Cask to Glass

• The Whisky Dramalista: Dave Alcock & the Power of Passion

  "It was like a revelation," Dave Alcock recalls the moment he really got into whisky.The retired sports psychologist and self-styled "whisky dramalista" had always "liked a drop". But then one Christmas, after he'd "prepped the veg", he unwrapped the present his wife had bought for him.It was a bottle of Port Ellen third edition."I could feel it in my toes when I sipped it," he tells John in this episode. "It was just something else. I didn't know whether to sniff it or drink some more."A passion was ignited.And today some 20 years on, Dave now has more than 200 bottles in his "downstairs collection" - from "sherried drams" to Islays; to bourbons and Irish and Japanese whiskies.For him whisky's about friendship, connection, grounding, sharing, and being around other passionate people.Listen in as he and John talk about the psychology of whisky; whisky and memory; the power of passion; the price and value of whisky; the application of performance techniques to the role of whisky ambassadors; and why Dave spoilt himself with a Glen Grant 1958.Slàinte!-------Socials:@C2GWhisky@JohnRossBeattie Creator & producer: David HolmesArt work & design: Jess Robertson Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)Vocals: Andrea CunninghamGuitars: John BeattieBass: Alasdair VannDrums: Alan HamiltonBagpipes: Calum McCollAccordion: Gary InnesMusic & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John BeattieRecorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, ScotlandSpecial thanks: The Piper Whisky Bar, 57 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, ScotlandFollow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Whisky Where the Heart Is: Cardrona Distillery with Desiree Reid

  It all began with Edradour for Desiree Reid, founder and managing director of the award-winning Cardrona Distillery in the Cardrona Valley on New Zealand's South Island.For her 21st birthday, she and her mother backpacked around Scotland. (Both sides of her family came from here way back when.) But something about that whisky in one of Scotland's oldest distilleries in Highland Perthshire (featured in Episode 15), ignited a spark."I can't say that I sat there with that dram and thought that I'm gonna open a whisky distillery one day. But that is certainly where the seed was sown," Desiree tells John in this episode.Had something in her bloodline been awoken?Maybe. For as Desiree admits, her great, great, great grandfather had been an illicit whisky producer in Applecross, historically an isolated peninsula in north west Scotland that looks out onto the Isle of Raasay and beyond that Skye.However Desiree didn't know that at the time.Fast forward several years, and Desiree, now a very successful diary farmer, was looking for a career change, and... well it's her story. So lets let her tell it.But suffice it to say she, with the help of her teetotal parents, founded Cardrona, an award-winning distillery 600 metres above sea level producing traditional single malt whisky ("our three year old was rated as one of the top 50 malts that Whisky Magazine had ever reviewed"), vodka, gin and liqueurs.Along the way Desiree was mentored by Dave Pickerell, the founding father of American craft distilling and the master blender behind rock band Metallica's Blackened Whiskey.Today Cardrona is part of the International Beverage Group, owners of Old Pulteney, Speyburn and Balblair.So pour yourself a dram and tune in.Slàinte!-------Socials:@C2GWhisky@JohnRossBeattie Creator & producer: David HolmesArt work & design: Jess Robertson Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)Vocals: Andrea CunninghamGuitars: John BeattieBass: Alasdair VannDrums: Alan HamiltonBagpipes: Calum McCollAccordion: Gary InnesMusic & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John BeattieRecorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, ScotlandSpecial thanks: The Piper Whisky Bar, 57 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, ScotlandFollow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• For the Love of Whisky: Friendship & Connection with Fred Maitland

  "Nothing will get between a man and his whisky," insists Fred Maitland of East Coast Whisky.Fred's a psychotherapist.But he also provides whisky tastings and runs tours to distilleries around Scotland. And he believes whisky keeps us connected."It's about friendship and hobby," he tells John in this episode. "It's an incredible stimulant for conversation, for good feelings, for community, for warmth. And I've seen it time and time again."But it must be respected, he adds. It's not for "chugging back."Fred's tasted three to four thousand whiskies over the last ten years. Though he says: "I certainly haven't owned them all. But it's been an amazing adventure."So what does he recommend? "I always rate a Talisker 10, because I think it tells you everything about whisky."Of course there's also Highland Park, Glenfiddich, Springbank 10, Clynelish 14, Lindores (featured in episode 12)... And if he can get it Brora. Definitely Brora.And don't forget, he says, whisky goes well with food: scallops, oysters, venison. "You can pair a whole range of different foods with whisky of different kinds."So put you feet up. Pour yourself a dram. And tune in.Slàinte!-------Socials:@C2GWhisky@JohnRossBeattie Creator & producer: David HolmesArt work & design: Jess Robertson Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)Vocals: Andrea CunninghamGuitars: John BeattieBass: Alasdair VannDrums: Alan HamiltonBagpipes: Calum McCollAccordion: Gary InnesMusic & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John BeattieRecorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, ScotlandSpecial thanks: The Piper Whisky Bar, 57 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, ScotlandFollow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Draamtastic: Raasay Distillery with Alasdair Day

  They're all about The Draam at Isle of Raasay Distillery.It's their signature single malt, based on a six-cask recipe created by founder and Master Distiller, Alasdair Day. It's 80% of what they produce."We wanted to make a Hebridean whisky," Alasdair tells John in this episode.Hebridean?"Something lightly peated," Alasdair explains. "So not unpeated, not heavily peated. But somewhere in between.""A rugged windswept island off an island, you need that peaty characteristic," he continues.But Alasdair and co-founder Bill Dobbie also wanted a "dark fruit character", like Bowmore from the 1960s and early 1970s.So Alasdair decided to produce both peated and unpeatead spirit, and to mature these individual spirits separately in rye whiskey casks, virgin Chinkapin oak casks and Bordeaux red wine casks and then vat them together. Having designed the whisky, they designed the process to the make it, "and then gave the design to the architect to put the building round the process."In 2017, the first licensed distillery on Raasay began production.Establishing a distillery on a tiny island east of the Isle of Skye on Scotland's west coast was far from what Alasdair envisioned when he first went into the whisky business."My great grandfather had been a whisky blender in Coldstream," he says.Now Coldstream's a small town on the Scottish border with England, not known for any whisky tradition. But in 2009, Alasdair inherited his great grandfather's cellar book which contained recipes for blended whisky dating from 1899 to 1916 and he decided to recreate some, buying casks of fully mature whisky to blend together...But why don't you let Alasdair tell the story himself?Pour yourself a dram - or Draam - and listen in as Alasdair tells John the story of Isle of Raasay Distillery; explains the different flavours imparted by all the different barrels they use; and extols the beauty of one of Scotland's lesser known islands.Oh and by the way, Alasdair claims Raasay Distillery has the best distillery view in the world... well maybe. But when you've heard his claim, you can be the judge.Slàinte!-------Socials:@C2GWhisky@JohnRossBeattie Creator & producer: David HolmesArt work & design: Jess Robertson Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)Vocals: Andrea CunninghamGuitars: John BeattieBass: Alasdair VannDrums: Alan HamiltonBagpipes: Calum McCollAccordion: Gary InnesMusic & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John BeattieRecorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, ScotlandSpecial thanks: The Piper Whisky Bar, 57 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, ScotlandFollow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Edradour Distillery: 1825 to 2025 with Andrew Symington

  "I'm a whisky nerd," admits Andrew Symington the owner of Edradour Distillery. "That's how I got involved in the business. I love the different flavours."Edradour, near Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire, is one of Scotland's smallest distilleries and, Andrew says, Scotland's "last traditional farm distillery".Andrew's been in the whisky business for almost 40 years, both as the owner of Edradour and as an independent bottler with his Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky company bottling “single, single, single malt". That's malts produced by a single distillery, from a single distillation and a single cask.And in this episode he tells John how Edradour, established 200 years ago in 1825, had "illegal origins", when local farmers would create a literal smoke screen by lighting fires to throw off the Government's excisemen looking for for the plume from illicit stills; how the distillery's "very small, short dumpy stills" make a "heavy oily spirit" which goes into Edradour's range of non-peated and heavily peated malt whiskies; how he uses traditional sherry and bourbon casks as well as red wine barrels from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Amarone; and how the Scotch whisky industry is facing "headwinds": the cost of living crisis, the effects of Brexit, over-production and over-pricing, global supply chain issues, the threat of US tariffs, and increasingly international competition.But he says: "As long as we're not greedy; as long as we keep the heritage there, Scotch whisky still has a good future."So pour yourself a wee dram and tune in as John and Andrew talk whisky.Slàinte!-------Socials:@C2GWhisky@JohnRossBeattie Creator & producer: David HolmesArt work & design: Jess Robertson Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)Vocals: Andrea CunninghamGuitars: John BeattieBass: Alasdair VannDrums: Alan HamiltonBagpipes: Calum McCollAccordion: Gary InnesMusic & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John BeattieRecorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, ScotlandSpecial thanks: The Piper Whisky Bar, 57 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, ScotlandFollow The Piper on Facebook to keep up to date about tastings and other events Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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