Bar Shifts, Global Ambassadorship, and Epic Pours with Teddy Joseph

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[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to everybody to another fun edition of the Rolex Whiskey Pactron Project.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I have a dear friend on today, we had some fun in Paris, we had some fun in Glasgow, I think we’re going to have a lot more fun now, we’re talking in London, Teddy Joseph, welcome to the show, my friend, how are you?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I’m good, thank you for having me.

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[SPEAKER_01]: pleasure my brother.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You want to tell everybody who you are just briefly and what you do and then we’ll jump into some fun chat.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, hey everyone, my name is Teddy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I’m the global brand ambassador for Santori for their scotch and Irish brands.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I travel the world and I’m talking about whiskey getting to meet new people and have great experiences of a drama too.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Just so too.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Can I get to ask you when did you like personally when did your whiskey journey start like what did that look like in the beginning prior to working in the industry or any of that?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think so my background is hospitality so I worked in bars and clubs and I live in Edinburgh now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: but born down south of England in place called Southampton.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I moved up north to an area called Leeds for University, and I was studying licensed retail management, which is actually, I don’t know if this still exists, but it was basically,

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[SPEAKER_00]: But in club management, how to run license venues, which I was like, well, I like to drink.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I’ll have a go at this course.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that’s when I started my sort of by journey into alcohol working behind bars in leads and a night clubs and managing a night clubs.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then I moved from leads up to Edinburgh.

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[SPEAKER_00]: somebody who became a very dear friend and he was from Edinburgh.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We kept in touch after him.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We’ve back.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He got me a job moving the bar scene up there and I think really that’s when my journey into Scotch began because before that, how long ago was that really?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, we’re talking 20 or

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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so what would you say like the whiskey scene was like back then?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean obviously you’re in the land of whiskey, but like I ran rest I did restaurants and night clubs too and like it was cocktails like cocktails It was lots of beer.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was an anavaca and tequila like whiskey wasn’t a thing

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[SPEAKER_00]: was there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But like it was still an old man’s drink or like I want to be sophisticated individual.

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[SPEAKER_00]: 100% and we like so the first whiskey that I was drinking would have been Jim Bean.

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[SPEAKER_00]: American movies.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, the internet is not at me because Mark was my step-up to like premium American whiskey and then looking into moving to Edinburgh in Scotland in the late 1912 early 2000 basically and then going right, I work in the drinks industry but I don’t know anything about Scottish whiskey and as you rightly say

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, no one was really drinking it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No, I was never serving it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s 21.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You would do what do we do back then?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like Johnny Walker was like that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you saw it everywhere.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, I still joke with people and I don’t know if you had the same experience.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When we would have buyouts at the restaurants or clubs, Johnny Walker Blue was top-shelf and you would have to put in the contract like it doesn’t include that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And we would be like, oh my god, a $200 bottle.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This isn’t saying.

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[SPEAKER_01]: and now look at the shit we deal with.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I go $250,000 a bottle.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So with the kind of the same there we’re like, it was like Johnny Walker blew a bunch of Johnny’s, the glands, but like no, what do you bring to them?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Johnny Walker bruised it on its own.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It was this premium thing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You had the red and the black.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You had Dick Land Levits and etc.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We had the bells and J&B.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, when I said Africa, J&B was huge and I remember coming here and trying to get J&B in America and they’re like, what?

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[SPEAKER_01]: They’re like, oh, do you want Johnny Walker red?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I’m like, no, no, J and B.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then I remember going to Mexico and they had J and B.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And there would go hot to Bay.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That’s what you call it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hot to Bay, I’m like, I’m give a shit, bro.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hot to Bay, sure.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Can I get a four on ice?

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[SPEAKER_01]: On ice.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You would never have drank a whiskey, need ever.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No, but that’s saying like the the only time you would reach for it was if you were making a whiskey cocktail like a Rob Roy or something like a Rob Roy or what’s the other one What you got to put the oh my god with the other one with it with the cherries and you got to like fucking muddle them in there my bartenders would hate making it wasn’t a whiskey Ziggy Nick the infusion you don’t fashion but that’s my god that’s one way of making one Yeah, that was like the muddle the fruit and the cherry and

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then I think like the old fashion pissed them off so much until until rum had its day and then they had to do mojitos And they’re like, are you kidding me right now?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I got a muddle this lime and this Right so in there on the bottom said then pull the basil out of the fucking thing like fuck off Gavin Doing this oh my god.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so yeah whiskey whiskey was a

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[SPEAKER_00]: actually one whiskey brand that I vividly remember after moving to Scotland that was being used specifically in Edinburgh and Glasgow was auctioned.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, that’s actually one of our Santoy brands, but, you know, it’s the Glasgow Molk, it’s the stilleries, you know, it’s a lowland single mole, triple distilled, but the reason that was so popular is because if you’ve ever tried the three woods variant of octaution,

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[SPEAKER_01]: No, I remember buying, having a bottle, always around.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think I might even still have remnants of it somewhere.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s a triple, triple matured, single malt.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So X-Burban in two types of sherry, all-eroso, and Pedro Jimenez, but it was quite rich in intense for such a light style of whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It got some some some praise, a gun, a little awards, but the bartender community.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They loved that you it was basically a great substitute for a bourbon.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So you would use it in like, oh yeah, and really introduce people to such a gotch in that form.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So that was the big that was a kind of the biggest sort of

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[SPEAKER_00]: Brandon, I remember people actively going, oh, we’re going to use our contortion because there was a pride about it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s Scott here, she’s got lots of flavour, it’s you know, it’s local to especially to the guys in Glasgow, the bar scene there and you could make fantastic drinks with it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, that was the first, my first sort of real experience with Scott.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But moving up to Scotland and Edinburgh, I was like, well, I need to start learning about this stuff.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So the bar, I was, I ended up working in the bartender.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He gave me

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[SPEAKER_00]: It whisky because this one’s iconic, you’ll love it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You guess what it was?

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[SPEAKER_01]: how I look for egg?

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[SPEAKER_00]: 100 percent.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He pours with a Pro-Mailer for egg 10 and I was, you know, 25 years ago, so I’ve been a mid-20s and my palate was already for that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, I’m like, is this an oyster?

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[SPEAKER_01]: What the hell’ve gone out of here?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I’m taking, I’m drinking ramen and ginger, I’m drinking makers and, you know, I’m drinking this great sweet.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I’m making sweet spirits, you know, my palate wasn’t ready and I just was like like that oysters.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, spiked bloody smoked ham.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, what the fuck isn’t it?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I was raging.

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[SPEAKER_00]: My mum, my mum, I just didn’t know what to do.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I had to drop down a few levels and I remember seeing a bottle.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don’t think we tried it, but just seeing a bottle of McCallan and going home, that looks quite tasty.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s sweet, sweet, and then I had like we had some brook-lady and some light, that was a whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, okay, this is my starting point, and then I’ve worked up to but more.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then I tried that McCallan and I was like, oh shit, that’s me.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So this is a hell of a bar, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they got a good selection.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, this is one of the best at the time one of the best cocktail bars in Edinburgh place called Rick’s bar on Frederick Street.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That’s what it’s called Rick’s.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, and it had some of the best bartenders in the city, but in Scotland, where it works in that bar, so they had a great selection of spirits and really good

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[SPEAKER_01]: But I mean, so you’re talking about a bar that had a whisky list.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Because remember like, I mean, I didn’t have whisky lists until cheeses like 2010.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You might want to put like 8 or 10 of them on there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

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[SPEAKER_00]: every time you’re like, well, you’re actually right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You’ve got to set the scene and that just happens to be that the lights are basically not turned on.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he can barely see what’s going on, because you know, if you think about us in the nightclub and restaurant business, you know, you were happy to get 12, you know, 10 to 15 bucks for a cocktail.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know like and the bartender were happy a shit to pour those on my long now you go in and you like oh, that’s a four hundred dollar pour Okay, that’s a different bar tab under the steel you know like you know you’d be happy to do you know 67 bucks per head at your bar now you go one guy dropping you know three thousand dollars and you’re like wait what I like that

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is kind of wild.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So you go down the road and you start trying stuff, but you’re still in the bar and nightclub scene.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I know now pretty soon you’re going to jump to your first job in the whisky industry.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so that didn’t happen for quite a while actually so.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was still in hospitality for God’s, up until 2012 to the other end.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So the whiskey thing is about to hit, but it hasn’t hit yet.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It’s starting.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It’s rumblings.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It’s rumblings.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The single mults are now kind of dominant McCallan spending billions of dollars.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The down more guys like that are investing in the market.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And it’s no longer a world of blends.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there’s definitely, you know, slowly that transition from the blends being the kind of focus point in, especially in hospitality, yeah, suddenly you’re like, all right, now we’ve got like, and McCallan was really like, yes, when you talk about luxury prestige, it was the the top of the tree and then you’ve got these other brands following suit and and then people

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, there’s quite a lot of whiskey brands out here that they’ve maybe never heard of, you know, you’ve they like you said, you know, generally somebody might any stock, you know, a handful of brands, like there’s the use the same usual six to eight brands.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And now you’ve got people going to know actually, you know, there’s hundreds of the similarities and we’ve got hundreds of expressions of whiskey that we can we can offer you.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then you start to see people

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think the country, in heart and times of hospitality embrace that maybe a bit more, have a bigger offering, noticing that people are coming to especially into Edinburgh and Scotland for whiskey tourism, you know, the distilleries are now showcasing themselves a bit more, putting on a show with a shop and you know.

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[SPEAKER_01]: dedicated visits to center and my first I mean because you hear the old stories they’re like ah you come all wet you know or we can you you make whiskey and then on Friday you get your paycheck and you get a jug of whiskey to take home

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[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, nobody comes to see you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You only talk to the handful of people that work there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, that’s it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That’s it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: There’s no tour, there’s no shop, there’s no food.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you just come to work.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You have done what you want, go home.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then suddenly at some point, you’re like, oh, we need to know like, speak to people.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don’t know what you’ve been doing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don’t know what you’re doing, and that kind of like, all right, well, that’s the stills and that’s it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that’s the malt.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That’s the malt.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We got this guy up here with this machine.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He’s going to do the formal things.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you’re going to machine.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It’s like a, it’s the most prehistoric piece of equipment.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That’s what he does.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No, there’s no automation, though we light a fire, you know, you might imagine that, you’re like, someone’s coming to your work to see what you do, you know, like, what’s the malware?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, how bored does it?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Does it?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Because for them, it’s not anything special, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: They’re just doing their job.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then they realize, then you slowly start to realize, like, oh, there’s people that all across the world are really interested in what we produce here.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that kind of then changes your, you know, your perception of things and you like Jesus, that’s pretty, but I always say like

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[SPEAKER_00]: you know, working with the LaFroig and Bermore, you know, they’re coming from a tiny island.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That’s where I put it to the land is, is, is tiny.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, yes, no, this brands, these brands are known globally and people make pilgrimages to come and visit.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And you’re just saying, that’s, that’s mad.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and obviously the very first visit tours, yeah, the people there receiving them would have been like, what are you doing?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I’ve heard we’re taking the ferry and then go on like people like all right cool and then like yeah we don’t we have to leave to get clothes there’s no clothing store on the island okay that’s different yeah you know like I’ve lived in my whole life I’m third generation all right with it oh yeah I work in the you know like you do you go to you know most of the LaFroy people work they are born and raised on the island yeah oh yeah yeah I did research and it would never even be a second

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you have a family member that works, especially on either, that will have worked, or does work in the whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there’s whiskey, there’s tourism, I like the hotels, the B and B, etc.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then there’s like, it’s efficient, you know, you’re working in one of those industries, if not all three at the same time.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And your family members have done the same.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But like, yeah, going back to your previous, you know, question on that kind of,

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[SPEAKER_00]: The journey of the explosion of all the popularity of whiskey, you know, starts to ramp up, you know, in the mid-2000s, 2010s, you start to see people, you notice a big change in what’s being offered the appetite for single molts is growing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And brands like the Calam were really leading that charge.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And they’re coming along with it with a McAllen 18 for 28 bucks, which was like unheard of on a menu, like,

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, wait, I thought whiskey costs 8 to 12 as a poor single.

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[SPEAKER_00]: This is 20 hit and it’s, and it’s, and that was because, you know, supply in demand, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: So something like, what, what I loved about, you know, the whiskey, especially it’s something like,

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[SPEAKER_00]: The McCallan, they were just very quietly doing their thing and then they realized, oh, you know, people enjoy our whiskey, but then they didn’t have enough what it couldn’t produce it off.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And so those that did manage to secure some, they couldn’t always guarantee that we’re going to get more of it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And so they’ll see the price goes up because people want to, they want to enjoy it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But they kind of, it’s almost like they kind of fell into this position of being this luxury whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, they definitely embraced it.

17:12.363 –> 17:19.906
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, and then, yeah, and magazine, as they went out the line, they embraced it, but they really kind of, it sort of grew organically.

17:20.927 –> 17:27.430
[SPEAKER_00]: And, and so yeah, they, they, they sort of paved the way and, and others, another, another’s, another’s.

17:27.470 –> 17:32.553
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, because you know, sure, shit, nobody was coming by that distillery all the way out in the middle of nowhere.

17:34.153 –> 17:37.335
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I, I give other, they’re distillery true.

17:37.355 –> 17:39.256
[SPEAKER_01]: It was not the first one to go on the market.

17:40.657 –> 17:47.420
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, no, but they do know it’s not, but that area, because as it’s so rich in the stillaries, there’s a million of them.

17:47.440 –> 17:55.443
[SPEAKER_00]: Reliative rose people, people, you know, go up there and they have that, you know, they have a basically, they have that trail, you know, you’re tripping over the stillaries.

17:55.503 –> 17:56.623
[SPEAKER_00]: So you’ve got an abundance.

17:56.643 –> 18:05.927
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s always, and it was interesting, because when I stayed at the Dowans and I would talk to them, you know, they were like, hey, you know, yeah, we had people come through, but they were happy enough to drink an hour in our bar.

18:06.527 –> 18:09.490
[SPEAKER_01]: and try all the distilleries, you know?

18:09.510 –> 18:15.116
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you talk to Pete or Pete Seenier at Luce, he’s like, they were just happy to come down here and drink at the bar.

18:15.637 –> 18:21.123
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, because like nothing we think pretty much there, you know, you don’t need to you don’t need to travel.

18:21.824 –> 18:26.809
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you could you could you could you could take the journey of every distillery on the bat bar.

18:27.968 –> 18:29.969
[SPEAKER_00]: And that’s what people want to do.

18:29.989 –> 18:47.457
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, they want to experience the location, but they always want to enjoy great whiskeys and when you have the ability to offer a ton of expressions from not just local, but down the road and like like luches, every distillery on the island.

18:47.617 –> 18:49.919
[SPEAKER_00]: You’re in the candy store, so you’re kind of

18:53.000 –> 18:54.141
[SPEAKER_00]: You’re like, yeah, I don’t need to.

18:54.281 –> 18:55.502
[SPEAKER_00]: I’m not fucking leaving.

18:55.662 –> 19:03.608
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you’re right there and just like, now I’m officially, I’ve got a whiskey Bible and you’re, you’re content.

19:04.649 –> 19:12.495
[SPEAKER_01]: So it’s, it’s a, I mean, it’s an incredible industry like, I mean, I look now and you know you travel.

19:12.595 –> 19:13.055
[SPEAKER_01]: I travel.

19:13.115 –> 19:18.940
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s like, just the global excitement is captivating.

19:20.473 –> 19:25.696
[SPEAKER_00]: I tell you, I tell you, like, this sounds, cause we travel.

19:25.776 –> 19:31.960
[SPEAKER_00]: It sounds a bit like what really, but like I was in Belgium for the Belgium a few months ago.

19:34.362 –> 19:41.366
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was just doing an activation, and I was speaking to these people and talking about, we’re talking about Bowmore,

19:44.625 –> 19:52.442
[SPEAKER_00]: And they’re like, oh, my God, you know, we absolutely love the Freud, you know, one day, you know, we’re going to get there, you know, we’re going to make that pilgrimage.

19:52.482 –> 19:55.028
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was just like, it’s like,

19:56.427 –> 20:15.792
[SPEAKER_00]: hour and a half flight to Glasgow and another what I mean like what even if like in my mind I’m like it’s actually not that it’s not that unachievable to get there first go all the way to Africa yeah now and after you can you can go this weekend if you wanted to yeah but for some people it’s like

20:17.032 –> 20:32.624
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that’s the holy grail, that’s holy land and yeah, and even though for us, you know, we do trouble, which you have to take into account people’s like financial situations, obligations, you know, you know, but yeah, I’m always like, man.

20:34.065 –> 20:34.966
[SPEAKER_00]: It’s it’s right there.

20:35.006 –> 20:46.111
[SPEAKER_00]: It’s almost right there, but it’s it’s always lovely to hear that and then obviously see it if you To be out the distillery and see people that have a visit in for the first time.

20:46.691 –> 20:51.994
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they’re like there are as are like sources because they are like I am here.

20:52.094 –> 20:53.875
[SPEAKER_00]: I’m standing in front of the distillery.

20:53.955 –> 20:55.495
[SPEAKER_00]: I’m smelling the sea air.

20:56.016 –> 20:59.678
[SPEAKER_00]: I’m smelling the the peat burning and the kilns like

21:01.018 –> 21:15.612
[SPEAKER_00]: is it just is spiritual and not never gets, that never gets old, whether they’re out in the distillery or whether you’re meeting somebody that you know the other side of the world and they’re telling you about their love of your whiskey of your brands.

21:16.532 –> 21:34.160
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, that never gets old and it’s always, it’s, it’s, it’s the, I always say I’ve thought that the trouble is one of the best jobs in the world, um, to travel and meet new people and talk about and enjoy whiskey with those people.

21:34.940 –> 21:42.464
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it’s, if you, if you, you put down the job description of what I do generally, people like you get paid for that.

21:42.884 –> 21:43.124
[SPEAKER_00]: Like,

21:45.725 –> 22:05.517
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, I feel very, I feel very lucky, especially because, you know, I moved to Edinburgh, but 25 years, you know, 26 years, you know, I’ve lived in Scotland now half my life, I consider myself an adopted scot and the first a steering I ever

22:14.625 –> 22:19.947
[SPEAKER_00]: I got invited on the door with some friends and I fell in love with Bobo Moore, a fell in of whiskey.

22:21.408 –> 22:23.348
[SPEAKER_00]: So I thought that that’s pretty incredible as well.

22:24.369 –> 22:36.132
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, and you’re talking about a time where you walked in there and it’s this beautiful view, it’s right on the water, it’s kind of just like you go sit in the room upstairs or downstairs and it’s like, this is quaint.

22:37.213 –> 22:38.773
[SPEAKER_01]: It was, it was quaint.

22:39.414 –> 22:39.794
[SPEAKER_00]: It was.

22:44.857 –> 22:46.898
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody do you wish it?

22:46.918 –> 22:50.020
[SPEAKER_00]: No, we have the cottages, like, right?

22:50.060 –> 23:01.226
[SPEAKER_00]: So we stayed there and they were, you know, they were just very quaint and we had our distillery tour and our David Turner, our distillery manager.

23:02.006 –> 23:03.727
[SPEAKER_00]: He was still working on the moulting floors.

23:04.227 –> 23:04.787
[SPEAKER_00]: at that time.

23:05.127 –> 23:06.187
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was a job, right?

23:06.407 –> 23:07.248
[SPEAKER_01]: He has to do a lot.

23:07.568 –> 23:08.428
[SPEAKER_01]: He’s stuck.

23:08.688 –> 23:10.388
[SPEAKER_01]: You weren’t an Instagram celebrity.

23:10.848 –> 23:17.550
[SPEAKER_00]: You feel like you’re the, he, he, he, he, he, he started his journey a bit more on working the melting floors.

23:18.050 –> 23:21.450
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was telling that he was taking part of our tour and we were getting to speak to him.

23:22.530 –> 23:30.532
[SPEAKER_00]: And now he, I was like Jesus Christ, like 20, 20 odd years later, you’re the distillery manager and I’m the global PA.

23:31.012 –> 23:34.674
[SPEAKER_00]: And we had a really, I was away with David’s earlier in the year.

23:35.374 –> 23:37.775
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we were in Hong Kong with my wife.

23:37.795 –> 23:39.016
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we were in Asia, yeah.

23:39.096 –> 23:40.756
[SPEAKER_01]: And, oh, such a good trip, such a good trip.

23:40.776 –> 23:41.737
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, oh, big.

23:41.817 –> 24:00.105
[SPEAKER_00]: Hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang,

24:01.186 –> 24:04.749
[SPEAKER_01]: So you and I have done a lot of what I call fuck you experience shit.

24:04.809 –> 24:12.034
[SPEAKER_01]: We’ve over the years, but imagine being there when it’s Diego and Succinder.

24:13.215 –> 24:16.298
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh Now was my that was my Friday night

24:17.379 –> 24:19.920
[SPEAKER_01]: before the whiskey show Hong Kong.

24:20.040 –> 24:21.840
[SPEAKER_01]: It was, so Kinda was in town.

24:21.960 –> 24:23.740
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously he’s got the two new distilleries.

24:24.020 –> 24:27.121
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously him and Diego, like Diego’s adopted son.

24:27.481 –> 24:28.221
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

24:28.341 –> 24:33.382
[SPEAKER_01]: And we get done with this like formal dinner and it’s just like, all right, let’s have some fun now.

24:33.963 –> 24:38.864
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember like at one point it was like, who 30, 245, AM?

24:39.024 –> 24:40.244
[SPEAKER_01]: I’m never out that late.

24:41.164 –> 24:48.269
[SPEAKER_01]: And I’m just like, I look across and I look at the stuff we’re drinking and I look at Sikinder and I’m like, yeah, this is a moment.

24:49.370 –> 24:50.911
[SPEAKER_00]: A moment.

24:53.920 –> 24:54.180
[SPEAKER_01]: every.

24:54.260 –> 25:05.586
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they, you know, because Cicando is in town, Diego had like found old chieftains and sustent days and a Scotch malt whisky society, like legendary bottles.

25:05.726 –> 25:13.230
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like 12, like you drink these bottles and old lefroids, like you drink these bottles you die, like that’s it.

25:13.410 –> 25:13.950
[SPEAKER_01]: You smile.

25:14.311 –> 25:14.731
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s over.

25:15.711 –> 25:23.736
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it was in say like oh I Sam a role a long more from I mean, I was just like it was like okay Yeah, that’s okay.

25:23.776 –> 25:39.065
[SPEAKER_01]: We’re gonna just keep elevating this and elevating and elevating and I remember like I remember doing like you know like the old old LeFroids and it was just like this isn’t seen This isn’t seen and then and then the next day at the show, you know

25:40.309 –> 25:45.933
[SPEAKER_01]: me and Sikinder just rolled around all day long and imagine having that guy next to you is like, oh, we got to try that one.

25:46.153 –> 25:46.414
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.

25:46.434 –> 25:46.834
[SPEAKER_01]: He’s one.

25:47.114 –> 25:47.574
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.

25:47.714 –> 25:53.659
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, a 1950-25 year old McAllen from Gordon to McFell.

25:53.739 –> 25:55.040
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, we got to get a poor of that.

25:55.680 –> 25:59.603
[SPEAKER_01]: A 1968 then for a car, God knows how many years.

25:59.723 –> 26:01.044
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, 1968.

26:01.084 –> 26:01.945
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a good year.

26:01.965 –> 26:07.089
[SPEAKER_01]: And I’m like, is this like a, like, is it like that whole, there was a whole day with

26:09.112 –> 26:12.688
[SPEAKER_01]: Something like, we shared pores, but I should do not.

26:12.708 –> 26:13.531
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like 52 whiskeys.

26:15.973 –> 26:22.837
[SPEAKER_01]: You shared pork because it was non-stop like he would just walk up to a booth and be like, Oh, God, I haven’t had that in years.

26:23.237 –> 26:24.958
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I haven’t had that in years.

26:25.298 –> 26:27.199
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, this is just insanity.

26:28.199 –> 26:29.020
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my God.

26:29.740 –> 26:30.120
[SPEAKER_01]: What a trip.

26:30.240 –> 26:40.205
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, I was, I mean, I love that show, but like, Asia, OBE, the food, the hospitality, everybody, I mean, did you go to house well as well?

26:40.225 –> 26:41.106
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you go see Vincent?

26:42.480 –> 26:44.661
[SPEAKER_00]: we did after O.B.

26:44.701 –> 26:53.383
[SPEAKER_00]: we went and had a really good chat with him and tried some great whiskeys that it was just like there was a guy in O.B.

26:54.343 –> 26:58.504
[SPEAKER_00]: who’s a friend of jay Macon.

26:58.544 –> 26:59.185
[SPEAKER_00]: Not jay Macon.

26:59.245 –> 26:59.905
[SPEAKER_00]: Not jay Macon.

27:01.025 –> 27:01.525
[SPEAKER_00]: Not jay Macon.

27:01.665 –> 27:03.346
[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, I think his name is David as well.

27:04.980 –> 27:10.763
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, he was on his way home, and then we walked in and David messaged him.

27:10.783 –> 27:18.847
[SPEAKER_00]: Say, oh, David Turner’s here, you know, bone more distillery manager and bone more was one of his disguised favorite distilleries.

27:18.887 –> 27:25.410
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was like, go and home, I’m tired, you know, no more drinking, and then he messaged and said, oh, David Turner’s here.

27:25.430 –> 27:27.110
[SPEAKER_00]: And he’s like, turned his car on.

27:27.371 –> 27:28.271
[SPEAKER_00]: I’ll be there in five minutes.

27:28.951 –> 27:29.932
[SPEAKER_00]: And he came back.

27:35.446 –> 27:38.088
[SPEAKER_00]: and it’s a lovely gentleman and then he pulled out these whiskeys.

27:38.128 –> 27:39.729
[SPEAKER_00]: I’d love to share these whiskeys with you.

27:39.749 –> 27:41.891
[SPEAKER_00]: So he’s had his own whiskeys there in the bar.

27:43.072 –> 27:48.195
[SPEAKER_00]: One of them he, one of them was a boomer of 42.

27:49.876 –> 27:50.297
[SPEAKER_00]: The gold.

27:51.437 –> 27:52.118
[SPEAKER_00]: I’m the trilogy.

27:52.738 –> 27:54.920
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I was just like, oh my god.

27:55.201 –> 27:58.004
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was like, no, no, please, you know, we’re finishing this ball.

27:58.124 –> 28:00.467
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it’s like, okay, we’re gonna finish this bottle, I’ll be.

28:00.847 –> 28:02.369
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he had another bottle.

28:02.389 –> 28:04.151
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he was a, is it similar?

28:04.171 –> 28:14.122
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember it, but it was like a dumpy bottle with like, it was like Avengers assemble blend of whiskeys.

28:15.523 –> 28:17.324
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it’s German.

28:17.944 –> 28:25.609
[SPEAKER_00]: It was by Moors, the Freud McCallin, there’s Highland Park, it’s Springbank, it’s this, and it was, it was like incredible, incredible.

28:25.690 –> 28:32.414
[SPEAKER_00]: And then obviously, and then obviously the team, the eight, like, yeah, trying to try it’s beautiful.

28:32.474 –> 28:42.621
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he’s a big lingerie fan, a huge, huge, huge, and just say like, never had a bad while always stuck out for it, and then getting to try a little bit of that,

28:43.852 –> 28:45.376
[SPEAKER_00]: just an incredible saying.

28:45.957 –> 28:49.506
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it’s that and then they know they’re opening another one now.

28:50.604 –> 29:00.048
[SPEAKER_01]: Shanghai, you know, and now one looks like, I don’t know if do you go through the wine cellar at where they gave us a toy and we were just like, oh, I know it’s incredibly.

29:00.068 –> 29:07.310
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you kidding me when I walked around, I’m like, wait a second, this is like retinous scan, then bar code onto your account, one and done.

29:07.350 –> 29:13.573
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was texting, I was taking pictures in there and sending it to my buddies in America, in here in the states who run like,

29:14.293 –> 29:20.375
[SPEAKER_01]: big high-end fancy restaurants, and they’re like, oh my God, those prices are insanely good.

29:21.256 –> 29:38.643
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that was, that was a great, I think they did that really well, you know, the way that they they priced it and the way that they’ve got the membership and the cost of the membership and all of that, you know, it’s sustainable and you’re not ripping anybody off, you know, you’re offering value and I think that was

29:39.943 –> 29:50.229
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you’ll put a new competitor’s to shame with the way that I mean, I said I sat a dinner that night was Sickened or I sat a dinner with Mike and Mike’s the wine partner.

29:50.589 –> 29:51.830
[SPEAKER_01]: I’ll betard.

29:52.370 –> 29:58.274
[SPEAKER_01]: And he said they do something like 380 to 400 bottles of wine a week like in their sleep in that place.

30:00.255 –> 30:00.675
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus.

30:01.175 –> 30:04.057
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, think about our day is running restaurants at night, Clevves.

30:04.837 –> 30:05.578
[SPEAKER_01]: You would hope to do

30:10.275 –> 30:12.176
[SPEAKER_01]: 150 times the white would be insane.

30:12.196 –> 30:13.717
[SPEAKER_01]: Either it is a per week.

30:15.038 –> 30:24.223
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve just been Hong Kong and every time I go back, I enjoy more and more.

30:24.683 –> 30:31.887
[SPEAKER_00]: That trip with myself and David, we’re out promoting it more and the love that you receive.

30:33.028 –> 30:39.752
[SPEAKER_00]: It’s just incredible and yeah, it may sometimes I’m like, you know what, I’m just gonna go live in Asia.

30:40.252 –> 30:40.793
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

30:40.813 –> 30:42.113
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

30:42.234 –> 30:46.776
[SPEAKER_01]: No, if I didn’t have my loving wife and three children, I’d be living in Hong Kong already.

30:48.977 –> 30:55.561
[SPEAKER_01]: I could just, like, imagine working in hospitality there, like it’s just beautiful.

30:56.082 –> 30:59.143
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s like a Broadway show, perfectly orchestrated.

31:00.300 –> 31:13.388
[SPEAKER_00]: There are, and like, there is some amazing areas on the island and, you know, and then, you know, little pizza restaurants or sushi and just, it’s just fantastic.

31:13.428 –> 31:15.189
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it’s just absolutely love.

31:15.209 –> 31:20.592
[SPEAKER_00]: I’ve got friend that lives out there and I was desperately like trying to meet up with him when I was there.

31:20.612 –> 31:24.935
[SPEAKER_00]: We went OB because he, he used to work in the whiskey industry briefly as well.

31:28.997 –> 31:52.241
[SPEAKER_00]: the week before and the week after I got that that came back when I finally got old of him I was like me I was literally I was literally in your neighborhood I was literally in Hong Kong when he’s like shot her and I was like where are you I thought you did and he goes oh you know what I was I was the the day I arrived apparently was a day he left he went to a he went to crime ever as base camp just like oh Jesus

31:53.862 –> 32:19.133
[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, super casual, because I yell with the average, oh, he made it so casual as well, because he’s like, he’ll just rock up and have like, you know, no clue, no idea, didn’t have the right shoe, didn’t have anything, you know, have to buy everything there, it’s just like, mate, you’re a fucking idiot, he’s like, wait, was this like, are you guys playing truth or dare, and someone dared you to go do Everest, you’re like, fucking I’m out,

32:20.093 –> 32:32.602
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don’t hardly had any like training preparation for it as well, I think he did a, I think he did a chat GPT and like, you know, what can I do to get in shape within in two weeks time?

32:33.102 –> 32:34.063
[SPEAKER_00]: But, yes.

32:35.324 –> 32:36.504
[SPEAKER_00]: That’s fucking wild.

32:37.125 –> 32:38.726
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, let’s, we were crushing time.

32:38.746 –> 32:41.388
[SPEAKER_01]: We, we just did 34 minutes and I sleep.

32:41.868 –> 32:44.289
[SPEAKER_01]: Let’s get you, get me into the industry.

32:44.770 –> 32:45.550
[SPEAKER_01]: Next step, you get

32:49.333 –> 33:12.830
[SPEAKER_00]: Getting into the industry was me transitioning from hospitality, a working in bars, had I owned a bar for a small time, coming from behind that bar and then working in sales actually, send it up working for a spirit’s company, which was a salesman, I can sell in directly, but you have to have a mentality to

33:16.753 –> 33:22.340
[SPEAKER_00]: But what I found was the success I did have at this point in time I had moved to London.

33:22.840 –> 33:23.841
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was living in London.

33:24.462 –> 33:25.403
[SPEAKER_00]: The back in London.

33:25.824 –> 33:29.568
[SPEAKER_00]: So while this is my first time in London, so I hadn’t, I’ll let’s go ahead.

33:29.868 –> 33:35.295
[SPEAKER_00]: And the success I was having in that sales role was through education.

33:35.755 –> 33:43.606
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was when I had the opportunity to speak to people about my products, the brands I was representing sit down and actually taste with them.

33:44.166 –> 33:46.750
[SPEAKER_00]: That’s when I would get the payoff.

33:47.491 –> 33:51.396
[SPEAKER_00]: And I realized that I enjoyed that more than the actual sales part.

33:53.130 –> 33:55.072
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I did that on a transition.

33:55.092 –> 34:00.656
[SPEAKER_01]: You’re kind of, I would imagine at that point in your, in that business, you’re playing a, that’s kind of unique.

34:01.236 –> 34:02.657
[SPEAKER_01]: Most guys weren’t educating.

34:02.677 –> 34:05.820
[SPEAKER_01]: They would just come in with the order book, and try to hustle you.

34:05.860 –> 34:10.743
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, yeah, you know, they’re coming to my restaurants and bars, and you’re like, I’d love me to buy 10K in rum.

34:11.164 –> 34:15.527
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you do, I’ll give you a case for free and a ballast, and a ballast champagne for free.

34:15.547 –> 34:17.589
[SPEAKER_01]: There was no education, what 10K in rum was.

34:17.929 –> 34:19.110
[SPEAKER_01]: Just like, hey, we got to move weight.

34:20.607 –> 34:22.188
[SPEAKER_00]: way.

34:22.709 –> 34:30.895
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that was, you know, because some people, you know, they, they would, they they know the products and but a lot of them would do exactly that.

34:30.915 –> 34:38.802
[SPEAKER_00]: They were more about the, what’s the, what’s the, the, the value, what’s the benefit and you’re going to get monetarily.

34:39.162 –> 34:40.403
[SPEAKER_00]: And whereas I was kind of like,

34:41.103 –> 35:01.262
[SPEAKER_00]: I can, this is what I cannot for you, but also I’d like you to be able to understand what this product is and if you like it, then we can discuss like, you know, how it fits in and so that’s where I found that I had, I was enjoying the educational part better than the actual sales part.

35:01.983 –> 35:03.644
[SPEAKER_00]: So we fast forward a little bit.

35:03.784 –> 35:05.084
[SPEAKER_00]: I’ve moved from London.

35:05.164 –> 35:23.829
[SPEAKER_00]: I moved to Sydney in Australia now and I end up working with Diazio in Sydney and working across like running their advocacy but also representing or being the representative of Johnny Walker in Sydney.

35:24.030 –> 35:24.850
[SPEAKER_00]: So now I’m kind of

35:26.430 –> 35:32.132
[SPEAKER_00]: Educating were also being an ambassador at the same time, so I would do events and be the face of Johnny Walker.

35:32.172 –> 35:45.957
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was when I think really was getting my whiskey on it, so to speak, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

35:46.118 –> 35:49.742
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is 2013, yeah.

35:49.782 –> 35:55.289
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so now the party’s starting and Diagio obviously is a big player, but they have a lot of brands.

35:55.329 –> 35:58.253
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s not like McCallan, which just has one horse to beat.

35:58.653 –> 36:00.716
[SPEAKER_01]: Diagio’s got a whole fleet of horses.

36:01.576 –> 36:15.759
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely, and that was, you know, the brands they have, you know, Johnny Walker, and especially in Australia and Sydney, you know, these are well recognized and appreciated brands.

36:15.779 –> 36:16.980
[SPEAKER_00]: The Talis could does well.

36:17.440 –> 36:20.320
[SPEAKER_00]: Johnny blue and the Johnny Walker ranged as well.

36:20.961 –> 36:22.541
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously the Kelly lives in that.

36:22.561 –> 36:23.461
[SPEAKER_00]: They follow suit.

36:23.521 –> 36:24.361
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was it.

36:24.381 –> 36:29.363
[SPEAKER_01]: But by the way, just to put a price on this, I mean, we’re still in the dawn of like under 300.

36:29.383 –> 36:29.463
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh,

36:31.403 –> 36:48.518
[SPEAKER_00]: currency bottles like that’s like the top of the market there isn’t anything bigger nobody would do that like very you wouldn’t even see it we would never see it no no yeah exactly so after being in Australia for a time I came back to to Edinburgh I ended up working

36:50.018 –> 37:00.085
[SPEAKER_00]: for a company called Maxim Distribution Company was a joint venture between Santori, being Santori and Edranton in the UK.

37:00.185 –> 37:09.471
[SPEAKER_00]: So I ended up being portfolio ambassador working across both portfolios from a Calen, Highland Park, Famous Grouse,

37:11.013 –> 37:13.355
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, Jim B. Kovassia at the time.

37:13.736 –> 37:16.538
[SPEAKER_00]: So working across all those brands in Scotland.

37:18.080 –> 37:28.609
[SPEAKER_00]: And as much as I loved that, the whisky bands were definitely my preferred choice to sort of talk about and educate and educate on.

37:28.649 –> 37:28.930
[SPEAKER_00]: And that.

37:29.570 –> 37:37.594
[SPEAKER_00]: Slowly, became more of a focus, especially as we moved from being a joint venture to single venture, moved with Edranton for a time.

37:37.634 –> 37:39.175
[SPEAKER_00]: So, McCallum was a focus.

37:39.675 –> 37:42.697
[SPEAKER_00]: Highland Park was my baby, so I worked on a highland park out.

37:44.273 –> 37:46.255
[SPEAKER_01]: Martin just celebrated 20 years there.

37:46.815 –> 37:47.276
[SPEAKER_01]: 20 years.

37:47.296 –> 37:48.037
[SPEAKER_01]: That’s my brother.

37:48.237 –> 37:48.957
[SPEAKER_01]: I love him.

37:48.997 –> 38:06.372
[SPEAKER_01]: He was one of the first guys when I started the Rolex whiskey journey around 2015 I went to a show in Brooklyn and who was just casually standing there like a beast of a man in the niceest possible word and Is this like this is kind of cool this highland park stuff I’ve I’d had it before.

38:06.793 –> 38:11.577
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn’t you know I was like yeah, and he was just I mean that was it the the friendship was forged

38:12.245 –> 38:33.661
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he’s a gentle giant, but yeah, and I love him to bits, man, and he’s an inspiration a role model for me, 20 years of doing it, like, and, like, high in the park, like, it’s kind of like my love for more, like, first of stillary visit was at the more and a fell in love, and I got to visit Highland Park in Orkney.

38:34.521 –> 38:37.444
[SPEAKER_00]: That took a piece of my heart as well, so it’s like Jesus Christ, like,

38:38.244 –> 38:39.705
[SPEAKER_00]: incredible, just incredible.

38:39.865 –> 39:02.138
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah that was that was my love but then opportunity came to to move across to some Tory in this global role and I was like you know yeah to spread the word and the love of whiskey on a global scale let’s do it so I make that leap about three years

39:06.121 –> 39:21.647
[SPEAKER_00]: And so pleased to be, so pleased to be with these branches on Tory, I think like looking back, like the whiskey journey, as I said, my first is still revisit by more now, I’m, I’m, I’m rep in the brand, but.

39:22.999 –> 39:40.072
[SPEAKER_00]: Santori has got some, there’s a company like Make as Mark was like the burn and I, you know, I fell in love with it, the that premium premium, you know, expression Meduri as a La Cure, the first cocktail ever made was with Meduri working in bars.

39:40.312 –> 39:40.572
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

39:43.831 –> 39:52.558
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember I made that drink when I was living in North of England in Leeds, and it proved to be quite popular.

39:52.578 –> 39:57.782
[SPEAKER_00]: We put it on the with the cocktail menu, and then when I moved to Edinburgh, I brought it up here.

39:57.863 –> 40:02.987
[SPEAKER_00]: We put it on the cocktail menu up here, and it was on the menu for like three or four years after I left the bar.

40:04.067 –> 40:09.431
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just lovely fruity, as you can imagine, sweet little cocktail.

40:10.212 –> 40:16.377
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, Maduri, Makers, Mark, La Freig, the first whiskey ever tried and hated it at the time.

40:16.817 –> 40:21.741
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I remember, yeah, you got a full phrase, okay, we’re killing time, we got about six minutes left.

40:21.781 –> 40:25.643
[SPEAKER_01]: I got to ask you one big powerful question and I know this is going to be interesting one.

40:26.284 –> 40:27.645
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got to get this one in with you.

40:28.305 –> 40:29.907
[SPEAKER_01]: You’ve done a lot of crazy shit.

40:30.627 –> 40:31.227
[SPEAKER_01]: good times.

40:31.747 –> 40:36.948
[SPEAKER_01]: Are there any like moments, a pinch me moment you like holy shit I can’t believe I’m doing this?

40:37.909 –> 40:47.611
[SPEAKER_00]: I’m going to go have to go back to my my entrance and days and it would be at the opening of the McCallan distillery.

40:50.111 –> 40:55.153
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever that was, I can’t remember the year and being part of the team just

40:59.128 –> 41:03.973
[SPEAKER_00]: And everyone walking around and you can see them, you know, just taking in because you’ve been you’ve been up there, right?

41:04.013 –> 41:09.978
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I mean, you and I did the 200 anniversary there to get pride and the little private inner sanctum.

41:10.459 –> 41:16.484
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was like, with you and dad there was like royalty and then I’m just like sitting there.

41:16.925 –> 41:18.606
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s just like I’m like, it’s pretty good.

41:18.626 –> 41:19.407
[SPEAKER_01]: They know everybody.

41:21.405 –> 41:45.524
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, when I was there, we were watching people come in and I was upstairs helping the bar team, you know, sort of making sure everyone’s given the drums and people are having a walk around and we came in to the bar area upstairs, had the guys had trays and people were like, you know, whisky’s for you to like enjoy toast.

41:45.564 –> 41:46.885
[SPEAKER_00]: No one was touching a whisky’s though.

41:50.608 –> 41:58.793
[SPEAKER_00]: group of, I think they were like French guests, I think, they straight up like boom, glass in hands, that’s nice, boom.

41:59.194 –> 42:01.095
[SPEAKER_00]: They’ve seen no one’s touch them, so they went back again.

42:01.695 –> 42:06.298
[SPEAKER_00]: And they were like, all right, well, you know, it’s meant to be one per person, but like no one seems to be interested.

42:07.319 –> 42:12.342
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there’s a toast, there’s a director, and he’s given a toast, and he wants

42:18.786 –> 42:20.468
[SPEAKER_00]: that was made specifically for the launch.

42:21.708 –> 42:24.590
[SPEAKER_00]: The youngest whiskey in there was 55 years old.

42:25.351 –> 42:26.111
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god.

42:26.972 –> 42:30.595
[SPEAKER_00]: And everyone, once I heard that, I was like, sorry, did you just say the youngest?

42:31.775 –> 42:34.557
[SPEAKER_00]: And all of a sudden people were like, shit, where’s that glass?

42:35.018 –> 42:38.260
[SPEAKER_01]: The French guys are like, this is the best they ever.

42:38.680 –> 42:39.421
[SPEAKER_01]: This is out of all

42:43.677 –> 42:50.166
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, everyone starts grabbing for these whiskeys and at the time, the master whiskey maker.

42:51.308 –> 42:54.552
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he created the blend for that.

42:54.693 –> 42:56.495
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember trying, it was lovely.

42:57.056 –> 42:57.697
[SPEAKER_00]: But that whole…

42:58.718 –> 43:20.788
[SPEAKER_00]: that whole experience you know watching that being built and then obviously being there for the the opening and they had this this light show that was projected onto the distillery so we’re outside and you have to watch you to watch it that was just ridiculous like and it had that like a soundtrack to go with it the light show I tell you like you could have taken down planes

43:27.451 –> 43:29.972
[SPEAKER_00]: 20 miles down the road, like it was that loud.

43:31.132 –> 43:43.836
[SPEAKER_00]: But it was, it was my just to stand there and be like this, you know, to be there, the launch of some monumental opening of a brand new distillery of that scale.

43:44.596 –> 43:49.397
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I mean, you’re making our Cirque de Soleil experience sound like fucking chicken liver.

43:49.837 –> 43:51.838
[SPEAKER_01]: So, well, I’m glad you had that one.

43:52.138 –> 44:15.075
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the slut, the slut, the slut, the slut, the slut, the slut, it was, it was pretty good, wasn’t it, it was pretty good, it didn’t, it didn’t, it didn’t, it didn’t, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t suck, it didn’t

44:15.715 –> 44:18.818
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, oh my god Johnny Johnny boy took care of us.

44:19.378 –> 44:20.059
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, man.

44:20.139 –> 44:25.863
[SPEAKER_01]: So sitting at the order source was all good I can’t thank you enough brother for coming on.

44:26.103 –> 44:26.564
[SPEAKER_01]: I love you.

44:26.584 –> 44:29.446
[SPEAKER_01]: I love chatting with you I can’t look forward to seeing you in London.

44:29.486 –> 44:30.967
[SPEAKER_01]: I’ll DM you tell.

44:31.447 –> 44:32.488
[SPEAKER_01]: I’m looking forward to seeing you.

44:32.548 –> 44:33.389
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for coming on.

44:33.529 –> 44:35.330
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you want to give you a social to people?

44:36.772 –> 44:39.794
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, my little out of polyurethal.

44:39.814 –> 44:43.657
[SPEAKER_00]: You can take all of your Instagram at TED tools whiskey

44:45.285 –> 44:47.687
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I can’t thank everyone enough for listening.

44:47.847 –> 44:55.674
[SPEAKER_01]: We continue to have fun almost two and a half years, or 125 podcasts and just good people who are passionate about whiskey.

44:56.554 –> 44:57.555
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you all for listening.

44:57.575 –> 44:58.616
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for rating the shows.

44:58.636 –> 45:00.117
[SPEAKER_01]: We’ll definitely see you on the next one.

45:00.477 –> 45:01.178
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

45:01.198 –> 45:01.578
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

45:01.678 –> 45:03.000
[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate each one of you.

45:03.060 –> 45:04.521
[SPEAKER_01]: Ted, I appreciate you, my brother.

45:04.861 –> 45:06.602
[SPEAKER_01]: And I look forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks.

45:07.043 –> 45:07.703
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye, guys.

45:08.284 –> 45:10.986
[SPEAKER_01]: And that’s another great episode in the books.

45:11.066 –> 45:12.027
[SPEAKER_01]: Appreciate everybody.

45:12.367 –> 45:13.108
[SPEAKER_01]: And that’s a wrap.

45:24.265 –> 45:24.406
[UNKNOWN]: You