The Scotch Ambassador: Simon Brooking on Laphroaig, Suntory, and the Spiritual Connection of Whiskey

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[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back everybody to another fun edition of the Rolex Whiskey Passion Project.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The gentleman on today has a pretty historic run in the world of whiskey and I was fortunate to spend some good quality time within this year in Scotland.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Simon Brooking, welcome to the show, my friend, how are you?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I’m doing great, Gavin.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having me.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, absolutely pleasure, man.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Still wish we were sitting on, you know, at the Macrean, you know, having a whiskey up there in those giant oysters, but, you know, we discussed on the preamble with what it is.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We, you know, we’re healthy living our best lives.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I couldn’t agree with you more, it’s definitely a good way to live and a great way to meet new friends and cannot complain.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No, it’s very special.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to introduce yourself to the listeners and tell them who you are and what you do.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Please.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, my name is Simon Brooking.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I’m the Santori Global.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Scotch Senior Scotch Ambassador, Scotch Heritage.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I cover primarily North America, but I have been known to travel to other countries globally, promoting world peace through whisky one drama the time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That is my job.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I love so how long have you been with Centauri for well I’ve been with Centauri since they purchased beam so that’s just a little over 10 years now and I’ve been with LaFroix for 19 years and have been in the whisky industry almost 30 years now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, just the LaFrag 19, so 19 years ago, when you joined LaFrag, what did the whiskey landscape look like?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Because obviously it was kind of just getting started, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, uh, in America.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was, well, I had just come from representing Dalmore and working with the inimitable Richard Patterson, the nose.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And with a beautiful,

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[SPEAKER_01]: single distillery with the Dalmore, great whiskey, and I had just the one distillery.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was a great opportunity to really gain intimate knowledge of the workings and of the people at that with that whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then when Ally Demack was breaking up,

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[SPEAKER_01]: Down more was part of the Jim Bean portfolio, but Allied was breaking up and the brands were being distributed amongst the industry and Jim Bean purchased the LaFroy at that time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was for me going from from the Highland Whiskey to to one of the quintessential Isle Whiskey’s with LaFroig.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was a big difference.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now I back prior to Dalmore, I’ve worked with the Diaggio portfolio.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So

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[SPEAKER_01]: I was familiar, of course, with Logovul and Kalila from Ila as well.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But this was just a great opportunity for myself to really dig in deep with the…

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[SPEAKER_01]: Lufroyg brand and with the culture that surrounds Lufroyg, it’s got such a following.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I had no idea of how…

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[SPEAKER_01]: deeply entrenched.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This whiskey is in the psyche of of a single malt whiskey drinkers.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it’s been an amazing journey for me over those 19 years.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But like 19 years ago, what was that when you in North America, North America, what was the landscape of the single malt?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I would imagine, yes, LaForec has this great following, but it wasn’t like bars where

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[SPEAKER_00]: talked to the hilt with single molts.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They weren’t that many on the shelf 19 years ago.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of like, you know, it was the glans and the Johnny Wall.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The diagio was the limited whisky shelf.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So like breaking in a lefroy, because the diagio would have had logical in on there, but you know, to breaking in a lefroy in 19 years ago, must have had a, must have been just different, I would say.

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[SPEAKER_01]: There was definitely a much smaller following, but still it was sizable.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, what Ian Hunter had established and then in his early travels, when we talk about the early 1900s with LaFroig, Ian Hunter had promoted LaFroig globally, it’s why we have

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[SPEAKER_01]: And that because of the early efforts of Ian Hunter in the early 1900s, as well as the woman that came in and worked for him, Bessie Williamson, she was a huge proponent of the Scotch Whisky category and promoted in the 1960s.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then when she would travel globally as an ambassador for not just LaForeig, but Scotch the category.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then you’ve got in the 1990s, you’ve got Ian Henderson at the distillery.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And he started the Friends of LaForeig program.

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[SPEAKER_01]: oh wow it goes back that far and yeah yeah we just celebrated our 30 year anniversary for the Friends of the Freud program and that that was one of the key opportunities for me was that Friends of the Freud program

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[SPEAKER_01]: Originally, when you came to visit the distillery, you could find your name in these big leather bound books, which they would handwrite your entry into the book, and it was a very personal personalized program, which Ian Henderson, who was really an icon in the industry, when

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[SPEAKER_01]: came to visit island.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This was before whiskey tourism really existed at this point.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was historically, it was the anorax they called them, who would make their way over to Ila.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And if you were lucky enough, you get a tour by Ian Henderson and then more than

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then he would write letters, or thank you, to you, for your visit.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was really, we have a ball and called carcass, which is friendship.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And Ian really lived that culture.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so that is carried on.

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[SPEAKER_01]: through the years at the Leforeg Distillery and that’s certainly one thing that when you come to visit our distilleries and meet the people who make the whisky, you get to understand the true character of the whisky’s themselves.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, it’s a magical special place.

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[SPEAKER_00]: For you and your journey, because obviously, I mean, I know you live in Brooklyn,

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, my whiskey journey began initially with my grandfather, who was Captain David Robertson, who was a captain in the Merchant Marines, Merchant Navy in Scotland, and he traveled the world as a sea captain, but in his final years he was stationed down in southern

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[SPEAKER_01]: a semen’s home and uh… i would go i would go down to visit him and he would be waiting this big over stuffed armchair with cigarette in one hand and a whiskey in the other

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[SPEAKER_01]: and he encouraged me to try the whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I wasn’t, didn’t quite have the sea legs or quite yet but those were my first introductory drums with the captain and he would regal.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So what kind of whiskey was the captain drinking back then?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it was your standard blended scotch at that time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: No.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Um, a black and white, or, uh, uh, uh, you know, more or more of a, we would be usually be a blend.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was blended.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that’s just how, that was the, the common, I mean, the shivers, brother and stuff like that, like that was a thing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, for me growing up in South Africa with J&B, J&B was like, that and Johnny Walker’s, you know, in every color, right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then the single malls with the Glenn Liveets and Edo, and that was really, you know, maybe you find another Glenn on the shelf randomly.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And professionally my my first gig was with doors in New York.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They were looking to hire an ambassador, bring somebody over from Scotland, but they discovered that here I was

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[SPEAKER_01]: I had the kill to add the axe and I drank whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I fit the bill.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I headed an evening of duers basically deconstructed with cocktails and when they hired me, it was

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[SPEAKER_01]: They got me in touch with the master blender, David Howe, and they had me go back to Scotland and train with him, and that was almost 30 years ago now, and that we would do an evening with ten horseshoe-shaped bars and ten bar tenders, one at each bar, and the evening would

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[SPEAKER_01]: and then I would then I would go come in and educate folks on the process of producing scotch and taste them on the variations and

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[SPEAKER_00]: he worked out it went well I mean I got to say I’ve been fortunate the last couple of years to enjoy some of the older doers that they’ve been releasing you know with the bigger numbers on them the 30 the 32 the 36 and it really is spectacular liquid it always has been oh yeah and it’s like like J&B it is one of those foundational spirits certainly that

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[SPEAKER_01]: similar to the the Johnny Walker’s they open the door they open to the door to the further consumer and it gives them permission to to try the whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, when I, with all my travels around the United States, I found that 90% of America broke into their fathers’ liquor cabinet when they were 12, either drank a bowl of substance war, and that would have touched you never and again.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, part of my, and that was, and that was blended Scotch, imagine if they do that now, like if my kid did that with all the cast strength stuff, they would definitely never drink again.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Definitely.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, a big part of my job is showing people that you can enjoy Scotch whisky and really dispel the myths and just all the bad height that goes out about Scotch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: There’s tons of flavor there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, people are looking for flavors in different cocktails and looking for the variations.

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[SPEAKER_01]: As you know, there’s so much flavor in the whiskeys.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It’s just a matter of finding a ways of releasing those flavors.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Taking time.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s also, it’s got instant gratification.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like the cocktail gives them whatever that instant, sweetness or bitterness or whatever is, you know, tickles their fancy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That whiskey you have to smell and sip and swallow and, you know, repeat that action and then you’re like, oh, wow, oh, wow.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But the blue key word is patience, you know, with the cocktail there’s not much patience.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s like, hey, wait to try the next one that they have, you know, the whiskey, you gotta like, you gotta settle in and enjoy the moment.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And you ask the boys and the gals of the distillery, you know, windy, one of the operators at LaFroig, who retired just last year, you know, you ask him about what’s the key to success in producing the spirit, working the stills and growing them all and he’ll tell you patience.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You’ve got it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, and I tell people like, because you know, people will come and you know, you’ve been around the same kind of people.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And they want this like instant gratification.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And they want to make a judgment quickly.

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[SPEAKER_00]: How about that?

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s not the instant gratification from the whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They want to say, oh, I like that or I don’t like that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like immediately.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And you like, you just don’t know.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That first sip is not what it is.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You got to like revisit and revisit and do stuff, you know, maybe you want to put a drop of water in there and watch how it changes, you know, maybe you know, maybe you want to just literally push it around your mouth, you know, not as long as Richard Patterson likes to do it, but push it around and kind of get the feel for it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don’t know, you know, like, it’s an experience.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and I think that when they listen to that, they’re like, oh my god, I had no idea.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I’m like, well, yeah, I wasn’t expecting you to have an idea, but you weren’t exactly

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[SPEAKER_01]: And even in the name itself, even before you even get to the tasting aspect of it, there’s the name.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, for us, LaFroig, L.A.P.H.R.O.A.I.G, it is to budget and intimidate people.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so they’ll walk up to the look of the backbar.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They’ll see a bottle of LaFroig.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They’ll go,

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[SPEAKER_00]: forget about carcass.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like I should have done it like I had it out of pronounced that one.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Or done.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Even you may even invite you to explore the origins you know.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Oh 100%.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But like nights or 19 years ago, 30 years ago when you started, you know, very, you know, whiskey was that was a,

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[SPEAKER_00]: was at a different stage of growth.

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[SPEAKER_00]: 19 years ago, you had a faint heart beat that was a following.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But then 10 years ago, when you switched over, it was like the heyday was beginning.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So what was that like, because all of a sudden, you don’t have to maybe educate as much.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And they’re more like, well Simon, what have you got for me?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what’s new?

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[SPEAKER_00]: What’s happening?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I’ll have to backtrack to the 30 years ago, 30 years ago was in some ways the heyday because there was a lot of money being invested in Scotch and the spare its industry as a whole was doing very, very well.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so there were great opportunities.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Training opportunities, I was part of the classic Maltz experience with viaggio the early years and got to get together with a group of whiskey, nerds, whiskey fans, whiskey professionals to do a lot of sharing of experience and education and really advocacy was was huge back then.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but Scotch whiskey wasn’t as much received.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think, you know, ten years ago People and COVID certainly helped to generate people’s interest in the brands Virtually

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, how’s it that you had online education?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, people were like, you know, 19 years ago, not many people were looking on the internet for whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_00]: 10 years ago, they were definitely, they could probably attempt to out question you at a tasting.

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[SPEAKER_00]: 10 years ago, compared to 19 years ago, because they’ve done all this, like, backended research on their own.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, definitely, the 30 years ago, it was horse and wagon.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It was quite like it was beautiful.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, I told you this global communities.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you talk to the guys and Sweden.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You talk to the guys and Amsterdam.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And they’ve been holding these like members groups, you know, generational, like the grandfather started.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, there’s a once a month whiskey tasting, you know, and we know 30 people and you still do that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, my dad did it now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I do it and I’m like, oh, man, that is just beautiful.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And that’s one of the big differences I think in the last 10 years that you’ve seen here in the United States is the rise of whiskey clubs, which to your point globally Europe and just around the world will

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[SPEAKER_01]: whisky clubs have been around much longer than they have in the United States and people like Charlie Prince and the Dramar’s club in the US have really expanded the opportunity for people to enjoy a lot more of the limited bottling that were available.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that’s in, like, I said, they could go down a rabbit hole because you know, you’ve been, you know, when you go to a drummer’s saying, let’s just say, you’re there, they will purchase, you know, some some rare stuff and open it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You’re not just coming in with, like, hey, you know, we’re just going to do a, you know, a basic before I again, these are the new releases.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They’re like, hey, we’ve got all the stuff like we’ve bought that in, like, let’s have fun.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I’ve always enjoyed that part of it because there is just so much more access to whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone, too stuff, and it’s so kind of exciting.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and for us at Lufroyg, there’s a lot more variance.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Historically, the ten year was, and it continues to be the foundational bottling for us at Lufroyg, the ten year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But there’ve been a push.

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[SPEAKER_01]: for more liquid, for more tenure, but as a result, there are extensions of the portfolio that now are hitting the market, certainly older expressions as we tasted and what’s exciting for me these days are the single barrel offerings that before I was produced either

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[SPEAKER_01]: at the distillery itself, the distillery only single barrels or the single barrel program that they have recently launched in the United States.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that meant in the air that you and I drank a few weeks ago was unbelievable.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That’s, you know, one of the highlights of the year certainly for me is that man’s in the United States.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And now that was just like, oh my, I know we’ve got a lot of stuff to do, but like, let’s just take a moment and realize how great this is.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And we did that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Go.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, my, my hats off to the visitor center staff at LaFlyg for selecting that cast really is really beautiful, beautiful drum.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, so with Centauri and with, you know, obviously, and a very extensive portfolio, you know, for you on, on, in, in your role has that increased the fun.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, absolutely, with Centauri purchasing the beam and lafreig, we brought on board, and I was then exposed to boomer more intimately.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I have a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a book and a

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think it’s on Gary’s my next rabbit hole that I want to go on with you.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We got to figure out a Glimgiri.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, because I’m watching obviously you brought one to Doc’s event that I was with you in June.

21:42.230 –> 21:45.954
[SPEAKER_00]: And I noticed that dad’s, you know, who’s at Edinburgh.

21:46.054 –> 21:48.336
[SPEAKER_00]: He’s been doing a lot more Glimgiri chatting.

21:48.396 –> 21:49.898
[SPEAKER_00]: I know we drank one.

21:50.038 –> 21:58.326
[SPEAKER_00]: We drank one in Edinburgh, you know, at the whisky bar and on just like me and like that’s a whisky that’s got a story.

21:58.306 –> 22:10.155
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, it’s one of the oldest distilleries in the licensed distilleries in Scotland, Glingiri, and it’s just a beautiful little

22:11.789 –> 22:22.242
[SPEAKER_01]: built in old meldrum, the town of old meldrum, it sits in the heart of the town and it’s got a great heart itself.

22:22.803 –> 22:37.982
[SPEAKER_01]: The liquid coming off the stills is really a beautiful spirit and it ages

22:37.962 –> 22:44.633
[SPEAKER_01]: great character and one of the unsung heroes of the Santori Global Scotch portfolio.

22:45.014 –> 22:51.324
[SPEAKER_01]: But there’s a ton of developing development that’s gone on in Glengiri.

22:52.286 –> 23:04.746
[SPEAKER_01]: The folks at Santori have been using Glengiri as kind of the laboratory for

23:04.726 –> 23:26.532
[SPEAKER_01]: at old traditional aspects of whisky production, they are now direct fires, still heating the water still at Glenn Geary, which gives them an opportunity to really explore much deeper layers of flavor in the distillation process.

23:26.748 –> 23:43.137
[SPEAKER_01]: and they’ve also added in, they’ve reopened formaltings of clangiri, which is just phenomenal that they’ve gone back to these old traditional ways and to excel and new flavors.

23:46.559 –> 23:59.067
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that’s he, I mean, I just been blown away with a liquid and I’m just like, wow, like, this one’s going to, when it comes out, I want to go down that rabbit hole because everything I’ve drank so far has been spectacular.

23:59.789 –> 24:06.597
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I look forward to joining you at Glengiri, something sampling in the beginning.

24:06.617 –> 24:13.664
[SPEAKER_00]: We, after our last experience, I would just like a little bit more down time AKA not whiskey drinking.

24:13.945 –> 24:16.588
[SPEAKER_00]: Here’s, I mean, you know, came back from that trip.

24:16.628 –> 24:18.810
[SPEAKER_00]: I was pretty wrecked, you know, chill.

24:18.830 –> 24:20.031
[SPEAKER_00]: What do we do for cities?

24:20.132 –> 24:24.877
[SPEAKER_00]: Three hotels, four days, you know, huge distilleries and multiple experiences.

24:24.897 –> 24:27.720
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, like man, like I’m not 21 anymore.

24:29.185 –> 24:32.450
[SPEAKER_01]: But it was definitely an epic trip.

24:33.451 –> 24:44.488
[SPEAKER_00]: Magical, absolutely magical, because every time I go to Eilai, I just fall more and more in love down there, it’s still knock-on wood, it gloves to me, it’s untouched by silliness.

24:44.588 –> 24:52.059
[SPEAKER_00]: And I say silliness, like, if not overrun by random people everywhere, it’s like still managed to stay quaint and focused.

24:52.740 –> 24:58.348
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know that distillery tours are getting bigger and bigger and bigger, but they’ve managed to kind of still keep that under control.

24:58.767 –> 25:20.337
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think the fact that it’s island and it’s only accessible by planer by boat makes a huge difference, you know, when I think when they put the bear bridge into sky, that kind of.

25:22.291 –> 25:47.590
[SPEAKER_01]: inaccessibility, whether because the planes aren’t flying or the ferries are not sailing and it makes Isla a very magical place, it’s a very spiritual place as well, there have been people on Isla for millennia and the people are such an important part of the whisky itself.

25:48.633 –> 26:09.915
[SPEAKER_00]: 100% I mean everything is like a personal experience it’s it’s it’s it’s beautiful and it’s authentic You’re like the highest level, you know like it’s not like like it’s a beautiful place to realize that they were born and raised there and they wanted to work there You didn’t want to leave they wanted to stay and That’s actual person and you feel that love every time you have a connection there

26:10.418 –> 26:14.461
[SPEAKER_01]: And it comes from, they were villages that were established.

26:14.481 –> 26:20.727
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s small, tiny wee villages that were the distillery was the heart of that village.

26:21.627 –> 26:24.530
[SPEAKER_01]: There’s the cottages on the property at La Frouille.

26:24.990 –> 26:40.223
[SPEAKER_01]: There are the, what are now rooms for guests around the Beaumour cottages as well.

26:40.203 –> 27:00.591
[SPEAKER_01]: to the distilleries because when January and February the storms come and the island is inaccessible for a couple of months because of the weather you have to rely on your neighbors and that’s something that

27:00.571 –> 27:13.950
[SPEAKER_01]: And even if there’s a problem, you’ve got a problem with the stills and you need a part, you’re going to walk down the road to log of wool and then ask for some help.

27:14.751 –> 27:17.855
[SPEAKER_01]: There’s it’s much more of a community that will help each other.

27:17.896 –> 27:21.060
[SPEAKER_00]: It’s a beautiful thing.

27:21.175 –> 27:22.878
[SPEAKER_00]: So I’m, we’ve, we’ve crashed 30 minutes.

27:23.058 –> 27:26.804
[SPEAKER_00]: I gotta ask you one more big question and you take your time on this one.

27:26.845 –> 27:30.931
[SPEAKER_00]: You’ve got to see and do a lot of stuff in your 30 year career.

27:30.992 –> 27:39.225
[SPEAKER_00]: Are there one or two stand out pinch me moments when you like, man, like, if I would have thought back to the day when you were with, you know, what’s the captain?

27:39.686 –> 27:41.549
[SPEAKER_00]: I would never have thought I’d be doing this.

27:41.670 –> 27:44.314
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, you know, this is pretty cool.

27:44.294 –> 27:55.109
[SPEAKER_00]: And I always like, I always like, on that question, take you back to that first whiskey experience to where you are now and find one or two experiences in between that, that are those pinch me moments.

27:56.952 –> 28:13.896
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I would have to say one in particular was, when I was inducted in as a keeper of the quay, that happened, that’s going on 10 years ago now.

28:13.876 –> 28:32.813
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s a Blair Athel castle, which I’m a member of the Robertson clan, and the seat of the clan seat is just right outside Blair Athel, and so I invited my mom to be like guest.

28:32.793 –> 28:44.625
[SPEAKER_01]: And at the castle to receive the induction, and we were piped into the castle.

28:46.462 –> 29:12.537
[SPEAKER_01]: The whole evening with such a magical night really brought everything full circle back from my grandfather and then my mother being witness to the recognition of the contributions that I’ve made to the industry, which really pale in comparison to the producers who

29:12.517 –> 29:17.145
[SPEAKER_01]: who are really the foundation of this industry, the heart of the industry.

29:17.746 –> 29:29.968
[SPEAKER_01]: But as advocacy has become such a big part of the business, I have been fortunate enough to be able to

29:31.788 –> 29:42.784
[SPEAKER_01]: be a part of that community and really meet and work with the most amazing people and it and I get to talk about where I come from.

29:42.844 –> 29:59.247
[SPEAKER_01]: I get to breach the gospel of Scotch and Scotland and this is the spirit of the land so that certainly is one one of the defining moments

29:59.227 –> 30:13.366
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the others was, when we had a friends of LaForeix gathering, we invited as many friends of LaForeix to come to Island, 300 people showed up, 10% of the population out of the island showed up.

30:13.807 –> 30:16.070
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody got a pair of boots and a glass and a flag.

30:16.791 –> 30:20.356
[SPEAKER_01]: We all marched out to the field and spelled out F-O-L in people.

30:21.317 –> 30:21.978
[SPEAKER_01]: Got a photograph.

30:22.138 –> 30:26.905
[SPEAKER_01]: The old group was a little ravi for Walu, like F-U-L, which just sent their own message.

30:26.885 –> 30:36.419
[SPEAKER_01]: but then they all came together and there was a gentleman from the Pacific Northwest who had passed away the prior and one of his wishes were that his ashes be spread on his plot.

30:37.241 –> 30:44.612
[SPEAKER_01]: So as Ambassador, I carried his ashes over and amongst 300 trends of LaFroy, we spread his ashes and raised a glass to his spirit.

30:45.413 –> 30:51.642
[SPEAKER_01]: To me, that speaks to the passion that people have for this whiskey that they’ll travel the world and beyond for a drum and the finest.

30:52.323 –> 30:54.867
[SPEAKER_01]: So we don’t call it Pete anymore, we call it Larry.

30:58.863 –> 31:10.308
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, there is something pretty special about that, you know, seeing the flyers lit, you know, 24-7 over there as we did on the last trip together, like, you know, Larry’s, Larry’s, Larry’s alive there.

31:10.328 –> 31:13.294
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, definitely grinding.

31:13.713 –> 31:14.775
[SPEAKER_00]: driving, driving.

31:15.075 –> 31:20.223
[SPEAKER_00]: I tell you one of the things I’ve manifested for a while is to become a keeper at some point.

31:20.803 –> 31:24.990
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this magical journey I’ve been on for the last 10 years has been life-changing.

31:25.630 –> 31:26.231
[SPEAKER_00]: It really adds.

31:26.271 –> 31:29.316
[SPEAKER_00]: I never thought I would get to meet so many amazing people.

31:29.817 –> 31:33.883
[SPEAKER_00]: I never thought I’d get to drink, of course, so much amazing whiskey and be around.

31:34.523 –> 31:41.053
[SPEAKER_00]: So much amazing whiskey, but really learning the story of each distillery has been the epic part of it.

31:41.033 –> 31:56.653
[SPEAKER_00]: because there’s just something special about these multi-hundred-year-old establishments that, you know, just continue to spread the gospel, you know, for lack of better words.

31:56.753 –> 32:03.181
[SPEAKER_00]: And that I would never have ever thought when I got into this ten years ago would be something I would see.

32:04.743 –> 32:06.585
[SPEAKER_00]: It really is the water of life.

32:09.316 –> 32:14.526
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, from all levels, I mean, it just flows and it’s amazing what it does and it brings communities together.

32:14.546 –> 32:23.142
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think, you know, like you, I get to travel globally and meet people and bring stuff and and see different communities around the world and just go like, wow.

32:23.402 –> 32:24.885
[SPEAKER_00]: This is all from whiskey.

32:25.185 –> 32:26.127
[SPEAKER_00]: This is wild.

32:26.950 –> 32:28.492
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it will continue.

32:28.552 –> 32:34.300
[SPEAKER_00]: We’ll continue on after I think it’s about I think it’s about to even go to another whole gear.

32:34.320 –> 32:48.840
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we’re about to, I think we’re about to engage a whole other gear on the bike of whiskey that nobody would foresee because these distilleries are now so welcoming and so open.

32:48.820 –> 32:54.370
[SPEAKER_00]: and the opportunity for people to continue to learn hands-on is going to be next level.

32:54.430 –> 33:00.943
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like the last 10 years because of online and social, etc., has kind of been like training day.

33:00.963 –> 33:04.529
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you’re going to get these people on airplanes to get them there.

33:04.950 –> 33:06.593
[SPEAKER_00]: And that’s a whole

33:07.130 –> 33:08.331
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.

33:08.371 –> 33:11.856
[SPEAKER_01]: There’s an an ebb and flow to the business.

33:12.056 –> 33:16.641
[SPEAKER_01]: I compare it to the waves lapping at the shores of our distillery.

33:16.681 –> 33:21.347
[SPEAKER_01]: And we’ll go through some challenging times right now.

33:21.387 –> 33:23.870
[SPEAKER_01]: But we will, we will survive.

33:24.331 –> 33:36.225
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, La Proig and Beaumor and Glengiri and all contoshin, they have been around since the early 1800s.

33:36.205 –> 33:52.729
[SPEAKER_01]: the early 1800s, that’s crazy, and through survive, through world wars, and through famine, and all the different challenges, and are still standing.

33:53.182 –> 33:55.444
[SPEAKER_01]: and not just standing thriving.

33:56.225 –> 33:56.665
[SPEAKER_01]: Private.

33:57.886 –> 34:00.809
[SPEAKER_00]: And there’s ones that are being brought out back alive.

34:01.189 –> 34:09.417
[SPEAKER_00]: The mothballed ones are coming like it’s just like, I’m telling you, I just I feel like we’ve got a whole other package that’s coming in as far as the changes.

34:09.977 –> 34:18.044
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I see a lot of it, you know, horrifically and to me it’s like it’s going to be trimming the fat that should never have been there.

34:18.565 –> 34:22.108
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and going back to basics in my opinion.

34:22.848 –> 34:28.995
[SPEAKER_01]: And whisky is a very primal spirit.

34:29.897 –> 34:36.525
[SPEAKER_01]: And particularly the isle whisky, you feel like you’re sitting around a campfire.

34:36.545 –> 34:50.121
[SPEAKER_01]: And it takes you back to… family, it takes you back to origins and it takes you back to a very a simple time.

34:52.649 –> 34:56.436
[SPEAKER_00]: It gives you a chance to actually as a human being to be patient and relax.

34:56.876 –> 35:03.809
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it comes back to that that patients and, you know, it takes ten years to make LaForeille tenure.

35:03.869 –> 35:06.554
[SPEAKER_01]: We ask you to take more than ten seconds to enjoy it.

35:06.994 –> 35:14.708
[SPEAKER_01]: And during that time, you’re making friends with new friends and re-according with all that’s about the spirit within the spirit.

35:16.628 –> 35:17.529
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it’s beautiful.

35:17.549 –> 35:19.712
[SPEAKER_00]: Well I can’t thank you enough for coming on the show.

35:20.513 –> 35:22.196
[SPEAKER_00]: I really enjoy my time with you.

35:22.656 –> 35:24.940
[SPEAKER_00]: I look forward to many more special times with you.

35:25.681 –> 35:31.629
[SPEAKER_00]: I’m incredibly grateful to have people like you in my life because you just, you know, your passion is infectious.

35:32.590 –> 35:34.913
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, that’s that’s very special.

35:35.114 –> 35:46.129
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think brands need more people like you who really are carrying the torch for them because I think some of them lose sight of the fact of how important the people are.

35:46.801 –> 36:02.818
[SPEAKER_01]: more Gavin, it’s a pleasure sharing drums with you and stories, wherever we can do that, I will always look forward to the opportunity and until our next drum together.

36:02.798 –> 36:05.362
[SPEAKER_00]: It’s Laundry Vaughan, and it’s Laundry Vaughan, my friend.

36:05.562 –> 36:06.744
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate you.

36:06.784 –> 36:08.868
[SPEAKER_00]: I can’t thank everyone for listening so much.

36:08.888 –> 36:14.477
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we’re a promise to you and I started this passion podcast about whiskey lovers.

36:14.517 –> 36:16.500
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, almost two and a half years ago.

36:16.540 –> 36:20.086
[SPEAKER_00]: It’s not longer that I would bring on people that truly carry the spirit.

36:20.907 –> 36:22.569
[SPEAKER_00]: And it’s continuous to be fun.

36:22.630 –> 36:24.372
[SPEAKER_00]: And there’s no sign of stoppage.

36:24.392 –> 36:26.055
[SPEAKER_00]: We’ve got amazing guests.

36:26.035 –> 36:27.958
[SPEAKER_00]: and thanks Simon enough for taking the time.

36:28.079 –> 36:31.364
[SPEAKER_00]: Please everybody, when you listen to the show, take a minute to give it a rating.

36:31.825 –> 36:36.293
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate everybody and until next time, thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone for listening.

36:36.594 –> 36:37.896
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon, thank you again, my friend.

36:38.597 –> 36:39.559
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, peace.

36:40.100 –> 36:40.821
[SPEAKER_00]: And that’s a wrap.