow” keeps standing – and we haven’t even mentioned the majestic Northern Lights, yet, which you can perfectly spot there when it’s clear at night. After parking the car and then walking by the Viking longhouse, which is actually a whisky warehouse, we finally arrived at our final destination, Aurora Spirit Distillery, the producers of Bivrost Whisky: A beautiful and very modern building with a vast glass front, offering a perfect view of the fjord, coupled with traditional wooden elements. Stepping inside, you recognise right away all the thoughtfully staged artifacts reminiscent of the old Vikings – all very moody! Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a man, who can actually claim that he is 100% Viking himself (a very calm and charming one, as we might add): Tor Petter Christensen, founder and CEO of Aurora Spirit Distillery.Before our recording, Tor took the time to give us an extensive tour of the entire site and we were hooked in no time – what an absolutely fabulous place to produce the northernmost whisky in the world. Spectacular!Are you curious now? Well, you should be! So don’t miss out on our new podcast episode with Tor and find out more about Aurora Spirit Distillery, Bivrost Whisky and producing whisky at 69° North. We’re sure it’s time well-spent – especially during the darker time of the year. So lean back and enjoy. 

Campeltown – once the whisky capital of the world – has become a place of whisky pilgrimage more and more in the last years. Nonetheless, many people still disregard the Glen Scotia Distillery in favour of their bigger neighbour.However, we think that is a mistake! At Glen Scotia, Iain McAlister and his team produce a worldclass spirit and mature it to perfection. And apart from the great whisky you can get there, the atmosphere when you arrive at the distillery is just absolutely wonderful. Everybody is so warm-hearted and welcoming and distillery manager Iain McAlister is no exception to that (maybe he’s actually the reason for it?!).That said, we had a wonderful time recording this episode with Iain and to chat all things Campbeltown, whisky, Glen Scotia and bees (yes, indeed). If you might not be as familiar with Glen Scotia, yet, this is your chance! And if you are an expert already, we’re pretty sure there are some more lovely details to be discovered in this episode.So don’t hesitate, tune in and get to know the wonderful Iain McAlister and his Glen Scotia Distillery.

If you think of a whisky distillery in Scotland which stands for powerful and peaty whisky with a hint of sweet vanilla and citrus, which is extremely good at storytelling, very creative in bringing old myths to life to describe and sell their whiskies with worldclass marketing but which is also seen as quite polarising at times throughout the whisky community, which distillery name pops up in your head?For many of you, just like for us, the answer is probably going to be Ardbeg.Year in, year out many people make the pilgrimage to Scotland and the Isle of Islay to experience their beloved Ardbeg Distillery first hand and we really have to say that Ardbeg, at least for us, is still a benchmark when it comes to hospitality. Even more so when you travel there during the Islay Whisky Festival, Fèis Ìle, and that’s exactly what we did once more this year.During all the festivities and the busy hustle of Ardbeg Day 2023 (and his top-secret Ardbeg Committee event), T.J. Littlejohn, Global Expierence & Advocacy Manager of The Glenmorangie Company, which Ardbeg is a part of, took the time to talk to us and tell us some lovely stories (very Ardbeggian, isn’t it?!). So raise a dram of TEN, Uigeadail, Corryvreckan, An Oa, Wee Beastie, Smoketrails, BizarreBQ, Heavy Vapours or maybe The Harpy’s Tale (we could probably continue this list forever…) and join us to relive Ardbeg Day 2023 with T.J. and learn some more about this wonderful Islay distillery. 

Far up north, just off the northernmost point of the UK’s mainland, there are the Orkneys – islands shaped by the sea and extreme weather. And right up there, on these rough islands, there’s a distillery which is extremely beautifully situated and producing surprisingly smooth whisky. Of course, we are talking about Scapa Distillery overlooking the breathtaking Scapa flow.And that’s exactly the place where we recorded this episode with Mick Swanney, team leader at Scapa Distillery. As a real Orcadian, Mick knows a lot of stories about his home, Orkney, and obviously, he also knows a thing or two about whisky. Find out about Scapa’s history and its superb whisky, about the rivalry with their neighbouring distillery (or is it?), life on Orkney and why you shouldn’t believe everything that’s on the internet. Lean back, pour a dram and let a real Orcadian tell you some stories about his home - this remote, rough and captivating place, which, on top, also produces some absolutely incredible whiskies.

How do you produce whisky inefficiently on purpose and why would you want to do that? Well, we also wanted to know and asked Phil and Simon Thompson of Thompson Bros Distillers, Dornoch Castle Hotel and the relatively newly founded Dornoch Distillery.Despite their young age, Phil and Simon have had the chance to try some extraordinary whiskies from times long gone, dating back as far as the 1900s. Inspired by that they set themselves the goal of recreating an old-style spirit.And since whisky creation takes time, they are independently bottling very high quality single cask whiskies and their own blends in the meantime, using a very sophisticated ballot system to get their whisky into the “right” hands – but better listen for yourself and let Phil and Simon explain it to you first hand.Certainly being one of our most entertaining episodes with a lot of geeky knowledge and whisky enthusiast-friendly perspectives, this is one not to be missed!

Green rolling mountains, sleepy and bleating sheep, idyllic villages and vivid cities with wonderful people, vibrant traditional pubs with passionate folk music, delicious local food and, of course, a long and quite eventful history of producing whiskey…… Does that sound appealing to you? If yes, come join Miri on her trip to Ireland and experience the Emerald Isle with her!For this episode, the three of us sat down together to have a chat about Miri’s journey and, of course, Miri didn’t come back from Ireland empty-handed. She brought some short interview snippets with her, which she recorded on-site at several distilleries. So, you can look forward to interviews with Alex Chasko of Teeling Distillery, John Cashman of Powerscourt Distillery and Diarmuid Madden of Jameson Distillery.Guided through the country by John Callely of Whiskey Island, who you will also get to know during this episode, and Gracie Boylan of @tourismireland and @entdecke_irland, Miri had the chance to discover the stunning beauty of Ireland and we couldn’t wait to listen to Miri’s and her interview partners’ stories – maybe you feel the same now?!If all that has made you curious, sit down, relax, pour yourself a lovely dram of whiskey and come discover a glimpse of Ireland with us.

If we told you that there is a distillery in the Scottish Highlands, which is beautifully situated, easily accessible, has a very rich history, but which is still quite often overlooked, would you want to know more about it – especially if you knew that they promise you the “golden dram”?Well, we were certainly intrigued and once we visited for the first time, we couldn’t but visit many more times in the following years.Of course, we’re talking about Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery, where we met with Gary Ross, distilleries ambassador for John Dewar & Sons, to record this episode in the distillery’s visitor centre.Gary, who describes himself as a “mega whisky nerd” was absolutely wonderful and we had a great time wandering about the distillery and then also recording with him. He is extremely knowledgeable, very likeable and tremendously enthusiastic and excited about whisky. If that wasn’t enough already, he also calls himself a “sub-par home brewer” and he is a member of the Bacardi Boyband – if you want to know what that is all about, just listen in!We hope you will enjoy listening to the episode as much as we did recording it. Let Miriam and Martin take you with them on their journey to Aberfeldy to spend an hour with Gary Ross, chatting about all things Aberfeldy (and more).

“If you can work in the stillhouse at Dalmore, you can work in any stillhouse in the world because it’s completely complicated” – doesn’t sound like the easiest of jobs, don’t you think? So let’s get to know the man who is responsible to make sure that every single drop of The Dalmore is, well, The Dalmore, despite the quite complicated process in the stillhouse. Let’s meet Mark Lancaster and find out, why it is actually that intricate to produce The Dalmore's spirit.Mark Lancaster is the distillery manager at The Dalmore and he took the time to meet us at the premises of the distillery to record this episode with him. Luckily, he also showed us around the place, which is currently still closed to the public, to experience how The Dalmore is made first hand. We had a wonderful afternoon and now we would like to share this experience with you.Tune in to find out more about Mark, the Englishman in charge of one of Scotland’s most prestigious distilleries, some lovely anecdotes about Richard Paterson and, of course, all things Dalmore. This is an episode not to be missed.

No Scots on this episode?! Not for me, you say? BUT WAIT!! This German-Italian whisky-bromance straight from our hometown Munich might indeed be a bit different but we can assure you that it still makes for a great listen.In this episode we talk to Davide Ansalone and Randolph Kunis.You might know Davide better as @whisky_munich on Instagram, since he is one of the most influential and biggest whisky bloggers there. Apart from that, Davide is also a member of WhiskyFacile, a new and very promising independent bottler from Italy, which you should really get to know.Randolph (Randy) is the owner of Munich’s best-known whisky shop, TARA Spirits and very well-connected in the world of whisky. Listen in and find out about the bumpy start to Davide’s and Randy’s friendship and what a Yamazaki 25 has to do with it. Furthermore, get to know WhiskyFacile, TARA and some of Davide’s best tips for your personal (whisky) Instagram account.Pour a dram and join us in our hometown Munich to meet Davide and Randy – we’re sure you won’t regret it!

Nicole Lindsay you say? Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? And indeed, if you follow our podcast regularly you probably know her already from our episode about Springbank Distillery. This time, however, Springbank will take a backseat since the episode is (mainly) about Kilkerran Single Malt and Glengyle Distillery.We met Nicole in the new Springbank blending lab to record this episode and it was so much fun talking to her again since she is an absolutely wonderful person and so incredibly knowledgeable – but, of course, you know that already if you have listened to our first episode with her.Let’s dive deep into Glengyle Distillery, the original purpose of which it was to make sure Campbeltown would retain its status as a whisky region and which, ever since, has become an integral part of the Campbeltown whisky family.Lean back, pour a dram, relax and come to Campeltown with us to meet Nicole Lindsay once more – you know it’s worth it.

Have you always wanted to meet the legendary Swedish mermaid of the Ardnamurchan peninsula? Then here's your chance: Meet Jenny Karlsson, Ardnamurchan Distillery's marketing and communications manager, part of the blending team, part-time mermaid and much more.We travelled all the way to the very West of Scotland's mainland to talk to Jenny in situ about Ardnamurchan, AD whisky, the narrow single-track road leading to the distillery, sustainability, hidden gems in the warehouses, Miriam's and Martin's Swedish (which is absolutely "jättebra") and a lot more. And guess what, it was an absolute blast!When you listen to the episode, we're sure you will fall in love with Jenny right away because of her sympathetic, humorous, enthusiastic, excited and sometimes a bit positively confused character. We certainly love Jenny and enjoyed our chat with her a lot. And now we hope we can transport a bit of Jenny's excitement and love for Ardnamurchan to your living room.Pour a dram and tune in - this is an episode definitely not to be missed!

We’re back on the Isle of Arran – we really love this little island! And no! Even though we greatly enjoy our chats with Andy Bell of Lochranza Distillery, we don’t have him on the podcast this time – and actually this episode is not even about Lochranza Distillery.Instead, we will focus on the Isle of Arran’s newest gem: Lagg Distillery (what a beautiful place!!).We travelled all the way to the south end of Arran, straight into the Scottish Lowlands (wait, really?!) to talk to Lagg’s distillery manager Graham Omand. Of course, we also discussed the Lowlands, Highlands, Islands topic – because things are not as clear-cut for Lagg Distillery as for most other Scottish whisky producers, but Graham will happily tell you more about this topic – listen for yourself.Furthermore, find out more about Graham – the Islay man on Arran –, about the venture of setting up a new distillery, about Lagg’s inaugural releases and about what Donkey Kong and Super Mario have to do with them. Of course, that’s not all and there is a lot more to learn and discover…… So pour a dram, lean back, tune in and get to know Graham Omand and Lagg Distillery.

This weekend it's derby time in Edinburgh: Hibs against Hearts. Hibernian Football Club and Heart of Midlothian will face off in the first derby of this (still very young) football season. Wait, isn't this a podcast about whisky? So why are we talking about football here? Well, we went to Edinburgh to record with Greg Urquhart and John Moffat of the spirits company Gleann Mòr, which is known for their independent bottlings of "Rare Find" whisky in the whisky world. Listen in and Greg and John will happily answer the question why football and the "Hibs" in specific are definitely worth talking about in this episode.Moreover, you will find out some interesting facts about independent bottling, the casks Greg and John dream about at night and Gleann Mòr's other projects besides whisky.Tune in, lean back and enjoy the show!

The Mecca of whisky. Whisky drinkers' heaven. The one place, probably every Scotch whisky lover wants to visit at least once in their lifetime. Of course, we're talking about the Isle of Islay in the Scottish Hebrides with its currently 9 working distilleries (and at least 2 more to come), home to arguably the best peated whisky on this planet.We're finally back after a short break and we've got a brand new episode for you: We went to talk to Cat Gordon of Islay's oldest whisky producer, Bowmore Distillery, and had an absolutely fantastic chat with her. Check out the epsiode and find out more about Cat, the distillery (of course!) and about how Martin made it into the history book of Bowmore visitor centre anectodes.Certainly one of our most entertaining episodes with some really funny moments. Raise a good dram of Bowmore whisky, sit back and enjoy the show - you don't want to miss out on this one!

It is probably going to be very hard (impossible?!) to find another place on earth with a higher distillery-density than the Scottish Speyside - and apart from some of the best Scotch whiskies being produced there, the possibility to visit so many different distilleries within such a small space makes the region a magnet for whisky tourism. One distillery that can't be missed during a visit in the Speyside is Glenfarclas Distillery. Owned by the Grant family and thus being one of the few left family-owned whisky distilleries in Scotland, Glenfarclas has a very special charm to it. What also makes the distillery very special is that there are not too many distilleries around with such a large inventory of old stock - I mean, which distillery can actually regularly release a thing such as the "Family Casks" series with whiskies dating back until the 1950s?! So for the grand finale of Batch 3 of “The Barrel Talk”, we set off to the iconic Glenfarclas Distillery in the heart of the Scottish Speyside to talk to Deborah Stewart. Tune in and find out more about the history of the distillery, the broad range of whiskies offered by Glenfarclas and, of course, about Deborah, her background story, her love for the brand and her ambitions in the “Dramathon”. This episode is one not to be missed. 

This episode of “The Barrel Talk” is slightly different than what you are used to. Michael and Andrea Gradl of Gradl’s Wiskyfässla in Nuremberg, who are the co-founders and co-organisers of The Village Whisky Fair invited us to come to the fair and “present The Village to an international audience”. Of course, we couldn’t say no and subsequently spent three fabulous days in Nuremberg, working quite a lot, meeting lots of wonderful people, recording this special episode and enjoying a very special moment with Jim McEwan, who we invited to join us virtually for the big Masterclass to sing his favourite song “Sweet Caroline” for him. The recording of the song is the background music for the initial quotes and can be found, once more, at the very end of the episode. If you would also like to see the video along with the song, go check out @inside_whisky on Instagram.Of course, all the background noise didn’t make it easy recording but we tried our very best to provide you with the high sound-quality you are usually used to – for those (rare) cases when it did not always work perfectly, we sincerely apologise. For you not to get lost during this long episode of almost 2 hours and 12 minutes, here’s a list of our guests with the indicated times of where to find the specific interviews: 1. 00:03:29 Ben Curtis (The Single Cask) 2. 00:09:04 Matthew Hastings (Nc’Nean Distillery) 3. 00:20:08 David Ferguson (Lochlea Distillery) 4. 00:26:13 Udo Sonntag (author) 5. 00:34:24 David Thompson (Spirits of Yorkshire / Filey Bay) 6. 00:40:29 Alexander Tichy (Whisky Club of Austria) 7. 00:46:43 Torsten Zimmerman (The Single Cask / Scotch & Tattoos) 8. 00:52:12 Scott A. Fraser (Isle of Raasay Distillery) 9. 00:58:48 Thomas Ewers (Malts of Scotland) 10. 01:05:51 Kenny Macdonald (Dràm Mòr) 11. 01:12:19 Max Engel (Ayrer’s Destille) 12. 01:18:54 Dr. Janne Savolainen (SAVU Glass) 13. 01:23:41 Eva Maria Sigurbjörnsdóttir (Flóki Whisky) 14. 01:29:19 Laurentius Michielse (exhibitor) 15. 01:33:06 Scott Martin (Distell Group / Bunnahabhain, Tobermory, Deanston) 16. 01:40:05 Andreas Kreser (St. Kilian Distillers) 17. 01:46:02 Michael Hupe & Christian Albrecht (Airport Nürnberg) 18. 01:50:52 Greg Urquhart (Gleann Mór / Rare Find) 19. 01:57:38 Roxy @roxylinn (bartender Provocateur Berlin / The Glenlivet) 20. 02:03:15 Kwek Yi Xian & Teo Spy (The Single Cask) 21. 02:11:57 Sweet Caroline (Masterclass surprise for Jim McEwan) Tune in and enjoy The Village Whisky Fair with us. 

For this episode of The Barrel Talk we will once more stay in the Scottish Speyside, in Elgin, to be precise, and are joined by Iain Allan, global brand ambassador and visitor centre manager of Glen Moray Distillery. If you are a fan of exploring whisky matured in all kinds of different casks, Glen Moray is probably one of your go-to whiskies because of the vast variety of different finishes and maturations. Discover interesting facts about the idea behind and the roots of Glen Moray's rich diversity. Find out about Iain's love for Glen Moray, his favourite casks and expressions, some secret treasures patiently sleeping in the warehouses and some potential future crackers to be released by the distillery, which we can really look forward to in the future. Pour yourself a good dram of whisky and let Miriam and Manuel carry you off to the Scottish Speyside for a lovely chat with Iain Allan about Glen Moray Distillery.

Peated. Speyside. Privately-owned. These three words sound as if they don't match but indeed, they describe the distillery starring in our latest episode: Benromach. Nestled between Inverness and Elgin, in the small town of Forres, we had the opportunity to talk to Benromach's distillery manager Keith Cruickshank about what makes Benromach special. Being owned by Gordon & MacPhail, Keith would rather claim that Benromach is actually "his distillery" - in this episode you will find out why. Learn about Keith's long career at the distillery, how things changed during the past 25 years and what he would do if he were not to be the distillery manager at Benromach anymore. Moreover, of course, we also talk whisky and discuss the idea behind the creation of the Benromach single malt, talking about core range whiskies and also specialties like the 40-year-old. Enjoy a dram and listen to Miriam and Manuel and their chat with Keith, who will make you want to travel to the Scottish Speyside immediately.

Islay is the island of dreams for each and every Scotch lover and even though the island does have uncountable beautiful spots, we have to admit that we love being down at Bunnahabhain Distillery enjoying a dram at the pier with its views across the sound of Islay towards the Paps of Jura. Our guest in this episode, David Brodie, beloved tour guide at Bunnahabhain, probably feels the same. David talks about how he got to Islay and Bunnahabhain, about Islay's weather, the bumpy road down to the distillery and, of course, about the casks and the whisky as well as the experience in Bunnahabhain's famous Warehouse 9 tasting. He also reveals stories about his funniest (or should I say strangest?) guests on the tour and which drams you should absolutely try. So imagine sitting at the Bunnahabhain pier, looking over to the Paps of Jura - and then pour yourself a good dram of (Bunnahabhain) whisky and join David and Miri on this episode of "Inside Whisky - The Barrel Talk".