Not Another Whisky Podcast

Mitch and Daz are back together for a long-overdue August catch-up, recorded from the glamour of Daz’s self-proclaimed “bitchin’ kitchen.”They compare notes on what they’ve been up to, the whisky they’ve been drinking and the general chaos of a busy summer before diving into some of the more unusual stories from around the whisky world.There’s the retired farmer storing a £750,000 whisky collection in converted pigsties, Woven and Civerinos combining whisky, Scottish honey and a fairly aggressive collection of chillies, and the arrival of the new Stannergill Distillery in Caithness.Mitch also shares his experience at The Macallan’s Coconut Dreams pop-up beside the Spey, including the slightly surreal sight of Macallan being poured into a blender to make piña coladas.The pair also discuss the new signature single malt from the Isle of Harris and whether whisky drinkers occasionally need to become a little less precious about how their drams are enjoyed.Later in the episode, Mitch catches up with Victoria Miller, founder of Sip Seekers, to hear about the platform she has created to make discovering and booking Scotland’s distilleries, tastings and drinks experiences considerably easier.Expect whisky news, old drams, questionable kitchens, expensive pigsties and the usual amount of informed nonsense.Links to news and Sip Seekers £750k Pigsty Whisky Collection – The Whiskey Wash Woven x Civerinos Hot Honey The Macallan – Inspired by Fresh Coconut Stannergill Distillery Starts Production – The Spirits Business The Isle of Harris Single Malt Whisky Sip Seekers Not Another Whisky Podcast on Acast

This episode is a wee bit different.Earlier this year, Mitch met Graeme and Angus from Whisky Stories and the idea was simple: get both podcasts in the same room, pour a few drams, and record something together.That idea quickly grew into a live event, a charity night, and a raffle that raised an incredible £1,400 for The BEN, supporting people across the hospitality and licensed trade.Recorded live at Uno Mas, this episode sees Not Another Whisky Podcast go head to head with Whisky Stories, with the brilliant Mark Thompson trying his best to keep everyone in line.Expect drams, audience votes, questionable tactics, brilliant whisky chat, and a few strong opinions along the way.We get into favourite distillery visits, cask finishes, whisky bars, and the kind of stories that only come out when you put whisky people in front of a live audience.A huge thank you to everyone who donated bottles, prizes, minis and support for the raffle, and to Sian at Uno Mas for letting us use the venue.Pour yourself something good and enjoy a proper live whisky night with NAWP and Whisky Stories.

Daz is flying solo this week as he sits down with Highland Park’s Martin Markvardsen on the eve of his twentieth anniversary as the distillery’s brand ambassador.Martin takes us back to his early days managing the legendary Quaich Bar at the Craigellachie Hotel, where 784 whiskies, industry characters and the occasional lock in provided a fairly thorough education. He explains how repeatedly including Highland Park 18 in his tastings eventually led to a phone call offering him the ambassador’s job.They look back at what whisky ambassadorship involved in 2006, from lengthy technical masterclasses and enormous whisky festivals to the characters who shaped the industry, including Jim McEwan, Charlie MacLean, Dave Broom, Ronnie Cox, Ian Miller and Ian Logan.Martin and Daz also discuss how the role has changed. Today’s ambassadors need to understand social media, online tastings, cocktails and content creation alongside the traditional production knowledge and storytelling. There are tales of sideways Zoom tastings, Facebook mistaking Martin’s Highland Park tattoo for pornography and Daz missing his own masterclass after a particularly enthusiastic night aboard the Viking Line.Finally, they attempt to choose their greatest Highland Park releases of all time, covering bottles including Leif Eriksson, the 1977 Bicentenary, Hjarta, the original 50 Year Old, Dark Origins and the ever dependable Highland Park 18.A relaxed and wonderfully nostalgic conversation about two decades with one distillery, the people who make whisky special and why Martin still has no plans to slow down.

After more than 200 episodes, we have finally given Irish whiskey the proper attention it deserves. Mitch and Daz are joined by Barry Chandler, better known as Irish Whiskey Barry, an independent educator, community builder and three-time Whisky Magazine Ireland Communicator of the Year.Barry guides us through Irish whiskey’s past, present and future using three pot still whiskeys. We begin with Redbreast 12 and uncover the story of Gilbey’s, Dublin’s historic whiskey bonders, the “priest’s tipple” and the surprising connection between Redbreast and the original Baileys bottle.For the present, Barry chooses Boann Legacy, an accessible modern pot still whiskey that represents Ireland’s extraordinary growth from just four working distilleries to more than 50.Finally, we head to the Mourne Mountains and Killowen, a tiny direct-fired distillery Barry describes as “Ireland’s Springbank,” where historic mash bills, radical transparency and hands-on production point towards the future.Along the way, we discuss the Dingle effect, the myths surrounding the malt tax, oats in Irish whiskey, triple distillation, Jameson’s dominance, the current review of the Irish whiskey technical file and the commercial pressures facing the country’s newer distilleries.Plus, Barry explains why “smooth” might be one of whiskey’s most useless compliments.Follow Barry on Instagram and TikTok at @irishwhiskeybarry, and discover Stories & Sips, Three Drams and Irish Whiskey Experiences through his channels.

Mitch heads to Fife for Lindores Abbey Distillery’s annual Bear Burning ceremony, where an enormous bear and ragged staff carved into the hillside is set alight.First, Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Donaldson discusses her journey through the whisky industry, joining Lindores at a pivotal moment, the challenges the business has faced and her plans for building a sustainable future.Then Distillery Manager Gary Haggart takes us into the stillhouse. Gary discusses developing the Lindores spirit character, why good whisky doesn’t necessarily need to be old, the different personalities of two supposedly identical spirit stills and his ambition for drinkers to recognise Lindores simply by its aroma.There’s whisky, history, business, Angel Delight, Star Trek and the crucial importance of not fucking up the wash still.A huge thank you to everyone at Lindores Abbey Distillery for the invitation, accommodation and excellent hospitality.Find out more about Lindores Abbey Distillery: https://lindoresabbeydistillery.comListen to more episodes and find out what we’re up to: https://www.notanotherwhiskypodcast.comIf you enjoyed the episode, please follow the podcast and leave us a rating or review. It genuinely helps more whisky lovers find the show.

🎙️ NOT ANOTHER WHISKY PODCAST IS GOING LIVEOn Thursday 6 August, we are taking on the guys from Whisky Stories in a live podcast battle at Uno Mas in Edinburgh.There will be six whiskies, with three chosen by each podcast, plenty of questionable competitive behaviour.Tickets are £20, with every penny going to The BEN, the charity supporting people working within Scotland’s hospitality industry.The show starts at 7pm and capacity is limited, so grab your tickets before they disappear:👉 BUY TICKETS FOR THE LIVE SHOWBack to the episode…Mitch and Daz are finally back together for another catch-up, covering everything from sherry-soaked holidays and Islay building sites to whisky in a can and one of the worst distillery tours Mitch has ever experienced.Mitch reports back from Portugal and Jerez, where a private visit to the new Sherry Museum provided a much deeper dive into the history, culture and casks behind one of Scotch whisky’s most important influences.Then it is over to Islay, including warehouse tastings, dinner at Bowmore, a visit to Ardbeg House and a hard-hat preview of the new Portintruan Distillery with Georgie Crawford. They discuss its automated floor maltings, multiple spirit styles and what another major distillery could mean for the future of the island.There is also news of two upcoming Turas Mòr bottlings and the usual run through some of the latest whisky news.Along the way, they get into:• The whisky opportunity in Portugal• Why whisky lovers should visit Jerez• Whether Islay can retain its character as the island grows• Port of Leith’s whisky in a can• The new permanent release from Isle of Harris• Four Roses being sold to Gallo• A truly questionable distillery tasting involving plastic cups and someone else’s water bottle• The best whiskies Mitch and Daz have tasted recentlyThe episode finishes with Mitch naming the GlenAllachie 19 Year Old Solera Cask as his whisky of the year so far.Apart from his own whisky, obviously.Follow Not Another Whisky Podcast on Instagram and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

This week, Mitch sits down with whisky industry veteran Kenny Mackay at Ballindalloch Distillery in Speyside.Kenny has spent nearly 50 years in Scotch whisky, working with names including Peter Thompson’s, Bowmore, Macallan, Carn Mor, Lindores Abbey and Ballindalloch. In this episode, he shares stories from across his career, from missing out on becoming a helicopter pilot to helping launch Black Bowmore and shaping some of Scotland’s best known whisky brands.We talk about the early days of malt whisky marketing, growing Macallan in Scotland, the birth of whisky collecting, the changing world of independent bottling, and why Ballindalloch’s slow, estate led approach makes it such a special distillery.Kenny also gives his take on where the Scotch whisky industry is right now, why downturns are nothing new, and why he still sees plenty of reasons to be optimistic.Expect brilliant stories, sharp industry insight, a few legendary bottles, and one very committed fire alarm.Timestamps00:00 Welcome to Ballindalloch Distillery01:10 Introducing Kenny Mackay02:20 The Navy’s loss and whisky’s gain03:00 Starting out at Peter Thompson’s of Perth04:20 Glen Grant, Macallan and early whisky distribution06:20 How the industry has changed over 50 years09:40 The story behind Black Bowmore12:00 Bowmore 40 Year Old and early luxury whisky13:50 Independent bottling then and now14:30 Building Carn Mor19:40 One of One and raising millions for charity23:00 Ballindalloch Distillery and the single estate approach29:00 Vintage releases and the long term family vision31:30 Kenny’s take on the current Scotch whisky market38:00 The cashflow reality of growing a single malt brand39:10 Quick fire questions44:20 Desert island drams

Recorded in the historic Vaults in Leith, Mitch Bechard is joined by SMWS “chief storyteller” Richard Goslan and Kask Whisky founder Justine Hazlehurst for a deep dive into one of Scotch whisky’s most overlooked powerhouses.Leith was never just a port. It was a whisky engine room: bonding, brokering, blending, bottling and shipping enormous volumes of Scotch around the world. At one point, the area was home to around 90–100 bonded warehouses, yet its role in shaping the modern industry is often pushed into the background.Richard brings The Vaults to life, from its ancient origins and long links with the drinks trade to the birth of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in 1983. He shares how the Society’s single-cask ethos developed, why bottle 1.1 became legendary, how the tasting panel works, and how SMWS bottle names manage to be both brilliant and completely unhinged.Justine guides us through Leith’s boom-and-bust whisky past, from Pattison’s infamous 1898 crash, to wars, consolidation, the whisky loch, and the stories still hiding in plain sight on the Leith Whisky Trail. There are disputed parrots, a very real pub puma attack, independent bottling chat, festival stories, and a reminder that whisky history is always better when it hasn’t been polished to death.A proper sense-of-place episode from one of Scotland’s most important whisky rooms.00:00 Welcome to The Vaults in Leith00:48 Meet Richard Goslan and Justine Hazlehurst02:46 Inside the history of The Vaults05:57 Why Leith matters to Scotch whisky08:46 The origins of the Leith Whisky Trail11:06 Wild stories from Leith’s past12:46 SMWS founding story and bottle labels16:30 Whisky as a shared community19:54 Leith’s boom-and-bust whisky timeline26:02 The whisky loch and SMWS’s first cask28:11 SMWS codes, flavour profiles and tasting culture29:42 How the SMWS tasting panel works30:47 The joy of flamboyant bottle names31:25 Creators Collection and whisky artwork32:28 Desert island dram: SMWS 1.134:54 Glenfarclas and Leith connections35:50 The independent bottling boom38:26 Fife Whisky Festival and modern whisky culture40:39 Justine’s Pattison crash book45:19 The Pattison parrots myth48:01 Finding Pip Hills again52:07 Vaults legends and wild old days54:35 Where to find Richard and Justine