WhiskyCast

Three years ago, we introduced you to Graeme Macaloney, a Scottish-Canadian pharmaceutical engineer with a dream of making his own single malt whisky in British Columbia. Back then, he had the plans and the consultants, but not all of the money and more importantly, no site for his distillery. Happily, it all worked out, as Victoria Caledonian Distillery and the Twa Dogs Brewery opened in the autumn of 2016, and Graeme's laying down spirit for the future. We'll catch up with Graeme Macaloney and his master distiller, longtime Diageo veteran Mike Nicolson, on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, British Columbia's attorney general now acknowledges that the province's liquor laws may need updating in the wake of last week's raids on four Scotch Malt Whisky Society partner bars. We'll also get an update on plans for the new Holyrood Park Distillery in Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh, while the boom in whisky-related tourism keeps growing around the world.

This week, we're in Victoria, British Columbia for the 13th annual Victoria Whisky Festival - just as the Canadian province's liquor regulators staged a crackdown targeting the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and its "partner bars" in the province. Agents seized several hundred bottles of the Society's whiskies in raids at four bars in Vancouver, Victoria, and Nanaimo because they were purchased from private liquor stores in British Columbia instead of the government-run liquor distribution system. We'll have complete coverage of the crackdown, along with its impact on the Victoria Whisky Festival, which was forced to cancel several tastings and master classes to head off a similar crackdown. We'll also have complete coverage of this year's Canadian Whisky Awards and talk with a pair of brewer/distillers from one of the most remote distilleries around...in the middle of the Yukon!

You never know what might be found behind the walls or under the floors of old houses and other buildings, especially those built during the Prohibition era. As those buildings are being renovated or torn down, salvage crews in major cities are uncovering all kinds of whisky-related artifacts, including evidence from old speakeasies and bootlegging operations. Philadelphia Community Corps founder Greg Trainor leads salvage teams in recovering usable materials from old buildings, and his crews have found all kinds of things that would make a whisky memorabilia collector smile. We'll take a look at some of his Prohibition-era finds and what they can tell us about present-day America on WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also look at some bucket-list destinations for spirited travelers with Kelly Magyarics, who just profiled a few of those destinations for Fodors.com. In the news, another distillery has started making Bourbon in Bardstown, Kentucky, the scientist who's created a way to turn distillery waste into biofuel has been honored, and we'll say goodbye to an old friend of Islay whisky fans.

Last November, Fawn Weaver told us about her mission to spread the story of Nathan "Nearest" Green, the former slave who became Jack Daniel's first distiller when he started making whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee after the end of the Civil War. Part of that mission is the Uncle Nearest 1856 Whiskey brand, which helps support the Nearest Green Foundation and provides college scholarships for Green's descendants. During our conversation in Episode 666, Weaver told us she'd just acquired a piece of property to build a distillery, but didn't want to say any more than that at the time. Just before Christmas, local officials in Bedford County, Tennessee approved the rezoning of a former horse farm to become the home of the Nearest Green Distillery, and Fawn Weaver joins us this week to update the story. We'll also have news on a distillery accident in Pittsburgh, along with a new way for Bourbon lovers to shop and fly in Louisville, and some of your New Year's drams, too.

Much of whisky's early history is documented only in tales, with few written records that have survived the centuries. In some cases, though, the documents exist that can help fill in the gaps in those legends. Archivist Carol Quinn is cataloging more than two centuries' worth of documents from the distilleries that merged in 1966 to form Irish Distillers, along with rare whiskies that make up the Irish Whiskey Archive's "liquid library." Few people are ever granted access to the vault-like room that houses that liquid archive, but you'll get to go inside on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, public health activists are concerned about the potential impact of the federal tax cut on U.S. distillers that takes effect this week. Queen Elizabeth has honored one of the founders of a fledgling British whisky distillery, and a retired Kentucky distillery owner's personal stash of Bourbon is about to come on the market - more than four decades after it was distilled.

Distilleries need tons of grain to make their whiskies, and the responsibility for making sure that grain meets quality control standards falls on "The Gatekeeper." Almost every distillery has someone responsible for checking loads of grain as they arrive for moisture levels, mold, and other things that might otherwise slip through the cracks and not be caught until a whisky is already in the barrel. Kristy Fregonese is "The Gatekeeper" at Corby's Hiram Walker Distillery in Windsor, Ontario, and it's her job to not only monitor the grain as it comes in, but make sure the spent grains are also taken care of. We'll meet "The Gatekeeper" on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, U.S. whisky makers are cheering the tax reform legislation signed into law this week. The new law includes several changes to the tax code that specifically benefit the whisky industry. New distilleries are open now in Kentucky and Scotland, and we'll also have an update on last week's story on a new world record for whisky bars.

Greg Metze spent years making whisky near the banks of the Ohio River, but he never really got the recognition he deserved because his distillery was on the northern side of the river in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. After 38 years at what started out as the Seagram's distillery, then became LDI and finally MGP, Greg retired last year intending to focus on consulting work. Curt and Nancy Richardson first met Greg several years ago when he created a custom Bourbon mashbill for the whiskey brand they were developing in Colorado, and after a few months of consulting, they persuaded him to come out of retirement and become their master distiller. Now, Greg's signature is on the front of every bottle of their new Old Elk Bourbon. We'll talk with Greg Metze about his new job - and his old one - on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the owners of Jose Cuervo Tequila are expanding their whiskey portfolio with a $205 million dollar deal for the Pendleton Whisky brand, while Diageo is changing its tune about opening a visitors center at its new Bulleit Distillery in Kentucky. There's also a new world record holder for the bar with the largest whisky selection - but is it really a world record? The answer might just surprise you...

This week, the New York Times marked the anniversary of the end of Prohibition with a special event at one of America's few women-owned distilleries, Republic Restoratives in Washington, DC. "Women in Whiskey, Sisters in Suds" featured a discussion of the role women play in distilling and brewing - both today and in history. We'll talk with Republic Restoratives co-founder Rachel Gardner and bring you the discussion on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the tentative Brexit deal between Great Britain and the European Union is being welcomed by Ireland's distillers and brewers on both sides of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Brown-Forman's stock price jumped after a positive quarterly earnings report, and Pernod Ricard plans to start exporting whiskies made by its unit in India. We'll also look at a new English single malt whisky and compare two rye whiskies with port wine influences in this week's tasting notes.

Colorado's ski resorts wish they had lift lines as long as the one that stretched down Kalamath Street in Denver Saturday morning, when hundreds of whiskey lovers lined up for the annual release of Stranahan's Snowflake single malt whiskey. The line actually started on Wednesday morning when three people arrived from Wisconsin to claim "first in line" honors - beating out the longtime "Strana-Fan" who traditionally claims that spot. We'll have all of the fun from Denver on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, another malt whisky distillery has opened in Scotland, and Glen Wyvis may well be the first distillery to open after a successful crowdfunding campaign. The controversial tax reform bill approved by the U.S. Senate this weekend includes tax breaks for distillers, and a new audit suggests Australia's Nant Distillery may have been insolvent for more than two years while the founders were selling casks of spirit to investors. We'll have those stories, along with the tale of a bourbon-slurping opossum, on this week's WhiskyCast!

Pulteney Distillery manager Malcolm Waring wasn't born in Wick, Scotland, but there's no place he'd rather be three decades after getting his first job at what was then the northernmost distillery on Scotland's mainland. There's plenty of rain, plenty of wind, and fortunately for Malcolm...plenty of whisky to keep track of at the distillery. He leaves Wick a few times a year to meet with whisky lovers around the world, and we caught up with him last week during a brief trip to New Brunswick for a chat and a dram of Old Pulteney. Our conversation's coming up on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Glasgow's newest distillery is on the banks of the River Clyde, and Clydeside Distillery has opened its doors to the public. Diageo is ending its Hilhaven Lodge Whiskey partnership with Hollywood producer Brett Ratner over sexual misconduct allegations, while taking former United Spirits chairman Vijay Mallya to court in London to recover $181 million. Country music's John Rich is launching the Redneck Riviera whiskey label with Portland's Eastside Distilling, and in this week's tasting notes, we'll look at a couple of whiskies featured in new Scotch Whisky Advent Calendars for the holidays.