Author name: Mark Gillespie

Sarah Burgess has held a lot of different positions during her 25-plus years in the whisky industry, from serving as a seasonal tour guide to running three different distilleries and being a whisky maker for The Macallan. Now, she’s taking on a new challenge as the lead whisky maker for The Lakes Distillery in England. We’ll talk with Sarah on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, a Scottish government consultation on alcohol sales and marketing has the Scotch Whisky industry crying foul, while Irish Whiskey exports set a new record during 2022. Links: The Lakes Distillery | Irish Whiskey Read More »

Distillers are known for helping each other out, but the team at the Bardstown Bourbon Company is taking that collaborative spirit to new levels. The distillery not only makes its own whiskies, but works with more than 30 other brands to produce their whiskies using 54 different mashbills. Now, Bardstown Bourbon is releasing its own mature Bourbon and Rye whiskies for the first time with the Origin Series. We’ll talk with VP of Product Development Dan Callaway about the new whiskies and that collaborative process on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Britain’s King Charles is honoring Diageo CEO Read More »

We’ll wrap up the year with a look at the Irish whiskey industry from both the macro and micro views this week with Denis O’Flynn. He’s the former managing director of Pernod Ricard UK, and since 2017 has been a non-executive director of Clonakilty Distillery. That gives him a unique perspective on the state of the Irish Whiskey industry, and he’ll share his opinions with us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the marriage between Wild Turkey and actor Matthew McConaughey has split up, with both sides remaining friends. We’ll have that story and much more in our Read More »

Eddie Russell has been making whiskey for 42 years, and is a Bourbon Hall of Fame member. Still, to many people, he’ll always be known as “Jimmy Russell’s son.” That’s what happens when you work alongside a legend, and now that he’s established his own legacy, he’s passing it on to his son Bruce, and as Eddie put it during our WhiskyCast In-Depth interview this week, “what goes around, comes around.” We’ll talk with Eddie about his two most recent releases, the Master’s Keep Unforgotten edition and the Russell’s Reserve Single Rickhouse edition, and how he’s still learning on the Read More »

Is Sweetens Cove a whiskey company with a golf course, or a golf course with its own whiskey brand? That’s something the Sweetens Cove team is trying to figure out for themselves, but while they ponder that question, they’ve released the third edition of their Tennessee Bourbon. We’ll talk with Sweetens Cove master blender Marianne Eaves and CEO Mark Rivers on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, we’ll have details on two new Kentucky distillery projects valued at nearly $350 million and a look at the latest data on the boom in craft distilling. Links: Sweetens Cove Spirits | Read More »

Six years ago, the wildfire known as “The Beast” devastated Northern Alberta, forcing the evacuations of 88,000 people in the area around Fort McMurray. At the time, Wood Buffalo Brewing & Distilling had to leave behind a pallet of peated malt to escape the fire, but firefighters managed to save both the distillery and the malt, which had absorbed a lot of smoke from the fire. The distillery pre-sold bottles of “The Beast” whisky made from that malt to raise more than $100,000 for local charities in the months following the fire, and while the distillery later closed its doors, Read More »

During the golden age of Irish Whiskey, Belfast-based Dunville’s was one of the biggest brands on the market. While the brand was almost lost to history, it was revived a decade ago by the family-owned Echlinville Distillery in Northern Ireland. Using vintage sourced whiskies, the Dunville’s brand has been preserved for new generations of Irish Whiskey fans. We’ll talk with Echlinville’s Jarlath Watson about the Dunville’s heritage and building new traditions as the distillery prepares to release its own whiskies starting in 2023.  Links: Echlinville Distillery | Jack Daniel’s | The Independent | Westward Whiskey | Icons of Whisky Awards Read More »

Bigger isn’t necessarily better, and we have proof of that this week with our podcast recorded on location at the New Brunswick Spirits Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The festival punches well above its weight class to deliver an outstanding event every year, and celebrated its 25th anniversary this weekend. We’ll talk with founder and chairman Frank Scott to find out his secrets for success on WhiskyCast In-Depth, and we’ll also catch up with another old friend. Martine Nouet has been organizing the festival’s food and whisky lunches for years, but is scaling back her whisky work to pursue other Read More »