Ardbeg’s Pirate Captain Sails Into the Sunset (Episode 857: February 7, 2021)

Mickey Heads retired recently after 13 years as Ardbeg’s distillery manager and four decades of work at distilleries on Islay and Jura. Now, Ardbeg has released a special whisky in Mickey’s honor, and the label for Arrrrrrrdbeg features him as a pirate! We’ll catch up with Mickey Heads on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth and share tasting notes for his whisky, too. In the news, U.S. tariffs on single malt Scotch whiskies have cost Scotland’s distillers £500 million in lost sales, and industry leaders are looking to the Biden Administration for help. There may be help on the way for struggling bar and restaurant owners in the U.S. to cover costs from the Covid-19 pandemic, and on Behind the Label, we’ll look at one of whisky’s oldest questions: Was whisky invented in Ireland or Scotland?

Links: Ardbeg | Scotch Whisky Association | Rosebank | Redbreast | Tales of the Cocktail | New Riff Distilling | Distilled Spirits Council | Whisky Magazine | Bowmore | Compass Box | Widow Jane | Tullamore D.E.W.