The Bakersfield Whisky Society Podcast: Recent Episodes
Timothy J McNeely
Timothy McNeely's guest today is Rice Whisky Movement expert Chris Uhde who will share critical information with you about how this movement is expanding the world of whisky.
If you want to understand the flavor spectrum, learn about how rice whisky is made, and how that makes rice whisky unique then tune in now!
Download this episode now to get started!
Timothy McNeely's guest today is Single Malt Whisky from Wales expert Stephen Davies CEP of Penderyn who will show you To tell their friends about this truly unique discovery brand.
If you want to know what goes into the Single Cask Nation selection process, know what the difference between online and retail, and know what's next for Single Cask Nation then let Timothy McNeely and Community, Collaboration, and Transparency expert Joshua Hatton President / CEO and Jason Johnstone-Yellin Vice-President / COO show you how to understand the flavor profile aka the flavomiter.
In this episode, David McNicoll and I discuss the relationship between Scotch and the cultural heritage of Scotland. We also will take a deep dive through the people involved, the geography of the country, and the names of the distilleries themselves. By looking at the very names of the whiskeys we open a door and look at the landscapes and local histories of Scotland through the eyes of our ancestors.
Lets Welcome Robin Robinson to Whisky Secrets! Robin Robinson has built small brands for most of his working life and is currently working with small spirit brands across the US to help them enter and endure a volatile and competitive marketplace.
Luke Skywalker drank blue milk, but if he lived in Texas he would have drank whisky made from blue core. In this episode of “behind the tastings” Tim and Cash talk about Texas whiskey.
Tim and Michale sit down for a conversation about the great pacific northwest. Oh...They also talk to Jordan Felix about whiskey from Westward Whiskey!
The Bakersfield Whisky Society sat down with the District Manager of Northern California Terlato Artisan Spirits, John Pauley, and talked about how he got started in the whisky business, his family, and the unique qualities of whisky that makes it so enjoyable! Pauley’s family had a beer and wine distributing company in San Francisco for around 45 years. He’s no stranger when it comes to the alcohol industry and has fond memories of climbing over boxes, becoming a Sales Manager, and moving to different companies which extend back to when he was just eight years old. “I’ve kind of stayed in the industry,” He admits. “I really, really like it! I enjoy all of the alcoholic beverages: beer, wine, spirits, whatever. Getting to try new things and going to try new things is half the fun of being in this industry.” As far as the uniqueness of Terlarto Artisan Spirits, Pauley feels the uniqueness of their product line of whisky comes from their distilleries. For those who don’t already know, they have three distilleries that are all owned by the same company. Their 50/50 partner, Distill, strives to make each distillery difference from the others in their areas. “So for instance, one of the [whiskies] we’re going to be trying tonight is called Bunnahabhain. Bunnahabhain means mouth of the river in Gaelic,” Pauley explains. “However, it is the only distillery on Islay that makes non-peated Scotches all the time. They make age-statement Scotches, they make non-age-statement Scotches, and 80% of what we make is non-peated, which is odd for Islay.” Bunnahabhain does something different that allows them to show off the Scotch itself, the Islay Scotch, the water, the barley, and the distilling process without having the peat to mask some of the flavors. Their second distillery, Deanston, is also unique. “Deanston doesn’t want to be your dad’s scotch,” Pauley puts it. “It doesn’t want to do the same thing as all the other Highland Scotches. They make two expressions, all the time. Everything else they make, four to five different expressions, are limited.” Then the final one is Tobermory Distillery, which six months of the year makes a peated Scotch called Ledaig. One of the things that we were curious about was whether or not Pauley saw a trend in the non-age statement products that are released. Is there any resistance to the non-age statement, or is the perception that a whisky needs to be aged to be good still prevalent? For Pauley, he notices that the age statement is getting resistance from the people that buy their whisky to share with their friends. “They want to be able to say ‘I am giving you a 12 year, 15 year or, 20 year scotch,’” He suggests. But for those who like to sit at home and drink their non-age statement whisky, it doesn’t matter. And those non-age statement whiskies are actually getting higher scores that helps them. Pauley also talked with our society about the use of the term “organic” and what that means in relation to whisky. In the United States, you can say “organically grown” or you can say “organic grapes” or “organic barley,” but in the UK and EU you have to do everything from start to finish completely organically. “So, the barley was grown organically. Any barrels that we use that had anything else in them have to be completely scrapped. They take as much as a quarter of an inch off of a barrel [and] heavily char it, so that there’s no chance of anything that wasn’t an organic product,” he explains. Listen to the full podcast including deeper explanations regarding the whisky products of Terlarto Artisan Spirits here on our blog:
Bakersfield Whiskey SocietyBehind Whisky MakingBlood of ScotlandButlerJapanese WhiskeyJohn PauleyLedaigOrganic BarleyOrganic GrapesPodcastScotchScotch Style WhiskySmoky MaltTaste ScotchThe WhiskeyTraining ProgramWhiskey CommunityWhiskyWhisky Expertswhisky sommeliers
The Bakersfield Whiskey Society sat down recently with a whisky aficionado, someone that is very important when it comes to understanding a variety of whiskies. Jenna Elie has been featured in Forbes as well as many other publications, and was excited to sit down with the society to talk a little about what being a whiskey influencer is like.
Influencers, particularly over social media, are people with a high amount of followers and organic reach that can be utilized in order to sell products or draw awareness to campaigns. Jenna runs her own blog called WhiskyAGoGirl and has accumulated nearly 15,000 followers on her Instagram account.
“I just started this account because I wanted to learn about whisky. I had an aha moment with whiskey and it surprised me. When I’m taken by surprise, I want to absorb as much information about something as I possibly can.” She recalls.
Generating a following on her Instagram account came out of her familiarity with the platform, knowing that there were different types of people who could help her understand why she was so taken by whiskey. For Jenna, she wanted something real, musing, “I was a real person asking real questions and talking to people. That’s something I’ve always held onto and really nurtured along the way.”
It’s one thing to generate a community online that responds to your questions and engages in conversation with you – another to generate a community that starts to bring their questions to you. For Jenna, the shift began about a year into her journey with her new platform.
“Brands were starting to reach out to me to ask to review their products,” she admits. “I was posting more reviews at that time so naturally I had more people asking me about the whiskies that I was talking about and the whiskey that I was drinking.”
Figuring out what kind of whiskey Jenna liked and what kind she didn’t came out of her first real experience in watching the production side of whiskey. Last April, she wound up in Scotland at the first distillery she ever saw in Glenfiddich.
“That was a really amazing experience to see. You just have regular, hard working people whose life is to put this great drink in a bottle that we essentially get to judge.” For Jenna, that was the big turning point into her discovery of what she liked and what she did not. Meeting so many different people in the whiskey community through productions and ambassadors is always exciting and fascinating, and Jenna considers it an important part of her journey so far.
One aspect of the whiskey community in particular strikes a chord with not only Jenna but many whiskey lovers: the idea that it brings people from different places together.
“I love that. I love that about this community – that you have so many different types of people from all corners of the world. We can all come together and share our love for this spirit. That shows really what whiskey is about,” Jenna says.
Running a larger side Instagram account isn’t easy, though most people would be inclined to think it is. In different interviews and articles Jenna has touched base on what the process looks like for posting to her page and keeping her engagement up. We were interested in hearing more about that process.
“I really only like to talk about the whiskies that I do like,” she admits. “The only reason for that is I don’t ever want to say ‘I don’t like this whiskey.’ I never want to make somebody not want to go try that simply because I don’t like it.”
Her method of working with brands is founded on honesty. Jenna makes it clear upfront that if she does not like something then she will not post about it at all. For her, that’s the way it is and she does not have plans on changing it any time soon. “What I put out there is true, genuine, honest emotion.”
As far as photo taking and posting goes, the process typically varies depending on how much time Jenna has available. Her photos can be shot between breaks where th...
The Bakersfield Whiskey Society had the opportunity to sit down and talk with William Lipp of Alexander Murray & Co. based in Calabasas, California. Their business bottles single cask single malts and blended whiskey of different ages. In 2015, the company became the first ones to release a malt whisky finished in ex-beer casks through a partnership with Firestone Walker Brewery.
Starting off with a drink, Lipp leads the conversation with some of his favorite whisky stories. All of them, he explains, is when he was sharing whiskey with his father.
“He has a collection of about 700 whiskeys,” Lipp notes. “His knowledge on scotch is phenomenal and he’s been in this industry for about 25 years.”
Lipp’s father, of course, was the one who started Alexandar Murry & Co. A collection of 700 is certainly impressive, so which ones were his favorites?
“One of his favorites is the Duncan Taylor Highland Park,” Lipp remembers. “If you get the chance to try older scotches, they are done completely different. They were done with a lot more love.”
That “love” translates into a lot longer fermentation and distillation times. For Lipp, these longer times are what gives whisky more character. But what is the definition of an older whisky, as according to Lipp? And what about the character?
“I always think Glenfarclas are still doing stuff really, really well. Glen Grant are another one of those with long fermentation times. Things like that, the little bits like fermentation times just change the flavor of whisky which is great.”
The matter of taste is, in fact, important. We’d have to agree! After all, craftsmanship is a large part of the whisky making process – and taking your time seems to make a big difference in how whisky tastes. Enough so that people like Lipp can pick up on it and express fondness for it.
The unique thing about Alexander Murray & Co. is that they are an independent bottler, which means they get to visit more than one distillery. The company does not own a distillery, so instead they buy casks from many different ones and rebrand under their company name. For Lipp, the advantages of that means exposure to different kinds of whiskeys that distilleries typically don’t bottle.
“We get distillery offerings that are mainly only used in blends,” he adds. “[Usually] It’s all sold off to people for the big blends. That’s all these distilleries do is pump out juice.”
Alexander Murray & Co.’s independent bottling began about 5 years ago, where the opportunity rose to bottle whiskeys that were never bottled before or not big enough to bottle in quantity. Alexander Murray & Co. the brand strives to be more handcraft — capitalizing on its uniqueness, single casks, and high volumes.
“We’ve got to get it to the best price and the best quality that we can, but it is going to be a lower price,” Lipp explains. “We’ve realized that people are willing to spend more on the Alexander Murray independent bottling. It’s quality for us. We go home twice a year to taste all the casks, and that’s really what it is. We want to bottle.”
Not only is the company an independent bottler, they’re also a bit unconventional. Out of a collaboration the bottler developed with California brewery Firestone Walker Brewing, sixty oak bourbon barrels were sent to Scotland’s Tullibardine distillery. The barrels, filled with Tullibardine whisky, were left to age for an additional year before being bottled as a limited edition, double barreled single malt. That became known as Polly’s Cask.
“I always find that one person, they’re like ‘I don’t like scotch. Oh, but I like Polly’s Cask.’” Lipp recalls. “That was the way it was. It was soft. It was sweet. It had a little milk chocolate malt and just this unique beer malt finish to it.”
The background on Polly’s Cask is interesting, too. Lipp’s father and David Walker wanted to something special for Polly, Walker’s wife. The result of that was Polly’s Cask where they matur...