WhiskyCast

Mike Nicolson spent 36 years working at some of Scotland's leading distilleries before retiring to British Columbia a few years ago. He's managed Lagavulin, Royal Lochnagar, and Blair Athol...just to name a few, and he'll share some of his memories with us in this week's episode. In the news, the finalists have been announced in the Spirit of Speyside Festival Whisky Awards, the Famous Grouse has plans to migrate to India, and Malt Advocate cuts the cost of tickets for WhiskyFest Chicago.

This week...the winner of the "Pick the Interview" poll on the WhiskyCast Facebook page! We'll hear from Fred Laing of Douglas Laing & Co. about working with both blends and single cask bottlings, his family's history in the whisky business...his stories about Richard Paterson and Jim McEwan...and how he was almost traded for a distillery! In the news, Diageo and Pernod Ricard cope with the recession, Kentucky distillers protest a tax increase by dumping bourbon on the steps of the State Capitol...and Mount Vernon marks Presidents' Day by firing up the stills at George Washington's Distillery...

A double feature this time around! If you've ever wanted to make your own whisky, the folks at New York's Tuthilltown Spirits are willing to teach you...and let you use their distillery! We'll also get some tips for surviving your first whisky festival from some veterans, and Facebook users can help decide the topic of the next episode of WhiskyCast!

Marcel Van Gils has been collecting Laphroaig expressions since 1997, and the Dutch dentist has what is likely the world's largest collection of Laphroaigs. His collection even includes the empty cask Prince Charles signed during a visit to the distillery in 1994! Marcel will tell us about his collection in this episode, and in the news, more on the Glen Breton controversy, U.S. whisky sales are being affected by the recession, and we'll hear from James Robertson of Tullibardine and Frances DuPuy of A. Dewar Rattray.

Bonus coverage from the Victoria Whisky Festival, as the local Scottish community gathered to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. We'll hear from Euan Mitchell of Isle of Arran, the only distiller authorized to use the Burns name on Scotch whisky. Warning: This episode contains bagpipe music! ;)

This week, WhiskyCast is in British Columbia for the Victoria Whisky Festival! It may be the only whisky festival with ticket scalpers because of the many whisky lovers in the area, and distilleries came from all over the world to show off their whiskies. We'll hear from Andrew Currie, who's building Vancouver Island's first single malt distillery...along with Ron Stothers of Alberta's Highwood Distillers, Peter Currie of Springbank, Andrew Gray of Bruichladdich, and Ashok Chokalingam of Amrut. There's also news about thieves hitting the old Rosebank Distillery...and stealing the stills!

The Spirit of Speyside Festival is still a few months away, but it's not too soon to start making your travel plans. In fact, tickets for the Festival events go on sale starting today! We'll get a preview of the biggest Spirit of Speyside Festival yet from director Ros Lewis. In the news, Sazerac buys a second Kentucky distillery to go along with Buffalo Trace, Jack Daniel's celebrates the Obama inauguration, Glenmorangie releases Astar to the world, and the peatiest Ardbeg ever!

Glen Grant has been producing whisky along the River Spey since 1840, and in that time, there have been only eight distillery managers. Dennis Malcolm was born at the distillery, and is in his second stint as manager. We'll hear from Dennis about the history and the future of Glen Grant, which includes exporting its malts to the United States. In the news, new whiskies from The Balvenie and Wemyss Vintage Malts, Woodford Reserve prepares for its annual whiskey schools, and a look at the start of Homecoming in Scotland to mark the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth.

Many of the microdistillers producing whisky got their inspiration from the craft brewing boom of the last 15 years, and more craft brewers are being inspired to use whisky barrels to age their beers. Greg Hall of Chicago's Goose Island Beer Company has been making bourbon barrel-aged stout for years, while newcomers like James Watt of Scotland's Brewdog Brewery and Christopher Bird of the Lexington Brewing Company are producing their own variations on the concept. In the news, GlenDronach outlines its plans for 2009 under Billy Walker's leadership and Kilchoman starts teasing us with plans to release its first single malt.

Marko Karakasevic is the latest in a long family line of distillers, and like many other sons who go into the family business, his goal is to out-do his father. Marko's taking an unusual tack with whisky at his family's Charbay Distillery in California's Napa Valley, and he'll explain in Part 2 of our look at microdistillers. In the news, Scotch whisky exports fell during the first three quarters of 2008, and Inver House is giving U.K. whisky lovers a chance to win their own cask of An Cnoc single malt.