Welcome back to today’s episode of Data & Drams. I’m joined by Jan Hodel-Keane, a Senior Technical Account Manager at Kerry Group, who brings a strong blend of technical, managerial, and scientific expertise to the distilling industry.

In his current role he partners with distilleries and leading brands across the UK & Ireland alcohol beverage sector, working at the intersection of technical insight and commercial delivery.

Previously, as Principal Consultant at JR Unity Ltd. and R&D Manager at West Cork Distillers, Jan led yield improvements, fermentation optimisation, and innovations in cask management, reducing process variability and enhancing operational performance. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering focused on gin distillation modelling, alongside a Master's in Brewing and Distilling, where he developed deep expertise in spirit quality assessment and sensory profiling.

Jan is also the founder of ResearchScan a weekly research intelligence newsletter curating peer-reviewed science as well as patent insights for technical professionals across the beverage alcohol industry.

I am so excited for you to get into today’s episode. There is just so much we covered in this episode! We spoke about the world of research and development, like how cask charring methods can show little analytical difference yet clear sensory differences, Plus, we dive into the future of distilling tech, automation, and how to stay ahead of industry trends.

Jan's dram for the episode was an Invergordon 14 Year Old a Single Grain Whisky and for myself, I chose the 41.185 Dancing Dirty from SMWS.

So pull up a chair, pour yourself a drink and join Jan and I for Data and Drams.