This week, we’re in Victoria, British Columbia for the annual Victoria Whisky Festival, one of the world’s great whisky events. The Canadian Whisky Awards were presented during the festival, and we’ll have the results, including a surprise winner of the Canadian Whisky of the Year. We’ll also talk with Wayne Gretzky Distillery head distiller Tim Wilson and Forty Creek master blender Bill Ashburn on WhiskyCast In-Depth, and Dr. Don Livermore gives us an explanation of Fick’s Law and how it affects whisky maturation in our Behind the Label segment. 

Rosen Rye was once favored by distillers for its unique flavor. However, Rosen fell out of favor several decades ago because of cross-pollination and the development of other strains of rye. Now, Rosen is making a comeback on farms in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and we’ll talk with two distillers working with the heirloom grain. Erik Wolfe of Pennsylvania’s Stoll & Wolfe Distillery and Chad Munger of Michigan’s Mammoth Distilling join us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, a Speyside distilling veteran is taking on a new challenge, while a U.S. whisky and rum importer is hoping to spur sales by cutting prices. 

With WhiskyCast celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025, we thought we’d start the year by turning the tables on host and creator Mark Gillespie. Longtime listener Juan Cruz collected questions for Mark from WhiskyCast Community app members, and sat down with Mark over New Year’s Day drams for a conversation. It’s our special one-time-only WhiskyCast In-Depth this week. In the news, the U.S. Surgeon General wants new warnings about the links between alcohol and several different types of cancers on beverage labels, while MGP is looking for a new CEO and Glenmorangie’s Dr. Bill Lumsden can add the initials MBE to his business cards.

Tomintoul Master Distiller Robert Fleming is celebrating two anniversaries. 2024 marks his 50th year in the whisky business, while 2025 will be his 35th year as manager at Tomintoul. We’ll talk with the industry veteran this week on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, hundreds lined up days in advance at three Texas liquor stores for a chance to buy rare Bourbons Saturday. California’s Redwood Empire Distillery is getting a new home, and Glenturret is getting out of the peated whisky market.

A new report from Noble and Co. shows the secondary auction market for whiskies turned in another poor year, and the retail market for whiskies isn’t doing much better. We’ll talk with Noble’s Duncan McFadzean about the report and its implications for whisky collectors and investors, as well as the wider whisky market. In the news, a Heaven Hill rickhouse worker was killed this week in a warehouse accident, while Diageo has been fined nearly $700,000 after a distillery worker was seriously burned in a 2021 accident. 

The tiny Holyrood Distillery in Edinburgh shocked the whisky world when it was named Distillery of the Year last week in Whisky Magazine’s Scottish Icons of Whisky Awards. Less shocking was Holyrood’s Embra single malt, which took top honors for Lowlands no-age-statement single malts in the World Whiskies Awards. We’ll talk with Holyrood co-founder Rob Carpenter about this unique distillery on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. There’s a lot of news this week, starting with the TTB’s decision to enact an official definition for American Single Malts…we’ll have all the details and the rest of the week’s whisky news, too.

Waterford Distillery founder Mark Reynier isn’t giving up on his dream, even though the distillery went into receivership last week. As he tells us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth, he’s putting together an investor group to bid on Waterford’s assets when they go up for auction in January. We’ll talk with Reynier about Waterford’s failure and where things went wrong on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Brown-Forman is taking pre-emptive steps to guard against the impact of potential trade tariffs, while Chivas Brothers has filed for planning permission to build a distillery on Islay. We’ll also have details on the latest holiday whisky releases and much more. 

Actors Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley have released their latest edition of Brother’s Bond Bourbon, a 7-year-old Bottled in Bond whiskey. It’s a release that shows the two are serious about their whiskies, and not just slapping their names on a bottle. We’ll talk with Paul and Ian on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. It’s been a troubling week for the whisky industry with the bankruptcy of Kentucky Owl parent company Stoli Group USA and the collapse of Ireland’s Waterford Distillery, and we’ll have the details on both, along with President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, which could include Canadian whisky and Tequila. 

It’s time for our annual trip to the New Brunswick Spirits Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick. This year, the legendary Scottish bard Robin Laing was on hand, and we’ll catch up with him on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. We’ll also talk with festival founder and chairman Frank Scott, longtime master distiller Alan Winchester, and have more highlights from the week in Fredericton. In the news, Suntory Global Spirits is moving its Irish Whiskey bottling operations out of Ireland, while Diageo has called time on a Crown Royal distillery project in Canada. 

Many craft distilleries that came to life in the early 2010’s are marking their 10th anniversaries, and this weekend, the folks at Ironroot Republic Distilling in Denison, Texas celebrated their anniversary. The Likarish family founded Ironroot Republic after Robert Likarish decided that he didn’t want to practice law in his final year of law school, and his brother Jonathan gave up a career designing medical equipment to become Ironroot Republic’s head distiller and blender. We’ll talk with Jonathan Likarish on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Diageo opens a distillery in China, while an Indian distiller plans to open a distillery in Scotland.