I confess, I had no idea there was even such a thing as a craft distillery. Craft breweries certainly, and thankfully, because most mass-produced beer is just not all that good, at least to me. But I’ve never had a problem with mass-produced spirits, probably because I don’t drink them that much. Experts will tell you, however, that they suffer all the same drawbacks as beer: boring, standardised, uninteresting and the same wherever you go. And once I’d started to investigate – and taste – I was forced to agree. Craft spirits are really interesting, and in this episode I’ve taken only the smallest sip.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about craft distilleries is how fast they’re spreading, at least where they’re allowed. British Columbia has gone from 5 to 50 in about three years. The USA now has more than 1000 registered small distilleries, almost a third of which are so-called “seed to sip” farm distillery operations. The British Isles too have seen a mushrooming of small distilleries. This episode is just a taste of things to come.

So many people to thank:

Which is by way of a hint that there’s bound to be a follow-up; there’s so much more to say.  ↩