Welcome back to Cheers with Nat – the podcast dedicated to cheering on women in drinks.

Today's guest is Becky Paskin, drinks journalist and founder of The OurWhisky Foundation.

We had so much to talk about, this episode will be coming at you in two parts!

In this first half, Becky tells us how she got her start as a drinks writer, what it takes to make a living as one today, what an editor actually does, and why she believes they don't get nearly enough credit.

We also dig into her distilling qualifications – why she pursued them and how they've informed her work.

Lastly, we explore why she's such a passionate advocate for diversity within the drinks industry, along with the work she's doing to drive real change.

What stuck with me from this conversation

On looking back: "We can always look back on what could have been, but so long as you're always following your heart and your interests and what makes you happy, I don't think you're ever going to regret your decisions."

On being an editor: "…a lot of people think that's a really glamorous thing and that the best thing you could possibly be doing is writing, but I genuinely think editing is a much greater skill."

On the advice she received after gaining her qualifications: "'Learn it, have it under your belt, but forget about it.' So I've tried my best over the years to just think simply, just break it down and create frameworks and systems within the way I speak about whisky to simplify it for audiences as much as possible, while still making everything true."

On the importance of diversity: "I feel like no two people have the same palate and it's all based on experience, and that's why diversity in drinks is so important because people bring different experiences of different flavours to the table… I think we should be celebrating individuality a lot more than we actually do within the drinks industry."

On the OurWhisky mentees: "I'm so proud of all of them. Somebody said, can you give me an idea of a success story from the Atonia Programme and I said, I can't give you just one. There are so many of them – 250 women have gone through our programme and they're all doing amazing things and I'm proud of each and every one of them."

Links & things

What we're drinking:

• A 2015 sample bottle of Bruichladdich's A Final Act of Creation, a 23-year old aged whisky aged in a Château Latour Wine Cask

Where Becky's worked:

• Big Hospitality, now Restaurant

• Spirits Business

• ScotchWhisky.com

Her 'hats':

• Drinks journalist, presenter and consultant

• The OurWhisky Foundation

  • Atonia Programme for mentorship

  • The Modern Face of Whisky image library

  • Do You Even Like Whisky? report

• Drink This

Qualifications Becky holds:

• NCTJ Diploma in Journalism

• CIBD General Certificate in Distilling

• WSET Level 3 Award in Spirits

People shout outs:

• Jim McEwan, who gifted Becky the whisky we're tasting

• Alan Whichester, who supported Becky during her GCD studies

• Dr. Nick Morgan, who gave Becky some advice after completing her GCD

• Dhavall Ghandi, who Becky mentions during our discussion about the importance of diversity in drinks, especially when it comes to tasting

• Lucy Cox, founder of The Academe who runs The Power Room for Becky's mentees

• Millie Milliken, who works with Becky on The OurWhisky Foundation

More to follow soon from part 2…

Recording info

• March 2026 at PLATF9RM in Brighton

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