“My palate has seen a lot of action,” confesses Fraser Campbell, whisky educator, brand consultant, drinks strategist. “I started off working in pubs in Speyside when I was 18. And that was pretty much it.”
Twenty seven years later Fraser is now the host and creator of Whisky Bytes, producing “snackable knowledge whisky videos”. His latest venture is One for the Road, a luxury chauffeur-driven tour and whisky tasting service, which launched earlier this year.
But as an 18-year-old pouring drams in a local pub in Forres in north east Scotland, Fraser says he learnt “the hard way not to pour water for the customer.”
“The first time I poured a whisky for someone, I added their water and drowned it and I had to duck.”
Despite an inauspicious start, Fraser “stuck with bars” as he puts he.
After five years in Australia, where “I fell back in love with Scottish whisky”, and two to three years in Spain, Fraser was offered a job as the global ambassador for Dewar’s Blended Scotch.
Whisky wasn’t on his horizon, but he explains, “When someone says to you, ‘Would you like to travel the world and talk about whisky for a living?’, well it takes you about ten seconds to make your mind up.”
“The thing that really drew me to Dewar’s was the story of Tommy Dewar, who was the son of the original founder John Dewar, who had the shop in Perth back in 1846. And Tommy was a pioneer in advertising, marketing, and kind of the first brand marketer in a lot of ways.
“He invented the first ever advert for a brand, just a few years after a cinematography was invented. There was a black and white movie based on an advert, which was a painting of these three ghosts coming out of a painting to grab a bottle of Dewar’s.
“So they turned that into a live action advert. So he was well ahead of his time. So that's kind of really what landed it for me.”
“I've always had a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit with a lot of things as well,” Fraser continues. “And I think the chance with Dewar’s came at a time when the brand was going through a lot of changes, going from what was perceived as an old man's blended Scotch whisky to a more progressive whisky for younger audiences.
“So it wasn't just the whisky, it was the idea to come in and be part of a change or a pivotal change in that history of that brand,” he concludes.
Join John as he discovers how Fraser went from rookie teenager to whisky polymath.
Listen in as they discuss whisky and regionality. (“It’s bonkers,” Fraser tells John, to suggest that “one massive 10,000 square mile region could produce one style and flavour” of whisky.)
Find out how the colour of whisky packaging can affect our perception of a whisky and how it will taste.
And enjoy a rambling conversation that wanders where it wants, reviving memories of scenic beauty and recalling experiences that can never be repeated.
After all Fraser says, \"Whisky is a lot like music and a lot like food. It's about the occasion and who you're with and what you're doing.\"
Slàinte!
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Socials: @C2GWhisky | @JohnRossBeattie
Creator & producer: David Holmes
Art work & design: Jess Robertson
Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)
Vocals: Andrea Cunningham
Guitars: John Beattie
Bass: Alasdair Vann
Drums: Alan Hamilton
Bagpipes: Calum McColl
Accordion: Gary Innes
Music & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John Beattie
Recorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, Scotland
Special thanks: The Piper Whisky Bar, 57 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, Scotland
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