Kenny and Viktorija Macdonald like the word "mòr", Scots Gaelic for "big".

Growing up, Kenny was known as Coinneach Mòr ("Big Kenny"). He and Viktorija met in the Glasgow pub Òran Mór ("big song") over a dram of Dalmore ("big meadow").

"That whisky has a lot to answer for," Viktorija jokes...

After they'd hitched up, they decided to start a whisky company called Dràm Mòr: Big Dram.

Iniatially they acted as agents for other whisky producers, utilising Viktorija's contacts in her native Lithuania to export uisge beatha to the Baltic states and Ukraine, before expanding elsewhere into Europe.

But before all that - and Viktorija - Kenny had "many different hats". And two jobs. He was a meat inspector for the Food Standards Agency and a nightclub bouncer for 27 years, where he says, "I have seen every form of stupidity the human race has to throw at me."

So how did they get into the whisky industry?

"It was Viktorija's fault," Kenny insists. "Let's be perfectly clear about that. So I came home from work one night and Viktorija said to me: 'Why do you do what you do? You obviously hate it'."

"Well of course I hate it," Kenny says he replied. "It's my job." But, he continues, "Viktorija said, 'Some folk really enjoy what they do.' And you know, to my utter shame, I laughed at her."

But Viktorija, Kenny says, persisted: "What would you love to do?"

And then it dawned on him: "I love whisky."

That's when they decided to start Dràm Mòr. And they eventually went from agents to independent bottlers.

But how did they get there?

In this episode Kenny and Viktorija tell John about their whisky journey; how they started Dràm Mòr; the markets they trade in; their thoughts on the current state of the whisky industry; and how they believe people in Ukraine and the countries neighbouring Russia - like the Lithuania and the other Baltic states - are, as Viktorija puts it, "drinking more of the good stuff because they don't know how long they're going to live."

People in Ukraine, Viktorija tells John, are "living between hope and hell. Literally."

Theirs is a sobering tale about the universality of hope over fear; and the simple pleasure that can be found, even in the worst of times, from a simple dram.

So raise your glass to life, hope and fortitude. If you know your history, it's what Scotch whisky has always stood for.

Slàinte!

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Socials:

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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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three weeks ago, US President Donald Trump came to Scotland on a private visit. During the trip he met Scottish First Minister John Swinney at his golf course in Aberdeenshire, where the two men discussed trade, tariffs and whisky.

In an exclusive interview for 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀, Mr Swinney reveals details from those discussions as well as his own affection for whisky, especially Aberfeldy and Glenmorangie.

Of his talks with Mr Trump, Mr Swinney says; "I was making the pitch for the Scotch whisky industry and for Scotch whisky to be exempt from tariffs." Adding that he told Mr Trump the United States would also benefit if Scotch was exempted from tariffs because Scotland imports $300 million worth of bourbon barrels every year from the United States.

And Mr Swinney says he reminded Mr Trump that Scotch whisky is like Kentucky bourbon: "Where Kentucky bourbon can only be produced in Kentucky, Scotch whisky can only be produced in Scotland."

So does he think Mr Trump might now exempt Scotch whisky from the current 10% tariff which, according to the Scotch Whisky Association, is costing the industry £4 million a week?

"I think President Trump has this on his radar now. I don't think he had it on his radar before he came to Scotland. I think he came to Scotland thinking that the US-UK trade deal was all concluded and that that was it."

As well as telling John about his discussions with Mr Trump, Mr Swinney reveals that he gave Mr Trump a framed copy of the handwritten entry in a ledger from the parish of Tong on the Isle of Lewis recording the marriage of the President's great grandparents in 1853, along with "an extract from the 1921 census from Stornoway which includes, of course, for the first time in the census record, his mother, Mary MacLeod, at the age of nine."

Aside from telling John about his meeting with Mr Trump, and discussing the significance of whisky to both Scottish identity and the Scottish economy, Mr Swinney, who doesn't drink "an awful lot of alcohol nowadays", admits he does have one or two particular whisky favourites: "I'm very fond of Aberfeldy whisky from my own constituency in North Perthshire. Also, I suppose habitually, I've probably been very fond of Glenmorangie. And that's been very special to me."

So tune in for the whole interview.

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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!"

Remember Episode 14, when master blender Max McFarlane gave John what he calls "an off note whisky"?

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Max!"

It took John a while to the find words to describe what he was tasting. But he finally got there: "It tastes like... poison!"

Well that was an extreme example. But what else can go wrong with whisky? And how can you spot a bad whisky on the nose before it gets anywhere near your tongue?

In this episode, Max gives John a masterclass in how to spot bad whisky aromas with the aid of a few random samples from the Aroma Academy's Faults Aroma Training Kit. The kit's designed to help people develop "aroma recogntion skills". And, Max says, even master blenders do this kind of training.

So stand by for descriptions like "solvent", "black tea with a peated note", "nail varnish", "your granny's old cupboard", and John's particular favourite "cheesy vomit".

"You may not find all of them in a whisky," Max says, "but you're training your nose."

And as an additional bonus, do you always have to spend £50 or £60 on a nice whisky?

Producer Holmsey stopped by his local Lidl on the way to this recording and picked up two whiskies for under £20.

So tune in to find out how John and Max get on at nosing artificially manufactured unpleasant aromas, and to get Max's verdict on Lidl's Glen Orchy 5 Year Old Blended Malt Whisky and its Balmuir 3 Year Blended Scotch Whisky.

Which one do you think "wants to holiday in your palate", as Max puts it?

Slàinte!

-------

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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

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In 1887, when Alfred Barnard published his seminal guide to the The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom, he catalogued 129 Scottish distilleries, 28 Irish ditstilleries and four English distilleries.

There were no Welsh distilleries.

And yet, says Sean Williams host of the Wisgi Wales Podcast and founder of Wales Whisky Fest and the Welsh Whisky Society, "distilling can allegedly trace its roots to Wales; to north wales; to a little place called Bardsey Island, where the monks - you know, in myth - distilled a distilate which was pretty much aqua vitae or new make spirit."

That was in the fourth century AD.

"So it's been in our culture a long time," Sean adds, even if "we're a nation of beer drinkers historically."

And aside from a distillery started in the late 19h century and closed in early 20th century, Sean says, it wasn't until the establishment of Penderyn Distillery in the 1990s that the Welsh whisky industry began to take shape.

Today there are seven distilleries in Wales with "more in the pipeline." And Welsh whisky, or Whisgi Cymreig, now has its own GI or geographical indicator status.

In this episode, Sean chats to John about the origins of the whisky industry in Wales; some of the distilleries leading the way; what makes Welsh whisky different from other whiskies; the widespread use of wine casks. And he introduces John to three different Welsh whiskies:

Aber Falls Maderia cask - 47%

Penderyn Copperopolis sweet red wine cask - 46% ABV

Anglesey Môn Bourbon cask - 40%

"If you've tried Welsh whisky, they're not seven of the same type. It is very varied and not one is like the other," Sean explains.

But he continues, "They've all got a story to tell. From the stills to the people, they're completely different through Wales."

Slàinte!

-------

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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Golf and whisky. Two of Scotland's great exports.

They've gone around the world. Now the world rounds on Scotland to experience them both.

And Hamish Malcolm brings them together..

Aka The Dram Caddy, Hamish combines his role as a golf caddy with that as a whisky guide, providing whisky tastings to golfing tourists. Usually matching five drams to five courses from Dornorch in the north to St Andrews in the east.

But nothing obvious. So no Macallans.

"I'm looking maybe for the dram less travelled. Some of the more underdog group brands. Because there's no point giving the visitors what they can get back home or in Duty Free," Hamish says

By his own admission Hamish is "a bit of a late developer into whisky."

For 38 years he worked in banking. But he gave it up and became a caddy at Castle Stuart, a golf course east of Inverness on the Moray Firth, and for three days a week a sales assistant at the Highland Whisky Shop in Inverness.

"After a few weeks, I stumbled upon maybe I could be quite good at doing the tastings." So he put two and two together - golf and whisky - and started The Dram Caddy.

"I'll never get tired of seeing people either taste whisky for the first time," Hamish says, "or taste peated whisky for the first time."

Join John as he chats to Hamish about his new career, the whiskies he loves, and how he connects whisky and golf for overseas tourists.

Slàinte!

-------

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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"It's an extraordinary time in whisky's history," says Dave Bloom author of The World Atlas of Whisky; now in its 3rd edition but completely rewritten.

Over 500 distilleries profiled; 480 whiskies sampled. No wonder Dave jokes: "I didn't have grey hair when I started."

But why extraordinary?

"Because there's never been such a period in whisky's history where so much has been made in so many different styles in so many different countries," he tells John. "If you think back to whisky's recent history, the last 100 years or so, essentially it's been dominated by Scotch and was dominated until very recently by Scotch blends."

"So the world of whisky essentially belonged to Scotch. And now you have, I would say pretty much every country in the world where distillation is legal, making whisky."

"There's probably too much whisky getting made," he continues. "But if you are a whisky lover, you have never had so much choice."

But all that whisky presents problems for the industry, and Dave cautions, "There will be casualities."

Like in Ireland, where the Waterford Distillery collapsed earlier this year.

"It's this perfect storm, " he explains. "You have low consumer confidence. You have political issues. You've got war. You have a generational shift that's taking place."

Still it's happened before; "essentially every 20 years or so." But while Dave says there's "no magic bullet", he remains optimistic: "Whisky is resilient and whisky always has got out of these problems. And it will take some clever strategies, but it will get out of it."

Sure young people aren't drinking traditional drams. And they're drinking less. But they are drinking highballs and whisky cocktails. Dave's seen it in his own local whisky bar, Cut Your Wolf Loose in Brighton.

So while he admits he "might have been coming over as some sort of doommonger" in this episode, "there's a lot of positives out there," he insists.

And a lot of innovation too. Who'd have thought there would one be at least two whisky distilleries in the Arctic circle or subtropical whiskies from India, China and Taiwan?

That's "the joy of whisky", he concludes. "There is always something new coming through the door. And that keeps you alive and that keeps you interested and that keeps the energy going."

So raise a dram, straight, iced, diluted or mixed, to "Scothland". 

Slàinte!

-------

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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I didn't set Nc'Nean up to appeal to women," admits Annabel Thomas, founder of Nc'Nean Distillery, "but you know, I think maybe because my story ends up being told, because we have equal parts men and women working at the company, we do get probably more attention from women than maybe other brands."

"That being said," she continues, "more than half of our consumers are still men, which reflects the reality of the whisky industry today."

And while Annabel insists "there's no logical reason" why women shouldn't drink or work in whisky, she's quick to point out there's a lot of "rebalancing to be done"; even "if you look at the industry and who the blenders are in some of the biggest and the smallest companies, [and you see] they're often women."

Women like Diageo's Emma Walker, Master Blender for Johnnie Walker.

Still when Annabel began her Nc'Nean journey in 2012, she "didn't want make a whisky that was traditional and like all the others."

"I wanted to make a whisky," she says "that did something different and attracted a new crowd and could tell a different story." Most importantly she wanted to make a sustainable whisky, that's 100% organic: "Part of our mission, aside from making delicious whisky, is too do good for people and the planet."

So Annabel built Nc'Nean on a parcel of land on the Morvern Peninsula overlooking the Isle of Mull on the west coast of Scotland.

By her own admission, "It's very remote". Incredibly beautiful, but remote: after travelling north for two and half hours from Glasgow, past Loch Lomond and through Glencoe, almost as far as Fort William, "you take the little Corran ferry across the Corran Narrows.

"You're greeted with a double track road to begin with," Annabel continues, "but very shortly that turns into a single track road. And you drive for about an hour on a single track road up to the tip of the Morven Peninsula. And then the road runs out and you drive on a track for a mile and then you get to the distillery. And we have a nice barrel halfway along that track that says: 'Nearly there'."

In this episode, Annabel tells John about:

• the founding principles of Nc'Nean ("be kind to the environment");
• experimenting with different yeasts "not originally designed for whisky distillation";
• breaking into new markets;
• the current business climate and its challenges;
• passing places and the etiquette of driving on single track roads in rural Scotland ("you must wave");
• and of course, Nc'Nean's whiskies like Huntress Lemon Meadow ("just the perfect summer whisky").

Slàinte!

-------

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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whisky's about time and place and company for Gordon Dundas, Brand Development and Advocacy Director of Ian Macleod Distillers.

One of Gordon's best whisky experiences was at an awards dinner in Edinburgh.

He was sitting beside a colleague from Ian Macleod and his good friend Julian Van Winkle of Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery -- "before Van Winkle had gone really silly pricewise and rarity and scarcity". There was, he says, a bottle of Balblair 38 on the table. "So we poured this Balblair 38. And at that moment in time, prbabaly an hour or so, and the chat, the everything, and that Balblair 38 did not last very long."

A year on, Gordon continues, he was visiting the Van Winkles at their home in Louisville, Kentucky. "I'm sitting on their porch," he recalls, "and out comes a Balblair 38. I think it's the only distillery he'd ever been to in Scotland. It's the only single malt he's really ever drunk and enjoyed... and we go: 'Do you remember that night?'"

"Whisky for me, that's what it's about."

Time. Place. And company.

Beyond that Gordon has no rules when it comes to whisky: "I'm an advocate of cocktails. I'm an advocate of straight. I'm an advocate of ice. I'm an advocate of anything."

"As long as people are drinking whisky in whatever way they want to, I'm very happy."

Single malt or blend... it doesn't matter. "Whisky is just whisky now," Gordon insists.

"Twenty years ago," he says, "a blend was an old man's drink, in a general sense. Single malts were still a discovery for people."

But he reminds us, the diversity in Scotch whisky and the range of single malts exist because of the blended market, which is why he likes to go on the auctions to by blended whisky from the 1970s and 80s.

Listen in as Gordon talks to John about his 20-plus years in the whisky industry, eight of them at Ian Macleod's, a family owned drinks company, famous for its Glengoyne, Tamdhu and Rosebank distileries, and -- dare we say it? -- its gins. And there's a fourth Scottish distillery on its way: Laggan Bay on the Isle of Islay, opening in three months' time.

Ian Macleod also owns Una Distillery in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas, which, Gordon says, will be releasing its first single malt in two years' time.

So settle down, pour yourself a dram -- or with Gordon's permission and encouragement, a highball with with some ginger ale or tonic as its summer in the UK and we need something cold and refreshting -- and tune in.

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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"It's a really challenging time in Scotch whisky at the moment," admits Graeme Littlejohn, Director of Strategy & Communications at the Scotch Whisky Association. "I guess we'd call it an inflexion point for the industry."

That's a view we've heard from several contributors on the podcast in our previous 21 episodes.

For instance, in Episode 15 Andrew Symington of Edradour Distillery told John the industry was facing "headwinds". Andrew identified the cost of living crisis; the effects of Brexit; global supply chain issues; international competition; and over production and over pricing. Whisky writer Charles Maclean also identified over production in Episode 7. He described it as a "whisky ocean".

And in recent weeks there have been announcements of job losses and investments being postponed. So are we in a slow down?

Perhaps.

But while Graeme acknowledges that "Scotch whisky is under a lot of pressure in the global market place" and some smaller producers are "really struggling right now", he insists there's a "great deal of resilience" in the industry.

There are, he says, over 150 Scottish distilleries producing 22,000 different "expressions of whisky" and exporting them to 168 markets worldwide at the rate of 44 bottles a second. It's a £7 billion plus industry, and £5.4 billion come from exports. Scotch whisky makes up 25 percent of UK food and drink exports. And the industry supports nearly 70,000 jobs.

It's also a long-term game, with producers thinking 10, 20 even 30 years ahead. And with developing markets in India, China and South America to be cracked, Graeme says we might discover we don't have enough whisky to meet demand if we get it right.

Join John as he chats to Graeme about the challenges and opportunities facing the Scotch whisky industry; the SWA's vision for the sector over the next couple of decades; the "symbiotic relationship" between Scotch and American whiskey; and what the UK and Scottish governments can to do to support the industry.

Slàinte!

-------

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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"There's a whisky for everyone," says former Scotland rugby international Ryan Grant and independent bottler with Unkiltered.

"Including the Welsh," he adds.

Aye! You can pick a Scottish rugby player for the British and Irish Lions, but you can't take away the Home Nations rivalry.

Ryan was on the last Lions tour to Australia, back in 2013. And as the 2025 Lions get set to embark on their latest tour down under, Ryan joins John, who toured with the Lions to South Africa in 1980 and New Zealand in 1983, for a 6 Nations vs Australia whisky tasting under the watchful eye of Master Blender and rugby referee Max McFarlane.

Seven whiskies. One winner. All picked by Max himself.

And the the line up?

1. Coperies Single Malt French Whisky
2. Punic 4 Year Old 2012 Italian Blended Whisky
3. Pendyren Madeira Finish Welsh Whisky
4. Starwood Nova Australian Whisky
5. East London Liquor Company London Rye English Whisky
6. Tullamore D.E.W Irish Whiskey
7. The Famous Grouse Gold Reserve 12 Year Old Deluxe Scotch Whisky

But what order will they finish in?

Settle down with your favourite dram, and prepare yourself for descriptions like butterscotch, cream soda, Drumstick Squash Ems, fresh tar, damp tent, and popcorn; as well as a bit of rugby chat along the way.

Slàinte!

PS: No national rivalries influenced the making of this podcast. At least none that we are conscious or unconscious of. Honest!

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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

Follow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.