Inside Whisky: Recent Episodes

Miriam, Martin & Manuel

Scotland and whisky go together like fish and chips, biscuits and tea or gin and tonic.

On "Inside Whisky - The Barrel Talk" we talk to people working in the whisky industry and listen to their stories - may they be about whisky, their lives or the places they live in.

Our podcast might be a bit geeky from time to time but whisky beginners will also find joy when listening to The Barrel Talk.

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.

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:

00:03:29 Ben Curtis (The Single Cask)
00:09:04 Matthew Hastings (Nc’Nean Distillery)
00:20:08 David Ferguson (Lochlea Distillery)
00:26:13 Udo Sonntag (author)
00:34:24 David Thompson (Spirits of Yorkshire / Filey Bay)
00:40:29 Alexander Tichy (Whisky Club of Austria)
00:46:43 Torsten Zimmerman (The Single Cask / Scotch & Tattoos)
00:52:12 Scott A. Fraser (Isle of Raasay Distillery)
00:58:48 Thomas Ewers (Malts of Scotland)
01:05:51 Kenny Macdonald (Dràm Mòr)
01:12:19 Max Engel (Ayrer’s Destille)
01:18:54 Dr. Janne Savolainen (SAVU Glass)
01:23:41 Eva Maria Sigurbjörnsdóttir (Flóki Whisky)
01:29:19 Laurentius Michielse (exhibitor)
01:33:06 Scott Martin (Distell Group / Bunnahabhain, Tobermory, Deanston)
01:40:05 Andreas Kreser (St. Kilian Distillers)
01:46:02 Michael Hupe & Christian Albrecht (Airport Nürnberg)
01:50:52 Greg Urquhart (Gleann Mór / Rare Find)
01:57:38 Roxy @roxylinn (bartender Provocateur Berlin / The Glenlivet)
02:03:15 Kwek Yi Xian & Teo Spy (The Single Cask)
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".

After being a shareholder of The BenRiach Distillery, The GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh one might think all life goals have been reached. Not so Billy Walker. A few years back, he and his partners decided to sell the three distilleries but for Billy it had always been clear that this would not be the end of his journey in the whisky industry. Serendipity made it possible for him to eventually purchase The GlenAllachie in 2017. His vision was to create great whisky while not being dependent on others' decisions. In this episode, Billy Walker talks about buying a running distillery, changing its character and building a new reputation in the market for an up until then rather unknown brand. Moreover, we talk about Billy's background in the whisky industry, the development of The GlenAllachie since 2017 and which other distilleries he would like to own. Yep, still not all life goals achieved as it seems. Listen in and let us take you to the Scottish Speyside to enjoy our talk with whisky legend Billy Walker.

Seeing Andy's shining eyes at the very moment when setting foot into one of Lochranza Distillery's warehouses made one thing clear to us once more: You can never get tired of this special atmosphere and smell of the warehouses of a Scotch whisky distillery...
... the warehouse, you're wondering? Well yeah. This episode is slightly different than usual - it's an extensive and probably a bit geeky audio tour of Lochranza Distillery - and that's why, among others, we also recorded in their warehouse. After having met Andy Bell for a first recording in Glasgow about a year ago (check out our first episode with him: "Inside Arran with Andy Bell"), we caught up once more - but this time in situ on the Isle of Arran. Andy took us around the distillery and we recorded each and every step of our tour: from water source, to malt intake, to distillation room, to filling store, to warehouse(s) and even a special surprise in the end. Join us on this tour and share some of the joy we felt during this lovely expierence.

If you want to see some pictures of the various stages of our recording, check out our Instagram profile @inside_whisky for more.

By the way, the two epsiodes with Andy are totally different but both are a lot of fun - so don't miss out on any of them! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the tour with "Inside Whisky" and Andy Bell.

"If Scotland was a whisky, it would be a Springbank" - that was one of the first reactions we got when starting to promote our latest episode of "The Barrel Talk". We just found this statement so perfectly fitting that we had to include it here. Springbank is so much more than just a whisky, it's probably one of the "truest" Scottish spirits you will find, it's history, it's a myth, it's family, it's delicously dirty and it is sought after. In this episode we are talking to Springbank's Nicole Lindsay, who we met in Cadenhead's tasting room in Campbeltown for the recording. Tune in and find out more about Springbank's ethos, their history, some exciting new releases and about some quite photogenic employees of the distillery - it's gonna be interesting, informative, entertaining and fun - so don't hesitate and join us on "Inside Whisky - The Barrel Talk".

Have you ever heard of the new Lochlea Distillery? If not, it's just about time to find out more about this very interesting project, situated in the heart of the Scottish Lowlands near the beautiful seaside town of Ayr. With their inaugural release just around the corner the time is more than right to go discover this new distillery with Lochlea's David Ferguson and us. In this episode you will find out why Lochlea Distillery has been a secret for so long and why only some selected few have known about it for quite a while. You will learn about the distillery's ties to Scottish legend Robert Burns and you will also get to know why "local barley" is actually a downgrade for Lochlea Whisky. On a slightly different note, you'll also find out, why a Middlesbrough FC victory might lead to the consumption of more than just one dram of Lochlea Whisky - at cask strength, of course. Let us take you over to the Scottish Lowlands, directly into the Warehouse of Lochlea Distillery where we recorded this episode together with David.

From French assistant teacher to distillery manager of Lagavulin, one of the most popular whisky brands worldwide. Sounds like living the American Dream - in this case, however, it is a Scottish Dream come true for Frenchman Pierrick Guillaume.

In this episode, Pierrick is telling his story about how he got into the whisky industry working his way up to becoming Lagavulin's distillery manager. We also learn more about his fascination for sports, whisky, Islay and Lagavulin as well as the casks he dreams about at night.

Pour a dram of Lagavulin and listen in - you won't regret it! Slàinte!

After having had the first Irish distillery on our show in the last episode, this time it’s another “first”: We have got an English whisky distillery for you! And it is not just any English distillery – it is probably the most hyped one – and we’re absolutely delighted to present Matt McKay of BIMBER Distillery to you. Of course, there is still no easy travelling (especially to the UK) and therefore it is another online recording. Matt is head of marketing and communications for BIMBER Distillery, however, his job description includes much more than the title might suggest. Tune in to let Matt and us take you on a tour to London to get to know more about BIMBER’s Single Malt London Whisky and, of course, about Matt and his take on English whisky, his ideas about collecting whisky, his affection for craft beer, and so much more!

Teeling is the first Irish distillery on the show - as well as our first online recording for a podcast episode since travelling is still not possible at the moment. In this list of many "firsts", Teeling Distillery is also the first whiskey distillery to open up in Dublin in 125 years and since Irish Whiskey is on everybody's lips as of recently, we are very happy that Chris Hayes, European brand ambassador of Teeling Whiskey, took the time to talk to us. Listen in and find out more about Teeling Whiskey, its interesting and at times a bit confusing history and their love for experimenting with whiskey. Furthermore, you will learn more about Chris, his love for languages, the Whisk(e)y he's going to celebrate his 30th birthday with and a lot more. Lean back and enjoy our latest episode!

Before Kilchoman Distillery was built and finally opened in 2005, no one had built a distillery on Islay for 124 years. Furthermore, there was not much expertise to be found when it came to actually building a new distillery from scratch in the early 2000s because hardly anyone had done something like that before. Considering those facts, would you have "bloody done it" and taken this huge risk? Listen to the man who was brave enough and mustered all his courage to build Kilchoman Distillery on Islay - and, as we know now - turned out to be very successful with his idea. Enjoy a dram of Kilchoman whisky and find out more about Anthony Wills, founder and managing director of Kilchoman Distillery in this episode of "The Barrel Talk".

Wick - once the herring capital of Europe and thus one of the most important harbour cities in Scotland. In 1826, Wick has also become the home of Pulteney Distillery making the town quite attractive and offering several possibilites to work there. Nowadays, however, many young people leave the town to look for work in the bigger cities. But of course, some people stay and make your visit to the North a great experience. For young Pulteney tour guide, Daniel Ross, the sky is the limit. Enjoy a dram of Old Pulteney Whisky and listen to our "Inside Whisky - The Barrel Talk" episode with tour guide, Daniel Ross.

The Isle of Harris is one of the most beautiful but also one of the most remote Scottish Islands. Find out why the Isle of Harris Distillery is so important for the island, the Hearach (the people of Harris) and their daily lives.
This episode offers some interesting insights into the island life in this remote place in general but, of course, will also provide you with some exciting information about the current flagship of the Isle of Harris Distillery (their Harris Gin) and about their main business: whisky. While we wait for their inaugural whisky to be released, enjoy a glass of Harris Gin and listen to our "Inside Whisky - The Barrel Talk" episode with their head distiller, Kenny Maclean.

When you go to a party as a teenager, someone offers you a dram of whisky and you absolutely don't like it, what do you think might be the end result of that? Well, for Andy Bell, the logical consequence was to make a career in the whisky industry. Listen to this episode of "The Barrel Talk" and find out more about Andy and Arran.

How does an ex-police officer, taking care that Scottish people don't drink too much, become Wolfburn's global brand ambassador encouraging people to actually drink a lot of whisky? And what do the Northern Lights have to do with Wolfburn whisky? Listen to this episode of "The Barrel Talk" to get to know some intriguing facts about Scotland's northernmost mainland distillery.

What's it like to build a new distillery on Islay? Port Ellen vs. Bowmore - How did Jim McEwan and Stewart Laing get to know each other and what does football have to do with it? In how far are Scott and Andrew Laing - the next generation - involved in the family business and what does roasted meat have to do with their relationship to whisky? Find out more in this episode of "The Barrel Talk".

Listen to our trailer to get an impression of what to expect in the future episodes of The Barrel Talk.