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WHISKYCAST EPISODE 999: APRIL 9, 2023

Welcome to WhiskyCast…cask-strength conversation featuring news and interviews from the world of whisky…

I’m Mark Gillespie, and this is episode number 999 for April 9, 2023…

Coming up in a few minutes…

RAYMOND DAVIDSON AUDIO

Raymond Davidson solved that problem…he’s the founder of Glencairn Crystal, and designed the now-legendary Glencairn whisky glass that’s used by blenders and consumers around the world…I must have close to 200 of them at home…

We’ll talk with Raymond about the origins of Glencairn Crystal and the Glencairn glass later on WhiskyCast In-Depth…I’ll also have the What I’m Tasting This Week Department, our Community segment, Behind the Label, and much more…

The news is next…on this week’s WhiskyCast…

News

Let’s get started with the news…it’s brought to you by The Dalmore…

Campari Group has been on an expansion kick lately, especially in the Bourbon arena…now, Campari plans to invest 160 million dollars to build a second distillery at Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky…

The announcement came from Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s office this week…the new distillery will bring Wild Turkey’s annual production to 14 million proof gallons of spirit a year…up from the current nine million…

Construction is expected to start this summer, with production to begin in 2025. No one from Campari was available for interviews this week…

Edrington has taken majority control of Wyoming Whiskey…the company now owns 80 percent of Wyoming’s first distillery after buying shares from founders Brad and Kate Mead and David DeFazio…

Edrington first bought a minority stake in Wyoming Whiskey in 2018, and has been responsible for distribution and marketing since then…the company hopes to use the acquisition to cement a place in the high-end Bourbon market…

Berry Bros. and Rudd has acquired a minority stake in The Cotswolds Distillery…

The English distillery will use the investment to expand production of its whiskies and gins…

Molson Coors is expanding its range of Coors whiskeys…the new Barmen 1873 Bourbon made its debut this week in 13 U-S states…it’s a blend of two Bourbons that gets its name from Barmen, the Coors family’s German hometown, and 1873 is when Coors Brewing was founded. 

Irish Distillers is releasing four single cask versions of Midleton Very Rare to travel retail outlets around Europe…a 27 year old First-Fill Bourbon cask will be exclusive to the Exquisite Store at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport…

A 25-year-old Virgin American Oak cask will be available in Amsterdam, along with Frankfurt and Shannon airports…a 21-year-old Virgin American oak cask will be available exclusively at London’s Heathrow Airport, and a 24-year-old First Fill Bourbon Cask will be available at Dublin Airport…No word on pricing…

Sotheby’s will be putting a piece of American Whisky history on the auction block this Friday in London…Back in 1997, United Distillers created two prototype sets of a rare American whiskey collection featuring closed distilleries…

The collection never went into production after United Distillers merged with International Distillers and Vintners to form the spirits division of what became Diageo.

One of the five-bottle sets was sent to Europe, while the other remained at Stitzel-Weller distillery in Louisville until it was destroyed in a fire…Friday’s auction features the European set, with vintage whiskies from Stitzel-Weller, Taylor-Williams Distillery, Old Quaker, Buffalo Springs, and the George T. Stagg Distillery, which later became Buffalo Trace…online pre-bids have already reached 32-thousand pounds…

In the same auction, bidding has already reached 350-thousand pounds for a complete set of the Macallan in Lalique Six Pillars Collection…

Finally, we want to send our wishes for a speedy recovery along to Charlie Maclean, who joined us on the show last month to discuss the distillery closings of 1983…

He’s recovering from heart surgery, and is expected to make a complete recovery…

You can keep up with the latest whisky news all week long at WhiskyCast dot com…the news is brought to you by The Dalmore…

Events

Time now for a look at upcoming whisky events around the world…

The Nth Universal Whisky Experience is coming up April 21st and 22nd in Las Vegas, Nevada…along with the Hong Kong Whisky Festival on the 22nd and 23rd…

The Spirit of Speyside Festival kicks off on April 26th and runs through May first in Scotland…Whisky and Barrel Nite is on the 27th in Washington, DC…

Whisky Live Melbourne is on April 28th and 29th, while the Whisky Show is on the 30th in Perth, Australia…

The Glenturret distillery holds its spring fair on April 30th with craft booths, free tours, and master classes…

The Spirit of Toronto Festival returns on May 6th in Canada…and WhiskyFest Chicago is set for May 12th…

If you’re holding a whisky event, please let us know about it and we’ll add it to the calendar at WhiskyCast dot com and in the WhiskyCast Community app…

In-Depth

WhiskyCast In-Depth is brought to you by Mortlach and the Classic Malts lineup.

Take a quick look around your house…how many Glencairn glasses do you have?

As I said before, I’ve probably got at least 200…not counting all of the WhiskyCast-logoed Glencairns in a storage unit.

The Glencairn glass has become a staple of the whisky industry, but it was an afterthought for nearly 20 years while Glencairn Crystal founder Raymond Davidson built his business supplying the whisky industry with custom decanters…

Raymond and I spent some time this week on a Zoom call…

RAYMOND DAVIDSON AUDIO SEGMENT

That’s WhiskyCast In-Depth, brought to you by Mortlach…

Tasting Notes

The What I’m Tasting This Week Department is brought to you by Sagamore Spirit…

Arkansas’s Rock Town Distillery is out with a new column still collection of Bourbons distilled for Rock Town at Bardstown Bourbon Company using Arkansas corn and wheat along with the Rock Town mashbill…

Let’s look at the flagship small batch straight Bourbon…it’s bottled at 46 percent ABV, and the nose has touches of caramel, honey, toasted oak, and red apples…

The taste has wood spices, caramel candy, honey, vanilla, red apples, and toasted oak…while the long finish has lingering touches of toasted oak and subtle spices…

There are also cask strength and French Oak finished versions…and I’m scoring the Rock Town Column Still Collection small batch Bourbon a 92…

Next up…the designers behind Wolves Whiskey teamed up with distiller Marko Karakasevic on a 7-year-old single malt…it’s bottled at 55 percent ABV, and the nose is malty with soft spices, dried fruits, and a hint of straw.

The taste is thick and oily with a good spiciness and touches of honey, dark chocolate, and oak.

The finish has lingering spices, dark chocolate, and oak…I’m scoring the Wolves Whiskey American single malt a 90…

Filmland Spirits was created by a group of movie lovers as well as whiskey lovers, and they’ve labeled their spirits with homages to classic movie posters from the 50’s and 60’s…

Ryes of the Robots is a Kentucky-distilled rye bottled at 47 percent ABV, and the nose has touches of cinnamon, cloves, and spearmint…

The taste is peppery with a touch of cinnamon and cloves, along with spearmint and dark chocolate…

The spices linger on the finish along with a nice oakiness…and I’m scoring Ryes of the Robots from Filmland Spirits an 88…

Finally, let’s look at the new RD 1 straight Bourbon from RD 1 Spirits…it’s a 4 year old sourced Kentucky Bourbon bottled at 49 percent ABV…

Look for touches of caramel, leather, and tobacco on the nose along with peaches and charred oak…

The taste starts off thin and light at first, followed by a buildup of spices along with notes of caramel, honey, and cocoa powder.

The finish is medium-length with caramel and a hint of spice…

I’m scoring the RD 1 straight Bourbon an 87…

The What I’m Tasting This Week Department is brought to you by Sagamore Spirit…I’ll be adding these tasting notes to our searchable list of more than 34-hundred different whiskies from around the world…check it out this week at WhiskyCast dot com….

Community

Time now for our Community segment, highlighting some of your comments in the WhiskyCast Community app and on social media this week…

First off, thanks to Chris Drake of Cleveland, Ohio…he took his camera to last weekend’s Cleveland Whiskey Circus and posted several photos from the event in The Blend section of the app…

Turning to Twitter for a moment…Coldorak posted a photo of a Sagamore Spirit bottle the other day with this tweet…

Let’s try this rye coming from Baltimore’s @sagamorespirit. Never tried anything from them but I know the brand thanks to advertising, for once, as I remember hearing their ad on WhiskyCast…

Thanks for that…we appreciate it when you support our sponsors…

From LinkedIn…Simon Murphy posted this comment on our interview a couple of weeks ago with Scotch Whisky Association CEO Mark Kent…

I would suggest that the scotch whisky business is in better shape than much of the press suggests. No one will sell bulk scotch which is in much demand, ‘aged’ is in very short supply & India/China have hardly started. Costs have obviously gone up appreciably – malt, glass, energy, packaging et al – however the future looks good.

Finally, Martin Fielder posted this comment in the WhiskyCast Community app on last week’s interview with Scotch Malt Whisky Society founder Pip Hills…

Fantastic interview with Pip Hills! Really good stuff. I very much enjoy the SMWS-American chapter—-both the bottlings and the community. Thanks Mark for recognizing the society and the man that started it all. Sláinte!

Thanks for all of your comments this week…if you have something you’d like to share with whisky lovers around the world, you can download the WhiskyCast Community app from the Apple and Google app stores…or look for us on social media…I’m on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at WhiskyCast…and the old-school email address is comments at whiskycast dot com…

Behind the Label

Let’s close out the show now with Behind the Label, our look at the history, science, and people who make whisky unique…it’s brought to you by Writers’ Tears. 

Heard from Pete Stanaway this week via email…

Hi Mark, can I say I’m loving the podcast I’m fairly new to whisky and find it very entertaining and informative so thanks. The question is – can you explain the science behind proofing down a whisky over several months to prevent the \” soapy \” mouthfeel or is this just a myth? Thanks again for the excellent podcast please keep it up.

Thanks for the question, Pete…it’s not a myth…

There’s a process called “saponification,” when water is added too quickly to whiskey when it’s being brought down to bottling strength. The water causes esters in the whisky to convert into fatty acid salts, and that’s what produces a soapy taste in a whiskey…

Veteran distillers will add water slowly over time…think weeks or maybe even months…to reduce the strength of a whisky from cask-strength to bottling strength. 

One of the best sources I found while researching this answer to Pete’s question is a 2020 article on distiller dot com by Jake Emen…I’ve included a link to that article in our show notes for this episode at WhiskyCast dot com…

Pete, I hope that helps, and thanks again for your question…

If you have something you’d like us to look at on an upcoming episode, just do like Pete did and use the contact form at WhiskyCast.com to get in touch with us. 

Behind the Label is brought to you by Writers’ Tears…

Conclusion

That’s all for this edition of WhiskyCast…

You’ll find links for the stories in this episode in our show notes at WhiskyCast dot com…that’s also where you’ll find the latest whisky news, my tasting notes, the calendar of events, the Whisky Photo of the Week, and of course, a complete archive of past episodes going all the way back to 2005…

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at WhiskyCast…or you can use the new WhiskyCast Community app…the email address is comments at WhiskyCast dot com.

WhiskyCast is a production of CaskStrength Media, copyright 2023, and comes to you from the charming, yet regrettably dry town of Haddonfield, New Jersey…

I’m Mark Gillespie, reminding you that when you drink, please drink responsibly…

Thanks for listening…