Dramface Podcast

It’s still about whisky, but we speak more about the connections it affords us.  There is a little talking pish on this one (literally) and for that we’re sorry not sorry.

Gregor hosts regulars Roy, Rob and Scott as they look back on what has been enjoyed during the summer break. With various members of the team enjoying travels once more, many of them have been focused on rekindling their love of whisky experiences.

Earlier this year, many of the team were able to schedule things so that paths could cross. From Campbeltown to Islay during June, new connections and memories were made. Now that the dust has settled and we’ve recovered form some whisky over-saturation (some more than others) we look back and share our thoughts with you.

Whisky did this.

This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

Already a Dramface Member? Invite yourself into the podcast with the Dramophone and you could feature in a future podcast!

We’re not going out with a bang.

Because it’s not the last podcast, only the last for this season. We’ll be back later in the year, so consider this going out with a ‘pop’ instead. We invite Ben to join Gregor, Scotty, Rob and Roy for our real ‘edgy’ list of topics. Like our preferred method of making toast.

We do keep things very whisky focused though and quickly bring it back to cover whiskies that may take a little understanding, what whisky to pair with seafood, the effect of Scotland on whisky pilgrims, and how we might go about creating our own distillery.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the podcast so far. We’ve loved bringing it. Let us know how we landed on your ears during the first season and what we might change going forward. Longer? Shorter? Guests picks?

This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

Already a Dramface Member? Invite yourself into the podcast and win yourself a shirt from the Dramface Store. The first Dramophone comment we use on the upcoming recording of the next podcast will snag a shirt and size of their choice. Hit the record button!

Departing Editors, Making Tea, Dream Distilleries, Good Indies and The Devil’s Grain  

Tissues at the ready.* The penultimate session of this first season has some departing words from Jason, even although he’s not actually leaving, he will step down as editor.   

We also meander through our dream distillery locations, helping to choose the perfect indie bottling, our favourite whisky films and, bizarrely, how we prefer to enjoy our perfect cup of tea.  

The Dramophone is put to great use collecting departing wishes and thanks for Mr Mhor. Aye Dallas, no bad.  

*No tissues actually needed  

This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

Jenny, Roy and Rob join host Gregor to discuss a varied range of topics that may occasionally be permitted to depart form whisky, such as what other drinks we enjoy. We also talk about the current state of travel retail with a few recommendations for those travelling this summer.

The odd area of resurrection and renaissance is also a theme. Gregor asks what distilleries are most exciting either because they’re new or enjoying a revival, but he also asks what - and who - might we resurrect for whisky enjoyment in future. It sounds odd, and it is.

We also celebrate our first community Dramophone dial in selection, and the Dramface Store shirt of choice goes to Hellen and Andy!

All four of us manage to keep our excitement in check .

As we look ahead to a work/leisure mesh trip to Campbeltown and Islay we cover batch variation, not for the first - or last - time in malt whisky as well as archiving and documenting the variation along the years.

We also look ahead to expectation from a few days of whisky travel to Scotland’s West Coast, to the whisky magnets that are Campbeltown and Islay.

This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

You know, we do try to keep things positive.

But things are sent to challenge that, constantly. There’s been so much news recently about pricing to demand, rebrands and nonsense that we occasionally just have to tackle it.

Regulars Jason and Roy join host Gregor alongside Gordon and the returning Julie to discuss these topics. Since there’s nothing they can do about any of it they’re really just prodding around in the dark and dreaming. So while they dream, what bottles would they resurrect - if they could?

This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

Star Wars. Speyside. Coals To Newcastle and How’s It All Going?

In this episode of the Dougie Crystal Fan Club we discover when not to visit Speyside, as well as chat Star Wars and whisky, what bottles to take along and find a moment to think about Dramface so far.

We also pledge to buy Bea a decent microphone, she joined us from ‘holiday’ this time and it does sound a little like she’s dialling in from space.

PS: When we refer to ‘the bible’ in this episode we mean the Malt Whisky Yearbook by Ingvar Ronde - the real whisky ‘bible’.

Already a Dramface Member? Invite yourself into the podcast and win yourself a shirt from the Dramface Store. The first Dramophone comment we use on the upcoming recording of the next podcast will snag a shirt and size of their choice. Hit the record button!

Music credit: That First Dram by Tom Good

Gregor is joined by Roy, Phil, Julie and Jenny to cover pilgrimages, PPMs, prohibited items and past bottles. It also ends with a killer I AM A DISTILLERY. Seriously.   

We’re Upgrading things!  

Dramface members access this early. We’re still working on other ways to reward them for their support of what we’re building, inspiration occasionally hits and we work out what could be of interest. How about recording a quick message and we use that in future podcasts?   Give it a try. An Ask-Us-Anything type format.  Or just give us feedback and suggestions. We’ll listen to them all! We're calling it the Dramophone and it's available under the early release posts under the website members section.   

Thank you for your support! We hope you love it! (Tell us what you think - hit the record button! )  Music credit: That First Dram by Tom Good

Faced with a diminished core team, Gregor pulls in Julie, Andy & Ryan to join him and Roy to discuss glassware habits and the friendships whisky can bring. 

Comments Remain Important To Us!

Yes, we had a curated list of community comments ready to respond to, but discussions about the perfect and not so perfect idea of whisky glassware  and where whisky has taken us and our friendships got us all distracted.  In trying to keep these close to or around an hour we forgot to use the prepared comments. Spoiler - we do the same next week too.

Please use the comments section throughout the Dramface site and we will reach in and grab those that catch our attention for future episodes!

As Dramface members you receive early access to our podcast through this members-only blog. Thank you for your support! We hope you love it, despite a somewhat replacement cast!

Gregor McWee tries his best to extract practical guidance from the Dramface team this week with questions on opening and re-opening. With things getting somewhat back to normal, Rob, Roy, Jason and Justine consider their experiences of distillery tours as they open a few nice bottles along the way. 

This Podcast was released to Dramface Members the week before public release.

Music credit: That First Dram by Tom Good