September 17, 2024 • 43 mins
We're thrilled to share our recent chat with 2024 Global Icon of Whiskey and founder of Stories & Sips and Irish Whiskey Experiences Barry Chandler.
Special guest cohosts Brigid McCabe and Ian Perez join host Jimmy Moreland for a freewheeling chat about Barry's journey to Irish whiskey stardom, with some great discussion about the state of the whiskey category, and what brands can do to stand out in a crowded market.
Follow Barry Chandler: Instagram
Stories & Sips: Website | Instagram
Irish Whiskey Experiences: Website | Instagram
More info about MHW at https://www.mhwltd.com/
Follow us! LinkedIn | Instagram
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the MHW Mark podcast where we take deep
dives into various aspects ofthe alcohol industry.
My name is Jimmy Moreland.
Mhw is a US and EU beveragealcohol importer, distributor
and service provider.
On the show I am pleased towelcome back Ian Perez and to
welcome for the first timeBridget McCabe.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you so much, Jimmy.
It's wonderful to be on.
I am a big fan of the podcast.
I listen to every episode, soI'm very, very excited to have
my first episode here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
We finally got you.
Your name has been a name thathas been sort of circulating
through the air, both on thepodcast and behind the scenes,
and we finally got you on thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yes, yes.
So Cassidy, who is on my team,really has driven the podcast
and she's done an excellent jobwith it, in concert with you,
jimmy, and with Ian, andtypically, as is for a marketing
and PR person, I enjoy being inthe background, I enjoy
promoting the team and, you know, making sure that we constantly
(01:09):
have spotlight on everyone else, so it's it's fun to kind of be
in this seat for the day.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I'm imagining Cassidy , you know, roaming the halls of
MHW with a blow dart gun justtrying to bag the next podcast
host dart gun just trying to bagthe next podcast host.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yes, absolutely.
I don't know if you've seenthose Instagram reels of
companies talking about, oh man,the marketing team is coming
and they're always like on theirphones recording things and I
have to say that that's prettytrue to form.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Oh no, I just got an email and Jimmy is CC'd on it.
Oh God.
Well, ian, welcome back.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, it's always a pleasure and we're going to be
talking with Irish Whiskey Barry, which I'm super excited about,
so always happy to do thepodcast, especially when there's
some Irish folks on it.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Tell us how did we get to where we are today, to
where we're having thisconversation with our guest.
It's a great conversation, buthow did this relationship sort
of start?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, so Barry Chandler is a longtime friend of
mine.
I've known him since he was inColumbus Ohio and on the cover
really of Columbus Magazine.
He's really a part of the fabricof the community there and I
would say a lot of formerColumbus residents actually know
him and at the time he wasdoing bar blogger kits and
(02:28):
helping bars and restaurantswith SEO and so that was really
educational tool for me at thetime and to sort of see this
collaboration and journey tobring a lot of American and
global consumers into the foldof his stories and sips and
Irish whiskey experiences.
I really thought that Brand'slistening could benefit from
(02:52):
hearing his insights on a veryevolved and interested whiskey
consumer in the US as well asways that they can really get in
the hands of these evangelistsBecause they really are.
When I joined the whiskey livestreams that Barry has done,
they are asking questions,they're engaged.
It's some of the most engagedconversation that I've seen
around, like a beverage alcoholconsumer group.
(03:13):
So I'm really excited to havehim on and Ian has worked
closely with him on some boardBIA opportunities, so I think
we're going to get some reallygreat conversation here today.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Well, all right, let's get to it.
Let's get down to work here.
Our guest today is an Irishwhiskey evangelist, founder of
both the interactive communityStories and Sips and the global
tourism company Irish WhiskeyExperiences.
He was recently named GlobalIcon of Whiskey, winner 2024 by
the World Whiskey Awards.
Welcome to the show, barryChandler.
Thank you very much.
(03:47):
Delighted to be here.
It's amazing to have you onhere.
I'm going to have loads andloads of questions that we won't
be able to get to on thepodcast, because this is an
industry podcast, not an IrishWhiskey Fanboy podcast.
Let's jump right in, shall we?
I know, bridget, we've got someactual productive questions to
get to, so I'll let you take thefloor.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, well, absolutely.
Thank you, Barry, for joiningus today.
We're really happy to have you.
I think the last time the MHWconnected with you you actually
had our former president, johnBeaudet, on your Stories and
Sips webinar to talk about how awhiskey actually gets to the US
in the three-tier system, whatthat sometimes clunky process
(04:29):
looks like, and I know he had somuch fun.
So we're so excited that wehave this podcast now and we can
have you in the other seat andreally get to pick your brain.
And you've led some really,really important roles and have
a pretty storied career.
So when I met you I don't evenknow how long ago this was, but
at this point, probably maybe 12, 13 years ago you were very the
(04:51):
bar blogger and you know.
Very quickly after that youwere on Columbus Magazine's
cover for all the contributionsthat you made to the city, which
was very cool.
If you you know, live or haveknown about Columbus Ohio, it's
a really really interesting andculturally diverse city and
there's a ton to do.
I think Columbus doesn't getenough credit, by the way.
(05:12):
We'll put that out there.
And then you transferred on tobe Chief Marketing Officer of
NTN BuzzTime.
You've had lifetimes ofhospitality experience prior to
that, I think at one point Iremember you telling me you were
even in cruise operations andplanning.
So I just would love to hear alittle bit about your background
from your perspective and howyou became the Irish Whiskey
(05:35):
Blogger, how you created Storiesand Sips and your own Irish
Whiskey and now you have atourism company, irish Whiskey
Experiences.
So sort of what led you on thejourney to get to where you are
today.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
That's quite the eulogy that you've read out
there.
It sounds like a lot when youread it out, but yeah.
I've been interested in whiskeyfor a while, but it was only in
the last eight years that I'veturned my hand to it in a more
professional capacity.
So, living in Columbus, ohio,where we met many, many years
ago, I was taking part in anannual bike ride called
(06:09):
Pelotonia to raise money forcancer research in Ohio, in the
James Cancer Research Center inColumbus, and I was really drawn
to the community approach tothis bike ride and raising funds
where 100% of the funds wouldgo directly to fighting cancer.
I thought I'm in, and by thethird year, fourth year, there
were thousands and thousands ofpeople riding in this bike ride,
(06:30):
this 180 mile ride one weekend,and everybody was asking
everybody in the city fordonations to their ride.
And by the time it was yearfour, year five maybe, I was
tapping out all of my contacts.
Nobody had any money left togive for donations and I needed
to reach a certain target.
And somebody suggested to methat I host an Irish whiskey
tasting to raise money and myfirst response was well, I don't
(06:51):
know anything about Irishwhiskey.
And they said well, you have anIrish accent, don't you?
And I said good enough for me.
And so I went to the localsupermarket and just bought
whatever labels looked theprettiest on Irish whiskey and
to tell you, I knew nothingabout Irish whiskey.
I mean, I was grabbing whiskeyfrom distilleries like Jameson
Distillery.
I grew up 12 miles from theJameson Distillery but I
remember looking at the labeland saying, oh wow, jameson's
(07:14):
made in Cork.
You know, I didn't knowanything.
So I just took these lovelylabels home and I Googled them
and figured out okay, I canprobably tell some stories
around these things invited somefriends to join, charge them
$50 a head, I paid for thewhiskey and all the money went
to cancer research and it was somuch fun.
None of us knew anything aboutthe whiskey but we started
(07:35):
talking about them.
They had loads of questions.
I wrote down the questions, Iwent home and I researched and I
called them next day and say,okay, you asked, you asked me
this question, here's the answer.
And then I did another tastingthe next day and invited more
friends and there was morequestions and I thought this is
actually really interesting.
There's lots that I didn't knowabout my own country and I felt
quite proud actually of thewhiskeys that were being
(07:56):
produced and the stories that Iwas discovering.
So I just took my phone at thetime and I remember recording
some answers to the questionsinto the phone and then just
messaging them to my friends.
And then somebody said youshould put those up on YouTube.
And so I put them up on YouTubeand then I thought, okay, this
is really interesting, let's domore of these.
Then somebody asked me if I doanother tasting and then a
corporate tasting, come into mycompany and do a tasting.
(08:17):
And I remember about two weeksafter doing these, I got this
Instagram message.
A company slid into my DMs andsaid whoa, whoa, whoa, what are
you doing with our Irishwhiskeys?
I got very worried.
Like, am I not supposed to bedoing things with Irish whiskeys
?
I know it's a very legalminefield.
And it turns out it was adistributor for Irish whiskeys
and they said look, we want totalk to you.
(08:38):
And I was very worried.
I said, okay, that's the end ofthe fundraising now.
So they asked me to come totheir office and I went to their
office and they said we noticedthat you're using our whiskeys
for your fundraising.
We notice you're tellingstories about those whiskeys and
we noticing you're gatheringpeople around for kind of a
community events around them.
I said I am.
And they said well, we havethree goals this year.
(08:59):
One is to use our whiskeys forfundraising.
The second is to educate peoplemore in Irish whis.
And the third is to gathercommunities around the whiskeys
to chat how can we support you?
And I didn't know what to say.
And they said look, can we giveyou all the whiskeys you need
for your tastings?
I said yes, you can.
And it started like that.
They gave me the whiskeys, theyeducated me on the whiskeys, I
learned more about them and Ijust started going on social
(09:21):
media and talking about them andbecame really interested in it.
So it started as a fundraisingeffort.
It remained that way forprobably three or four years.
When COVID struck and we wereall relegated to our homes, I
really doubled down on WhiskeyTalk and Whiskey Communication
and created a Facebook groupwhere people could join and I
could answer questions, and thatjust blew up to like 10,000
(09:44):
people over COVID.
I started doing a live stream ona Friday night during COVID
just to talk to people who werestuck at home about Irish
whiskey, about what I'd learned.
And the first night we wentlive.
3,000 people tuned in and Idon't know where they came from,
but everyone was at home andnobody had anything to do.
And I did it again the nextFriday night and the next Friday
night, and so for 63 Fridays ina row I did a live stream and
(10:06):
that's what really created thisStories and Sips community and a
following of Irish whiskey thatI was happy to be the flag
waver of to begin with, andultimately that's led into
things like a whiskey clubonline community and now a tour
company as well.
But it was all you know.
I have no qualifications of anysort to be talking about this,
(10:27):
but what I lack in that area, Idefinitely make up for in
curiosity and just reallypassionate about sharing the
story of Irish whiskey.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I love that so much because I think sometimes people
think about the beveragealcohol industry as being a
little bit gatekeepy.
That's feedback that I've heardin the past and I think part of
it is like the bar for entry.
You know, a lot of times youcan't work within a bar in the
US until you're 21 plus.
(10:55):
So a lot of students, asthey're going through college
experiences, can actually, youknow, access these internships
and, as a result, what they'reinterning in they tend to kind
of go in that direction.
And so that has been somefeedback I've heard and I really
love that.
You've sort of opened thecommunity for people that are
curious like yourself and, youknow, may not know a lot, I
think you know, having theability to ask questions and not
(11:18):
be shamed for it and to kind ofexploring and trying different
types of Irish whiskey, andknowing that you know you have a
community that embraces you, Ithink is really really cool.
And you know, and you've sortof kept that through every
initiative that you've done,you've kind of taken that fabric
now over from Stories and Sipsand the Whiskey Lock and
Livestream and brought that overto Irish whiskey experiences
(11:40):
and I think that makes people sointerested to travel and to
experience and to try all thefantastic liquid that Ireland
has to offer, firm in theirbeliefs and refuse to allow
(12:04):
people to have a differentopinion in certain corners of
the world of whiskey.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
And it frustrates me no end and I would fight that
and I'll die on the hill offighting that that this is not
that important a topic that weneed to get stressed over or
have heart attacks about.
It's whiskey.
And I think there's a greatopportunity for us to open the
door, widen, really enlarge thetent and say everyone is welcome
(12:29):
to enjoy this, because there'sgreat people, great places,
great stories behind the pours.
If we'd only just stoppedtelling people how they should
drink it, how they should enjoyit, what you must do, you
mustn't do anything, just enjoyit Like it's that simple.
You could drink it out of aboot or a bucket, I wouldn't
care, as long as you enjoy it.
So I think that's yeah, that'svery important to me.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And you really built this loyal and passionate
whiskey community globally, butfirst starting on that really
like that local level ofColumbus and then building it
out from there.
I know when I've joined some ofyour lock and live streams
there have been folks fromAtlanta, from Los Angeles, I
(13:11):
mean really all over the US butreally starting with the US
market.
So, having spoken and been inperson with the folks that are
really, you know, evangelists ofwhiskey and are the people that
you really want behind yourbrand, what kind of advice do
you give to whiskey brands whoare looking to succeed in the US
market, knowing how crowded itcan be?
Speaker 4 (13:27):
It's very challenging .
And when we think about theIrish whiskey market in the US,
we're really talking about theJameson market predominantly
because it makes up such a largepercentage of Irish whiskey and
there's no getting around thatwhether it's 80, 90 percent, I
don't know what the statisticsare in the US, which leaves this
smaller percentage that'sdivided up among hundreds of
other brands.
I mean, last year in Irelandthere were a thousand whiskey
(13:47):
labels approved by the Irishgovernment.
Some of those will go.
Many of those will go to the USand go to Europe.
They'll go off to Asia, butthat means that all of these
brands are competing against thedominant player that has been
in place since 1780.
And for a new brand to enterinto the market it can be quite
challenging and the US being,for all intents and purposes, 50
different countries to figureout from a federal and state
(14:08):
level and local level, it'sreally really challenging.
Where I've seen brands succeedis where they've focused on a
number of key markets, whetherthey're small markets to begin
with or markets where they feellike they can address them both
physically and digitally,through boots on the ground and
making connections online andbuilding as personal a
(14:29):
relationship and connectionsthey can with that market.
The challenge, with so manybrands all pitching for both
shelf space and for consumerattention, is that everybody
says the same thing my whiskeyis made from the finest barley,
aged in the finest hand-selectedoak casks.
Well, they can't all be thefinest barrels and they can't
all be the best barley.
Somebody got the not bestbarley.
(14:50):
But what we must, I think, leaninto is that behind the finest
barley and the finesthand-selected barrels are
individuals who have greatpassion, especially when we talk
about brands that are not thesebig, large multinationals but
are family-run,owner-operoperated, where they
have committed their time, theirtalent, their treasury, their
(15:10):
families, investment.
Everybody.
You know they're, they're,they're all in and they have
amazing stories to tell aboutwhy they get into that business.
And the brands have succeededthe most, from my perspective,
are those that have managed tostay personal while offering a
great product.
So we can't have great storiesand really heartwarming stories
about the individuals, butthere's horrible whiskey in the
(15:31):
bottle.
But if you've got good whiskeyand you've got a good product,
it's worth talking about how yougot there.
And my advice to brands oftenis to take your phone, walk to
where your whiskey is aging andjust start talking to us about
what's happening or where you'redistilling it and just record
it into your phone and don't beafraid about running it through
16 filters of marketing agenciesand approvals to get that out
(15:52):
there.
Just start talking to us.
And I think that's the biggestopportunity for smaller brands
is to not be afraid to lean intothe highs and lows of the
personal challenges of running awhiskey brand.
That's what we connect to andpeople buy from people in any
industry in the world.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Ari, you kind of answered one of my questions
just in that in terms of likebridging the gap between like
the Jamesons and newer entrantsinto the United States.
But from my experience in theUS, because of like Jameson's
dominance, irish whiskey tendsto kind of come across as kind
of affordable, more costeffective compared to the likes
of Scotch.
So how do you think brands canstart to kind of change mindsets
(16:32):
of consumers to kind of morehigher end products?
So when it is likeThanksgivings and Christmases
and holiday seasons that peopleare thinking about Irish
products versus like an agedScotch or a 12 year old as an
example?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I think it's a great question and I will preface it
by saying that we owe atremendous debt of gratitude to
James and Pernod Ricard forbuilding the marketplace for
other brands to stand on theshoulders of them.
There's no doubt about it andthey're tremendously supportive
of the category and the industry, helping others get into it.
But it is unique because if welook at the scotch whiskey
market we can't really point toone single scotch whiskey brand
(17:05):
and say that is the scotchwhiskey industry, whereas in the
irish whiskey industry we can.
For many people jameson isirish whiskey and irish whiskey
is jameson.
It's like in ireland every wecall every vacuum cleaner a
hoover.
For some reason ho Hooverbecame the dominant brand right,
and that was just the thing.
And in Ireland every SUV is aJeep, even though they're
Toyotas.
So I think in Irish whiskey itis a bigger challenge.
(17:27):
I think we need more outspokenvoices from the craft whiskey
industry and them to be given aplatform to be able to talk
about the complexities, therange of flavour profiles, to
move away from entrenchedviewpoints that were needed in
the 1960s and 70s, to establishIreland as a kind of a, to
(17:51):
re-compete with the Scots andthe Americans and using phrases
like unlike the Scots, our whiswhiskey is smoother.
You know, and you've got thesephrases about smooth Irish
whiskey.
If I want something that'ssmooth, I'll grab a glass of
water, but if I want somethingthat's complex and full of
flavor, I'll reach for a whiskey, and probably an Irish whiskey.
And I think we've lost thatconfidence of leaning into.
(18:13):
No, actually, don't be afraidof people saying that's quite
harsh, like, whiskey is notsupposed to be a glass of water,
it is supposed to be complex.
And that's what we're actuallyseeking if we really want a
whiskey.
But Jameson, I think, hassucceeded in cornering the
market of approachable and easy,and that's fine too.
So smaller brands are going tohave to step up and say in
(18:36):
addition to how you've perceivedwhiskey in the past, did you
know we also have this approach,this style, this flavor profile
?
And that's going to be thebiggest challenge, I think, is
changing viewpoints on that,because every time I talk about
Irish whiskey to an Americanaudience, they'll either talk
about their first everexperience with Jameson, which
was probably three o'clock inthe morning on the floor of a
(18:58):
bar, or they'll talk aboutproper number 12 and what's my
viewpoints on that.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
And so like these seem to be the two dominant
brands that are getting theattention in the US at the
moment.
No, it's interesting because interms of like non-alcoholic
products, like Ireland alwaysseems to be like top of the list
in terms of like high quality,high production methods, so like
in terms of like all of thebeef and dairy.
So I really hope that kind ofthe whiskey space can kind of
bridge that gap and kind of beseen as a premium, like go-to
for high-end products versussomething that's kind of, like
(19:26):
you said, more affordable.
Yeah, one of my favorite videosthat you posted relatively
recently was the JJ Corey Cliffsof Mower whiskey collaboration
that you guys did and seeinglike new brands like Waterford
doing something interesting withall of the different terroir in
terms of all of their differentgrains that they're getting
from different farms and puttingthat on it.
How important is that?
And can you see more brandsdoing that, especially since
(19:49):
Ireland's such a small island?
But even though there is vastdifferences from like one coast
to the next, even though it'slike a relatively short
geographical distance?
Speaker 4 (19:56):
so what you're referring to there is the sense
of place really that has beenadopted or embraced by a number
of brands.
You talk about JJ Corrie, theindependent whiskey bonder in
the west of Ireland, and wecollaborated and we took some of
their whiskey barrels fromtheir family farm and we moved
them 20 miles to the top of theCliffs of Moher and locked them
in a tower for a couple ofmonths and just used the
(20:17):
atmospheric changes in pressureto affect the whiskey.
And it was not a scientificexperiment and it was a fun
experiment to see what wouldhappen in climatic conditions
like that, while being the firstto age a whiskey on top of the
cliffs of Moher.
Now, whether something likethat is important is an
individual decision, because Ican't say does that make the
whiskey better or worse?
Well, that's not for me to say.
Does that make the whiskeybetter or worse?
(20:38):
Well, that's not for me to say.
I enjoyed the whiskey I drank,but what we discovered that we
only had it was a very smallrelease 210 bottles came out of
three casks and they weresnapped up in an hour.
But to the people who bought it, they wanted something that
connected them to that place andthey thought it was a great
story and they wanted to tastewhat whiskey tasted like, that
aged on top of the cliffs ofMoher, with With Waterford
Whiskey, who are doingincredible things by taking the
(21:01):
focus which is a reallyinteresting idea that for the
last 50 years, maybe 100 years,whiskey making has been
considered an industrial processfull of copper and chrome and
pipes and certainly wood.
But there was one key elementalmost forgotten the poor man or
woman who grew the barley inthe first place.
And the farmers were overlooked.
Because we moved in the pastcentury to a more commercial
(21:24):
approach to farming Biggertractors and combine harvesters
and the soil started to becompressed more with heavy
machinery and we used morechemicals in order to get better
yields and we developed diseaseresistant crops, and so this
moved us away from how we grewgrain.
Historically, had the idea, thehypothesis, that if we could go
(21:46):
back to how whiskey or barleyprimarily barley used to be
grown 100, 200 years ago, wecould access flavor profiles
that have been lost throughcommercial industrial methods.
And they took it even furtherby saying let's plant barley in
individual farms and let ustrack that farm's yield all the
way through to the whiskey inour glass.
(22:06):
Keep that barley separatethrough malting, through brewing
, through distillation, throughmaturation and bottling, so that
we can have five bottles in ourhands and each one could have
the same barley, be produced thesame way but come from
different farms and we should beable to taste the difference.
And they were able to provescientifically through gas
spectrometry and chromatography,that there were taste and
(22:28):
profile differences on each ofthose farms, which is
fascinating because it allows usto say well, to learn over time
through all these data points.
If we want to create a certainflavour profile, we might need
John's Farm at this elevationage for this period of time, and
we now have all these levers topush and pull.
Whether that's important topeople, only the market will
(22:48):
determine.
And whether it makes better orworse whiskey, again only the
market will determine.
But what we're seeing for thefirst time is choice and vision
and risk taking by people whorecognize that there's a big
enough market to take risks,whereas 20, 30 years ago we
definitely didn't have thatluxury.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
No, it's so interesting because, to your
point like if it's better orworse, it's so subjective.
But just being different, Ithink, is really important.
And we talk to new brands allthe time and that's one thing we
kind of preach about justtrying to do something different
, to stand out either on shelfor in their marketing campaigns
or whatever they're doing.
And in terms of like MHW, likewe're very fortunate, we tend to
(23:28):
be one of the first places thatnew brands reach out to in
terms of like learning about theunited states, so we kind of
get the first kind of um.
Look at some new emerging irishwhiskey brands.
Are there any ones inparticular that you're super
excited about in terms of likeinnovation or anything
interesting that they're doingthat we might not be aware of?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
we're at a all-time high of volume being produced in
terms of whisky.
Now in Ireland we just crossedthe 50 distillery mark in
Ireland for the first time inmore than 100 years, which is
amazing.
More than half of thosedistilleries have whisky out in
the market now at this stage,and the rest of them are just
waiting for their barrels tocome out of their slumber.
A couple of brands that standout to me as doing really
(24:06):
interesting things and may notget the attention they deserve.
One is Short Cross Whiskey,which comes from Redem in a
state.
There in County Down in thetown of Crossgar, Husband and
wife team set up a distilleryand he's a former rocket, a
rocket engineer, and he hasapplied his engineering skills
to the distillery and they'remaking amazing whiskeys
engineering skills to thedistillery and they're making
(24:28):
amazing whiskeys peated singlemalt, single pot, still whiskeys
.
They're doing reallyinteresting distillations.
He's technically obsessed andso constantly playing around at
really long fermentation timesto develop extra flavor early on
in the whiskey making processand then really investing in
high-end barrels that haven'tbeen used historically instead
of going for a regular, justregular Virgin American white
oak, choosing things likechinkapin oak and leaning into
(24:51):
examples that he's come acrossin both the craft American
whiskey industry and the craftAmerican beer industry and
applying those to ShorecrossWhiskey Really big fan of
Shorecross.
Fiona and David Boyd Armstrongare the founders.
And then another distillery andwhiskey brand is Killowen
Distillery.
Probably I think it's thesecond smallest Irish whiskey
distillery on the island and ifyou compare their size give you
(25:13):
some sense of the size.
The Middleton distillery thatproduces Jameson rolls out about
3000 barrels of whiskey a day.
Killohan Distillery rolls outabout two barrels a week and it
is a highly economicallychallenging environment, no
doubt to be producing thatlittle spirit, but they have
very small stills.
But they are making maybe someof the most flavorful whiskeys
(25:34):
on the island and they'reshowing us that with a very slow
, economically disadvantageousprocess we as consumers get to
taste very flavorful whiskeys atthree years of age where other
distilleries with their bulkmass approach may require a lot
(25:54):
longer in the wood because earlyon they weren't able to afford
the time at fermentation and atdistillation in the small
quantities.
So I would put a three-year-oldwhiskey from Cullowen up there
with a 15-year-old whiskey fromanother distillery.
So those are two brands thatreally get me excited.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That's amazing and I think that just touches on what
you were saying before about.
You know there are someconsumers that will really reach
for the story.
They want to know that there'sthat rich story behind it and
then some that are really goingfor these complex flavor
profiles, and I think the onethat you just highlighted really
has both and really presents anopportunity for consumers to
(26:32):
try something different at ayounger age.
So that's really cool.
I'm going to have to pick up abottle of that, so I appreciate
that recommendation.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
And we at Stories and Sips, our whiskey club, we
collaborate with brands to bringsingle casks of whiskey to our
audience and both of thosebrands we worked with in the
past and the whiskeys wereleased from them were
massively voted, some of thefavorite whiskeys that people
had.
And it's not due to what we did, but rather we were able to
just bring small, small batchreleases to the market so that
(27:03):
people who love whiskey got totry something that would not
typically be available.
From a flavor perspective,certainly up until the last
three or four years you couldn'thave tasted these kind of
flavor profiles and, yeah, it'stestament to the work they're
putting in and I hope that theystay around long enough for us
to be drinking those whiskeysfor a long time.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think providing that level of
access, I mean, that's whatreally what we strive for at MHW
is to provide the smallerentrepreneurial brands this
platform of growth, and I thinkyou are very similar in that way
, in that you are taking a lotof brands that maybe wouldn't
look at certain US marketplaces,as you know, the next place to
(27:41):
go but you are introducing tothe consumer that is really
really ripe for that opportunityand that flavor profile.
And I think you know, just beingable to almost match those two
together is really important.
And you know, I hope that youcontinue this for many years,
even as your you know nextventures carry on, because I do
think consumers, they needsomeone that is willing to kind
(28:05):
of open them up and give themaccess to new opportunities
within.
I mean, you can go to the shelf,for example, and there's
hundreds of options, but to havesomeone sort of guide and show
you what your taste is and Ilike going back to what you had
mentioned previously about itdoesn't matter what your taste
is.
You could like, you know, theone that might be $12 on the
(28:26):
shelf, but if you like it, thenyou like it and that's what it
is.
So I think you know that's whatmakes your your experiences
really special and, that said,I'd love to really segue into um
all of these new incredibledistilleries, as well as
historical ones that are reallyheritage distilleries, um some
that are, you know, more tourism, uh showcases.
(28:47):
But I would love to understandmore about your Irish whiskey
experiences, how that companystarted, what you offer to
consumers who go abroad toIreland and what they can
experience.
And then I'd love to hear moreabout your partners and what
they bring to the company andreally just give the opportunity
(29:09):
for, hopefully, some brandslistening to get involved as
well, as with this Irish WhiskeyCruise that you have coming up.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
I would love to.
So the Irish WhiskeyExperiences Company came out of
a conversation over a fewglasses of whiskey as all the
best conversations come out ofand myself and a friend we were
live streaming Anthony Sheehy,who's the founder of Irish
Whiskey Auctions.
We were hosting a live streamone night and talking about
auctions and sourcing rare oldwhiskeys and trying to how we
(29:37):
could help you get those, andthis mad idea came out.
Wouldn't it be amazing if wedid a tour of distilleries in
Ireland over a two week period?
We just got a bus, jumped onthe bus and the bus brought us
around all these distilleriesand we had dinners and hotels
all included and we didn't haveto worry about a thing.
And with the audience that wason at the time, everyone was
saying that's a great idea.
(29:57):
I would do that if youorganized it.
And we just kept spitballingthis over the course of an hour
and then we went to bed and thenext morning we woke up and
there were quite a few messagesin our inbox, each of us people
asking when are you doing thisIrish whiskey tour?
And we got back on the phonewith each other and we said this
seems like there's interest andour significant others talked
(30:17):
us out of a 14-day jaunt aroundIreland, claiming on medical
grounds it would be notrecommended, and so we thought
why don't we put together aseven-day trip around Ireland
and get a bus?
We'll call it the Whiskey Busand we will reach out in their
lives.
Well, the whiskey industry roseto meet us and laid on amazing
(30:50):
experiences opening casks ofwhiskey in warehouses, having
dinners beside the copper potstills, going underground to
where whiskeys used to be stored, and underneath the cities.
An unbelievable trip was plannedand executed back in 2022.
Was planned and executed backin 2022.
30 Americans joined us, oneIrishman and we had an amazing
time and we hit.
(31:11):
Let me see what was it Ninedistilleries, 16 pubs, we had 63
pours of whiskey over the sevendays and we got everybody home
safely.
And the first question we gotwas when are we doing it again?
So in 2023, we put some mannersto this thing and we created a
company called Irish WhiskeyExperiences and we planned two
whiskey buses in 2023.
And we hired a friend of ours,lauren McMullen, who spent 10
(31:36):
years working at Bushmills andshe had welcomed us on our first
whiskey bus to Bushmills andshe joined us and really put a
level of professionalism thateither me or Anthony couldn't
provide, and she polished thisup and we had two more sold out
whiskey buses.
And then 2024 came along twomore sold out whiskey buses.
And then, this time, we askedLauren if she'd become a
(31:58):
co-founder and a director andowner with us.
So Lauren now is the co-ownerof Irish Whiskey Experiences,
together with me and Anthony,and we're just about to welcome
our fifth bus full of guests inthe next week to Belfast for
seven days in the north, hittingAntrim and down.
And next year we just launchedour two whiskey buses for 2025.
We're doing one from Dublinacross the country to Galway and
(32:21):
then one from Dingle in thesouthwest of Ireland, up to Cork
.
And they've all been justamazing, amazing experiences,
and I'm a big believer thatwhiskey is more than the liquid
in the glass.
It is a chance to connect, it'sa chance for a community to be
built, it's a chance for amazingconversations to be had, for
great friendships to be made,and that's what these whiskey
(32:43):
buses have done.
Now we've had a lot of repeatbusiness on these buses.
In some cases, some of thebuses have had 60% repeat
business and the guests a coupleof guests said to us like
what's next?
You know, we've done a few ofyour buses, what's next?
And I threw around the idea of,well, you know why don't we get
in a boat?
And we'll sail around theCaribbean.
And people laughed and I didn'tand I thought, no, no, I'm
(33:05):
serious.
And so this idea again becamethe next thing.
So we had this idea to createthe Irish Whiskey Cruise and
that's what we've done and wehave chartered a portion of a
ship and in 2025, we are goingto Puerto Rico in November 2nd
November 2nd to 9th for sevendays around the Caribbean, seven
different islands, and we'rebringing whiskey brands with us
(33:26):
and they're going to be on boardtalking about whiskey, sampling
whiskey, and every island we goto, we're going to have an
Irish whiskey experience ashorein those islands and there'll be
a whiskey menu that we'redeveloping with lots of Irish
whiskey brands.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You're bringing Irish whiskey to all these Caribbean
islands.
There's going to be a new surgeof interest everywhere you go.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
Why not?
They gave us Rome for manyyears, so we're bringing whiskey
back to them and we're uh,we're about 80 sold out or
already with our, with ourcabins, so, which is great.
So I think we've got 12 cabinsleft to sell between now and
november 2025.
So that's irish whiskey.
Experience is really, in anutshell, is about experiences
that you wouldn't normally havearound irish whiskey.
(34:05):
You have with us and you havethem with the people who you
normally don't get access to,who make the whiskey, who own
the brands, who own thedistilleries, who are the
masters of their craft.
You get access to them to dofun things, whether it's sitting
by the pool on the cruisesipping on a Irish whiskey
cocktail, talking about tripledistillation, or whether it's
coming to Ireland and special 30year old barrels being opened
(34:29):
up just for you and even bottledup for you to take home bottles
because you're part of ourwhiskey bus.
That's what we're all aboutJust a lot of fun around Irish
whiskey.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Does it feel a little bit full circle for you, since
you used to work in cruise shipoperations?
People know that, barry, am Iallowed to say that?
Speaker 4 (34:43):
Yeah, no, it's fine.
In fact, we're going to thesame ship I worked on.
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I love that.
That is full circle, thenthat's incredible.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Yeah, I was in charge of purchasing food and beverage
purchasing for three ships, andone of the ships is the ship
that we're going to now use forour whiskey crew, so it was fun
visiting it recently and sittingin the same chair I sat in, but
now I'm the customer this timeand I can make demands and I can
ask for things.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Can I jump in here and ask on the, since we're
talking about whiskey tourism?
I visited Scotland a couple ofyears ago myself and sort of
whiskey tourism was a big partof my personal itinerary and I
made sure to hit some of thesedistilleries that we found on
the map.
But when we pulled up to thegate we found that they didn't
have it set up for any kind oftourism type activities.
(35:32):
They didn't have a tasting room, they didn't have it set up to
where you could even tour thegrounds.
How important do you think itis from your perspective for a
brand to capture some of thesetourists as they come over
mostly from America?
Speaker 4 (35:45):
It's a great question and I think it is an individual
decision on behalf of the brandin terms of what is their goal?
What are they trying to do?
There are whiskey brands thathave large contracts to supply
whiskey to supermarkets thatreally don't need anyone to ever
come visit them.
They just need to keep sendingcontainers to Asia and America
and, as long as they sell it andthe check clears, everyone's
(36:05):
happy and everyone got what theywanted.
There are other brands that arelooking to maybe it's to
establish a sense of place andhave a brand home and feel that
that's part of their marketingstory, and that is a huge part
for a lot of brands who are veryproud to talk about it.
Now, it's an expensiveundertaking and it's a lot of
work for the initial return onit, but some brands do feel like
(36:28):
they're not.
They're not at the races untilthey have a destination to point
to and say this is where we'remade, or this is where we blend,
or this is where we want you tocome and join us.
I think it is important for some, especially if you're going
down the road of trying to builda legacy brand over a long
period of time and build deep insome cases generational
(36:48):
connections.
The place is so important tothe person who, if their father
drank or their mother drank acertain whiskey and then as a
child you're like you see thisand when you're old enough you
want to drink it.
Then you think I want to go towhere that whiskey was made and
we do see so many people comingto Ireland and wanting to visit.
I want to go to to Middletondistillery.
(37:08):
That's where my dad alwaysdrank Middleton very rare.
Or I want to go to Bushmills.
I always remember my grandfatherhaving a little bottle of
Bushmills in the corner of thehouse.
It is important, that sense ofplace, and it's about just, yeah
, it's emotional and that it isa marketing tool.
I remember listening to FawnWeaver talk about building their
distillery in Kentucky andtheir place for Uncle Nearest
(37:30):
and their whiskey and how sheinsisted to her investors that
we needed millions and millionsand millions, because the
greatest marketing we can everdo is build a place that we can
come and point to and say thisis where the whiskey is from
right here, and it's animportant part of our marketing
and the best spend they couldever make.
And I think some brands arethinking exactly the same way in
Ireland.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Barry, I know I mentioned sort of like spending
some time in Scotland myselfdoing some whiskey tourism.
Let's talk about the Irishversus Scotch.
What's your take on thedifference or the merits of one
versus the other?
Let's go, let's make somecontroversy.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
I've been doing this far too long to be baited into
an answer like that.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
And I respect the hustle here and the quest for
soundbites.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
I knew you were going to go around this question.
Let me give you both adiplomatic and a proud answer.
If you're trying to get me todo the whole Irish versus
Scotland thing, I won't.
But what I will say is thisanytime I have produced any
videos that have talked aboutthe first mention of Aquavitae
or the Water of Life, which,incidentally, was in Ireland in
1324 and will be another 150years before it's in Scotland, I
(38:37):
get hate mail.
I get Scottish people who areso upset like they take it so
personally.
They don't like facts.
But what I will say is thatthere are great whiskeys in both
countries and I'll leave it atthat.
We don't need to go any further, whatever, you like, absolutely
.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I mean the more that we can grow the whiskey category
as a whole, and I think you'veeven said this too about Asian
whiskeys.
You're like it's interesting,but I'm glad that they're
growing the category.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
A hundred percent and I will say this the Scotch
whiskey industry has done aremarkable job of establishing
an interest in brown spiritsglobally.
But if you think about, therewas a time when Ireland far
outpaced the Scots in terms ofvolume production.
Today that's not even close.
The Scots produce I think it'sabout a billion bottles of
whiskey a year.
Ireland is about 140, 150million.
(39:28):
We don't have the capacity fromeither a distilling or a
maturation or a bottlingcapacity, to get anywhere near
the Scots, and we won't in ourlifetimes.
And it's not a competition.
Whatever you like, enjoy it andbuy more of it.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yes, I love that and I will say too.
I'll add and Ian is probablythe best suited to add to this,
having been with Warbia for anumber of years but you know,
the agricultural output thatIreland has is I mean, it's for
the size of the country it'sincredible.
So that's something thatthere's a lot of pride.
(40:04):
There's a lot of agriculturaland farming pride in Ireland
that I think carries over to thebottle.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
That's right.
All you need is a plate ofIrish soda bread and Kerrygold
butter and a glass of whiskey,and you're sorted.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
And do you mind if I ask you what the single best sip
of Irish whiskey you've everhad is?
Speaker 4 (40:24):
It'd be like choosing your favorite child and I it
depends.
I often liken favorite whiskeyto music.
Every day I'll listen todifferent tunes, depending on
the mood and the weather andwhether I'm happy or sad, and I
think it's the same with whiskey.
It's what appeals today, and Iwill say that the best
experiences around whiskey havebeen with people that make you
(40:46):
smile and laugh, and at thatstage it could be a $20 bottle
in your glass, it doesn't matter.
It's just about the experienceand the people that you're
having it with.
So I've yet to have a trulyawful Irish whiskey, and long
may that continue.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Well said, Sanja.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
To move away from the Scotch-Irish whiskey politics,
if you will.
We're going to ask a truly,just a straight-ahead, fun
question that we always ask ourguests on the show here, and
that is simply what is yourfavorite alcoholic beverage or
cocktail right now?
This doesn't have to be adesert island situation.
Just right now, what's on yourradar?
Speaker 4 (41:28):
We just released our 11th Irish whiskey at Stories
and Sips, collaborating withDunville's Irish whiskey, and
this is my favorite right nowand I'm drinking it every night,
and it's a 12-year-old singlemalt that has spent four years
in a Palo Cortado sherry caskand it is like you need a knife
and fork to drink it.
It's so thick and syrupy, it'sunbelievable.
And that's what I'm drinking alot of right now.
(41:48):
In terms of cocktails andalcoholic beverages, I stick to
Irish whiskey predominantly,mostly because there's only so
much a liver can take, and I'dlike to keep it with Irish
whiskey.
And then, in terms of cocktails, I like to use a rich, heavy,
heavily sherry Irish whiskey andan old fashioned and a classic
old fashioned Angostura, bitters, sugar syrup and Irish whiskey,
(42:10):
and then just a little a littlepiece of orange in there.
No, no cherries, no, no gardenin there, just a little bit of
orange.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
That's my favorite cocktail For listeners who want
to check out more and find outmore about stories and sips and
Irish whiskey experiences.
You can check out BarryChandler himself on Instagram
and on TikTok.
On Instagram he isIrishWhiskeyBarry.
You can also find stories andsips and Irish whiskey
experiences on that platform andother places.
We'll have links to all of thatin the show notes that you can
(42:41):
click.
It'll be easy to follow on yourplatform of choice and find out
more.
So thank you so much, barryChandler, for stopping by and
sharing your expertise and findout more.
So thank you so much, barryChandler, for stopping by and
sharing your expertise andstories with us.
Speaker 4 (42:50):
Thank you so much for having me.
This was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
And thank you listeners for joining us on the
MHW Mark podcast, and thanksagain to Bridget McCabe and Ian
Perez for joining me in hosting.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Thank you, thanks Jimmy, thanks Barry.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Sláinte, sláinte, this this podcast is produced by
me, jimmy Moreland, withbooking and planning support by
Cassidy Poe.
It's presented by MHW.
Find out more at mhwltdcom orconnect with MHW on LinkedIn.
Lend us a hand by subscribing,rating and reviewing this
podcast wherever you listen.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
We'll be back in your feed in two weeks.
We'll see you then, cheers.
Welcome to the MHW Mark podcast where we take deep
dives into various aspects ofthe alcohol industry.
My name is Jimmy Moreland.
Mhw is a US and EU beveragealcohol importer, distributor
and service provider.
On the show I am pleased towelcome back Ian Perez and to
welcome for the first timeBridget McCabe.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you so much, Jimmy.
It's wonderful to be on.
I am a big fan of the podcast.
I listen to every episode, soI'm very, very excited to have
my first episode here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
We finally got you.
Your name has been a name thathas been sort of circulating
through the air, both on thepodcast and behind the scenes,
and we finally got you on thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yes, yes.
So Cassidy, who is on my team,really has driven the podcast
and she's done an excellent jobwith it, in concert with you,
jimmy, and with Ian, andtypically, as is for a marketing
and PR person, I enjoy being inthe background, I enjoy
promoting the team and, you know, making sure that we constantly
(01:09):
have spotlight on everyone else, so it's it's fun to kind of be
in this seat for the day.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I'm imagining Cassidy , you know, roaming the halls of
MHW with a blow dart gun justtrying to bag the next podcast
host dart gun just trying to bagthe next podcast host.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yes, absolutely.
I don't know if you've seenthose Instagram reels of
companies talking about, oh man,the marketing team is coming
and they're always like on theirphones recording things and I
have to say that that's prettytrue to form.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Oh no, I just got an email and Jimmy is CC'd on it.
Oh God.
Well, ian, welcome back.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, it's always a pleasure and we're going to be
talking with Irish Whiskey Barry, which I'm super excited about,
so always happy to do thepodcast, especially when there's
some Irish folks on it.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Tell us how did we get to where we are today, to
where we're having thisconversation with our guest.
It's a great conversation, buthow did this relationship sort
of start?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, so Barry Chandler is a longtime friend of
mine.
I've known him since he was inColumbus Ohio and on the cover
really of Columbus Magazine.
He's really a part of the fabricof the community there and I
would say a lot of formerColumbus residents actually know
him and at the time he wasdoing bar blogger kits and
(02:28):
helping bars and restaurantswith SEO and so that was really
educational tool for me at thetime and to sort of see this
collaboration and journey tobring a lot of American and
global consumers into the foldof his stories and sips and
Irish whiskey experiences.
I really thought that Brand'slistening could benefit from
(02:52):
hearing his insights on a veryevolved and interested whiskey
consumer in the US as well asways that they can really get in
the hands of these evangelistsBecause they really are.
When I joined the whiskey livestreams that Barry has done,
they are asking questions,they're engaged.
It's some of the most engagedconversation that I've seen
around, like a beverage alcoholconsumer group.
(03:13):
So I'm really excited to havehim on and Ian has worked
closely with him on some boardBIA opportunities, so I think
we're going to get some reallygreat conversation here today.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Well, all right, let's get to it.
Let's get down to work here.
Our guest today is an Irishwhiskey evangelist, founder of
both the interactive communityStories and Sips and the global
tourism company Irish WhiskeyExperiences.
He was recently named GlobalIcon of Whiskey, winner 2024 by
the World Whiskey Awards.
Welcome to the show, barryChandler.
Thank you very much.
(03:47):
Delighted to be here.
It's amazing to have you onhere.
I'm going to have loads andloads of questions that we won't
be able to get to on thepodcast, because this is an
industry podcast, not an IrishWhiskey Fanboy podcast.
Let's jump right in, shall we?
I know, bridget, we've got someactual productive questions to
get to, so I'll let you take thefloor.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, well, absolutely.
Thank you, Barry, for joiningus today.
We're really happy to have you.
I think the last time the MHWconnected with you you actually
had our former president, johnBeaudet, on your Stories and
Sips webinar to talk about how awhiskey actually gets to the US
in the three-tier system, whatthat sometimes clunky process
(04:29):
looks like, and I know he had somuch fun.
So we're so excited that wehave this podcast now and we can
have you in the other seat andreally get to pick your brain.
And you've led some really,really important roles and have
a pretty storied career.
So when I met you I don't evenknow how long ago this was, but
at this point, probably maybe 12, 13 years ago you were very the
(04:51):
bar blogger and you know.
Very quickly after that youwere on Columbus Magazine's
cover for all the contributionsthat you made to the city, which
was very cool.
If you you know, live or haveknown about Columbus Ohio, it's
a really really interesting andculturally diverse city and
there's a ton to do.
I think Columbus doesn't getenough credit, by the way.
(05:12):
We'll put that out there.
And then you transferred on tobe Chief Marketing Officer of
NTN BuzzTime.
You've had lifetimes ofhospitality experience prior to
that, I think at one point Iremember you telling me you were
even in cruise operations andplanning.
So I just would love to hear alittle bit about your background
from your perspective and howyou became the Irish Whiskey
(05:35):
Blogger, how you created Storiesand Sips and your own Irish
Whiskey and now you have atourism company, irish Whiskey
Experiences.
So sort of what led you on thejourney to get to where you are
today.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
That's quite the eulogy that you've read out
there.
It sounds like a lot when youread it out, but yeah.
I've been interested in whiskeyfor a while, but it was only in
the last eight years that I'veturned my hand to it in a more
professional capacity.
So, living in Columbus, ohio,where we met many, many years
ago, I was taking part in anannual bike ride called
(06:09):
Pelotonia to raise money forcancer research in Ohio, in the
James Cancer Research Center inColumbus, and I was really drawn
to the community approach tothis bike ride and raising funds
where 100% of the funds wouldgo directly to fighting cancer.
I thought I'm in, and by thethird year, fourth year, there
were thousands and thousands ofpeople riding in this bike ride,
(06:30):
this 180 mile ride one weekend,and everybody was asking
everybody in the city fordonations to their ride.
And by the time it was yearfour, year five maybe, I was
tapping out all of my contacts.
Nobody had any money left togive for donations and I needed
to reach a certain target.
And somebody suggested to methat I host an Irish whiskey
tasting to raise money and myfirst response was well, I don't
(06:51):
know anything about Irishwhiskey.
And they said well, you have anIrish accent, don't you?
And I said good enough for me.
And so I went to the localsupermarket and just bought
whatever labels looked theprettiest on Irish whiskey and
to tell you, I knew nothingabout Irish whiskey.
I mean, I was grabbing whiskeyfrom distilleries like Jameson
Distillery.
I grew up 12 miles from theJameson Distillery but I
remember looking at the labeland saying, oh wow, jameson's
(07:14):
made in Cork.
You know, I didn't knowanything.
So I just took these lovelylabels home and I Googled them
and figured out okay, I canprobably tell some stories
around these things invited somefriends to join, charge them
$50 a head, I paid for thewhiskey and all the money went
to cancer research and it was somuch fun.
None of us knew anything aboutthe whiskey but we started
(07:35):
talking about them.
They had loads of questions.
I wrote down the questions, Iwent home and I researched and I
called them next day and say,okay, you asked, you asked me
this question, here's the answer.
And then I did another tastingthe next day and invited more
friends and there was morequestions and I thought this is
actually really interesting.
There's lots that I didn't knowabout my own country and I felt
quite proud actually of thewhiskeys that were being
(07:56):
produced and the stories that Iwas discovering.
So I just took my phone at thetime and I remember recording
some answers to the questionsinto the phone and then just
messaging them to my friends.
And then somebody said youshould put those up on YouTube.
And so I put them up on YouTubeand then I thought, okay, this
is really interesting, let's domore of these.
Then somebody asked me if I doanother tasting and then a
corporate tasting, come into mycompany and do a tasting.
(08:17):
And I remember about two weeksafter doing these, I got this
Instagram message.
A company slid into my DMs andsaid whoa, whoa, whoa, what are
you doing with our Irishwhiskeys?
I got very worried.
Like, am I not supposed to bedoing things with Irish whiskeys
?
I know it's a very legalminefield.
And it turns out it was adistributor for Irish whiskeys
and they said look, we want totalk to you.
(08:38):
And I was very worried.
I said, okay, that's the end ofthe fundraising now.
So they asked me to come totheir office and I went to their
office and they said we noticedthat you're using our whiskeys
for your fundraising.
We notice you're tellingstories about those whiskeys and
we noticing you're gatheringpeople around for kind of a
community events around them.
I said I am.
And they said well, we havethree goals this year.
(08:59):
One is to use our whiskeys forfundraising.
The second is to educate peoplemore in Irish whis.
And the third is to gathercommunities around the whiskeys
to chat how can we support you?
And I didn't know what to say.
And they said look, can we giveyou all the whiskeys you need
for your tastings?
I said yes, you can.
And it started like that.
They gave me the whiskeys, theyeducated me on the whiskeys, I
learned more about them and Ijust started going on social
(09:21):
media and talking about them andbecame really interested in it.
So it started as a fundraisingeffort.
It remained that way forprobably three or four years.
When COVID struck and we wereall relegated to our homes, I
really doubled down on WhiskeyTalk and Whiskey Communication
and created a Facebook groupwhere people could join and I
could answer questions, and thatjust blew up to like 10,000
(09:44):
people over COVID.
I started doing a live stream ona Friday night during COVID
just to talk to people who werestuck at home about Irish
whiskey, about what I'd learned.
And the first night we wentlive.
3,000 people tuned in and Idon't know where they came from,
but everyone was at home andnobody had anything to do.
And I did it again the nextFriday night and the next Friday
night, and so for 63 Fridays ina row I did a live stream and
(10:06):
that's what really created thisStories and Sips community and a
following of Irish whiskey thatI was happy to be the flag
waver of to begin with, andultimately that's led into
things like a whiskey clubonline community and now a tour
company as well.
But it was all you know.
I have no qualifications of anysort to be talking about this,
(10:27):
but what I lack in that area, Idefinitely make up for in
curiosity and just reallypassionate about sharing the
story of Irish whiskey.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I love that so much because I think sometimes people
think about the beveragealcohol industry as being a
little bit gatekeepy.
That's feedback that I've heardin the past and I think part of
it is like the bar for entry.
You know, a lot of times youcan't work within a bar in the
US until you're 21 plus.
(10:55):
So a lot of students, asthey're going through college
experiences, can actually, youknow, access these internships
and, as a result, what they'reinterning in they tend to kind
of go in that direction.
And so that has been somefeedback I've heard and I really
love that.
You've sort of opened thecommunity for people that are
curious like yourself and, youknow, may not know a lot, I
think you know, having theability to ask questions and not
(11:18):
be shamed for it and to kind ofexploring and trying different
types of Irish whiskey, andknowing that you know you have a
community that embraces you, Ithink is really really cool.
And you know, and you've sortof kept that through every
initiative that you've done,you've kind of taken that fabric
now over from Stories and Sipsand the Whiskey Lock and
Livestream and brought that overto Irish whiskey experiences
(11:40):
and I think that makes people sointerested to travel and to
experience and to try all thefantastic liquid that Ireland
has to offer, firm in theirbeliefs and refuse to allow
(12:04):
people to have a differentopinion in certain corners of
the world of whiskey.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
And it frustrates me no end and I would fight that
and I'll die on the hill offighting that that this is not
that important a topic that weneed to get stressed over or
have heart attacks about.
It's whiskey.
And I think there's a greatopportunity for us to open the
door, widen, really enlarge thetent and say everyone is welcome
(12:29):
to enjoy this, because there'sgreat people, great places,
great stories behind the pours.
If we'd only just stoppedtelling people how they should
drink it, how they should enjoyit, what you must do, you
mustn't do anything, just enjoyit Like it's that simple.
You could drink it out of aboot or a bucket, I wouldn't
care, as long as you enjoy it.
So I think that's yeah, that'svery important to me.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And you really built this loyal and passionate
whiskey community globally, butfirst starting on that really
like that local level ofColumbus and then building it
out from there.
I know when I've joined some ofyour lock and live streams
there have been folks fromAtlanta, from Los Angeles, I
(13:11):
mean really all over the US butreally starting with the US
market.
So, having spoken and been inperson with the folks that are
really, you know, evangelists ofwhiskey and are the people that
you really want behind yourbrand, what kind of advice do
you give to whiskey brands whoare looking to succeed in the US
market, knowing how crowded itcan be?
Speaker 4 (13:27):
It's very challenging .
And when we think about theIrish whiskey market in the US,
we're really talking about theJameson market predominantly
because it makes up such a largepercentage of Irish whiskey and
there's no getting around thatwhether it's 80, 90 percent, I
don't know what the statisticsare in the US, which leaves this
smaller percentage that'sdivided up among hundreds of
other brands.
I mean, last year in Irelandthere were a thousand whiskey
(13:47):
labels approved by the Irishgovernment.
Some of those will go.
Many of those will go to the USand go to Europe.
They'll go off to Asia, butthat means that all of these
brands are competing against thedominant player that has been
in place since 1780.
And for a new brand to enterinto the market it can be quite
challenging and the US being,for all intents and purposes, 50
different countries to figureout from a federal and state
(14:08):
level and local level, it'sreally really challenging.
Where I've seen brands succeedis where they've focused on a
number of key markets, whetherthey're small markets to begin
with or markets where they feellike they can address them both
physically and digitally,through boots on the ground and
making connections online andbuilding as personal a
(14:29):
relationship and connectionsthey can with that market.
The challenge, with so manybrands all pitching for both
shelf space and for consumerattention, is that everybody
says the same thing my whiskeyis made from the finest barley,
aged in the finest hand-selectedoak casks.
Well, they can't all be thefinest barrels and they can't
all be the best barley.
Somebody got the not bestbarley.
(14:50):
But what we must, I think, leaninto is that behind the finest
barley and the finesthand-selected barrels are
individuals who have greatpassion, especially when we talk
about brands that are not thesebig, large multinationals but
are family-run,owner-operoperated, where they
have committed their time, theirtalent, their treasury, their
(15:10):
families, investment.
Everybody.
You know they're, they're,they're all in and they have
amazing stories to tell aboutwhy they get into that business.
And the brands have succeededthe most, from my perspective,
are those that have managed tostay personal while offering a
great product.
So we can't have great storiesand really heartwarming stories
about the individuals, butthere's horrible whiskey in the
(15:31):
bottle.
But if you've got good whiskeyand you've got a good product,
it's worth talking about how yougot there.
And my advice to brands oftenis to take your phone, walk to
where your whiskey is aging andjust start talking to us about
what's happening or where you'redistilling it and just record
it into your phone and don't beafraid about running it through
16 filters of marketing agenciesand approvals to get that out
(15:52):
there.
Just start talking to us.
And I think that's the biggestopportunity for smaller brands
is to not be afraid to lean intothe highs and lows of the
personal challenges of running awhiskey brand.
That's what we connect to andpeople buy from people in any
industry in the world.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Ari, you kind of answered one of my questions
just in that in terms of likebridging the gap between like
the Jamesons and newer entrantsinto the United States.
But from my experience in theUS, because of like Jameson's
dominance, irish whiskey tendsto kind of come across as kind
of affordable, more costeffective compared to the likes
of Scotch.
So how do you think brands canstart to kind of change mindsets
(16:32):
of consumers to kind of morehigher end products?
So when it is likeThanksgivings and Christmases
and holiday seasons that peopleare thinking about Irish
products versus like an agedScotch or a 12 year old as an
example?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I think it's a great question and I will preface it
by saying that we owe atremendous debt of gratitude to
James and Pernod Ricard forbuilding the marketplace for
other brands to stand on theshoulders of them.
There's no doubt about it andthey're tremendously supportive
of the category and the industry, helping others get into it.
But it is unique because if welook at the scotch whiskey
market we can't really point toone single scotch whiskey brand
(17:05):
and say that is the scotchwhiskey industry, whereas in the
irish whiskey industry we can.
For many people jameson isirish whiskey and irish whiskey
is jameson.
It's like in ireland every wecall every vacuum cleaner a
hoover.
For some reason ho Hooverbecame the dominant brand right,
and that was just the thing.
And in Ireland every SUV is aJeep, even though they're
Toyotas.
So I think in Irish whiskey itis a bigger challenge.
(17:27):
I think we need more outspokenvoices from the craft whiskey
industry and them to be given aplatform to be able to talk
about the complexities, therange of flavour profiles, to
move away from entrenchedviewpoints that were needed in
the 1960s and 70s, to establishIreland as a kind of a, to
(17:51):
re-compete with the Scots andthe Americans and using phrases
like unlike the Scots, our whiswhiskey is smoother.
You know, and you've got thesephrases about smooth Irish
whiskey.
If I want something that'ssmooth, I'll grab a glass of
water, but if I want somethingthat's complex and full of
flavor, I'll reach for a whiskey, and probably an Irish whiskey.
And I think we've lost thatconfidence of leaning into.
(18:13):
No, actually, don't be afraidof people saying that's quite
harsh, like, whiskey is notsupposed to be a glass of water,
it is supposed to be complex.
And that's what we're actuallyseeking if we really want a
whiskey.
But Jameson, I think, hassucceeded in cornering the
market of approachable and easy,and that's fine too.
So smaller brands are going tohave to step up and say in
(18:36):
addition to how you've perceivedwhiskey in the past, did you
know we also have this approach,this style, this flavor profile
?
And that's going to be thebiggest challenge, I think, is
changing viewpoints on that,because every time I talk about
Irish whiskey to an Americanaudience, they'll either talk
about their first everexperience with Jameson, which
was probably three o'clock inthe morning on the floor of a
(18:58):
bar, or they'll talk aboutproper number 12 and what's my
viewpoints on that.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
And so like these seem to be the two dominant
brands that are getting theattention in the US at the
moment.
No, it's interesting because interms of like non-alcoholic
products, like Ireland alwaysseems to be like top of the list
in terms of like high quality,high production methods, so like
in terms of like all of thebeef and dairy.
So I really hope that kind ofthe whiskey space can kind of
bridge that gap and kind of beseen as a premium, like go-to
for high-end products versussomething that's kind of, like
(19:26):
you said, more affordable.
Yeah, one of my favorite videosthat you posted relatively
recently was the JJ Corey Cliffsof Mower whiskey collaboration
that you guys did and seeinglike new brands like Waterford
doing something interesting withall of the different terroir in
terms of all of their differentgrains that they're getting
from different farms and puttingthat on it.
How important is that?
And can you see more brandsdoing that, especially since
(19:49):
Ireland's such a small island?
But even though there is vastdifferences from like one coast
to the next, even though it'slike a relatively short
geographical distance?
Speaker 4 (19:56):
so what you're referring to there is the sense
of place really that has beenadopted or embraced by a number
of brands.
You talk about JJ Corrie, theindependent whiskey bonder in
the west of Ireland, and wecollaborated and we took some of
their whiskey barrels fromtheir family farm and we moved
them 20 miles to the top of theCliffs of Moher and locked them
in a tower for a couple ofmonths and just used the
(20:17):
atmospheric changes in pressureto affect the whiskey.
And it was not a scientificexperiment and it was a fun
experiment to see what wouldhappen in climatic conditions
like that, while being the firstto age a whiskey on top of the
cliffs of Moher.
Now, whether something likethat is important is an
individual decision, because Ican't say does that make the
whiskey better or worse?
Well, that's not for me to say.
Does that make the whiskeybetter or worse?
(20:38):
Well, that's not for me to say.
I enjoyed the whiskey I drank,but what we discovered that we
only had it was a very smallrelease 210 bottles came out of
three casks and they weresnapped up in an hour.
But to the people who bought it, they wanted something that
connected them to that place andthey thought it was a great
story and they wanted to tastewhat whiskey tasted like, that
aged on top of the cliffs ofMoher, with With Waterford
Whiskey, who are doingincredible things by taking the
(21:01):
focus which is a reallyinteresting idea that for the
last 50 years, maybe 100 years,whiskey making has been
considered an industrial processfull of copper and chrome and
pipes and certainly wood.
But there was one key elementalmost forgotten the poor man or
woman who grew the barley inthe first place.
And the farmers were overlooked.
Because we moved in the pastcentury to a more commercial
(21:24):
approach to farming Biggertractors and combine harvesters
and the soil started to becompressed more with heavy
machinery and we used morechemicals in order to get better
yields and we developed diseaseresistant crops, and so this
moved us away from how we grewgrain.
Historically, had the idea, thehypothesis, that if we could go
(21:46):
back to how whiskey or barleyprimarily barley used to be
grown 100, 200 years ago, wecould access flavor profiles
that have been lost throughcommercial industrial methods.
And they took it even furtherby saying let's plant barley in
individual farms and let ustrack that farm's yield all the
way through to the whiskey inour glass.
(22:06):
Keep that barley separatethrough malting, through brewing
, through distillation, throughmaturation and bottling, so that
we can have five bottles in ourhands and each one could have
the same barley, be produced thesame way but come from
different farms and we should beable to taste the difference.
And they were able to provescientifically through gas
spectrometry and chromatography,that there were taste and
(22:28):
profile differences on each ofthose farms, which is
fascinating because it allows usto say well, to learn over time
through all these data points.
If we want to create a certainflavour profile, we might need
John's Farm at this elevationage for this period of time, and
we now have all these levers topush and pull.
Whether that's important topeople, only the market will
(22:48):
determine.
And whether it makes better orworse whiskey, again only the
market will determine.
But what we're seeing for thefirst time is choice and vision
and risk taking by people whorecognize that there's a big
enough market to take risks,whereas 20, 30 years ago we
definitely didn't have thatluxury.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
No, it's so interesting because, to your
point like if it's better orworse, it's so subjective.
But just being different, Ithink, is really important.
And we talk to new brands allthe time and that's one thing we
kind of preach about justtrying to do something different
, to stand out either on shelfor in their marketing campaigns
or whatever they're doing.
And in terms of like MHW, likewe're very fortunate, we tend to
(23:28):
be one of the first places thatnew brands reach out to in
terms of like learning about theunited states, so we kind of
get the first kind of um.
Look at some new emerging irishwhiskey brands.
Are there any ones inparticular that you're super
excited about in terms of likeinnovation or anything
interesting that they're doingthat we might not be aware of?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
we're at a all-time high of volume being produced in
terms of whisky.
Now in Ireland we just crossedthe 50 distillery mark in
Ireland for the first time inmore than 100 years, which is
amazing.
More than half of thosedistilleries have whisky out in
the market now at this stage,and the rest of them are just
waiting for their barrels tocome out of their slumber.
A couple of brands that standout to me as doing really
(24:06):
interesting things and may notget the attention they deserve.
One is Short Cross Whiskey,which comes from Redem in a
state.
There in County Down in thetown of Crossgar, Husband and
wife team set up a distilleryand he's a former rocket, a
rocket engineer, and he hasapplied his engineering skills
to the distillery and they'remaking amazing whiskeys
engineering skills to thedistillery and they're making
(24:28):
amazing whiskeys peated singlemalt, single pot, still whiskeys
.
They're doing reallyinteresting distillations.
He's technically obsessed andso constantly playing around at
really long fermentation timesto develop extra flavor early on
in the whiskey making processand then really investing in
high-end barrels that haven'tbeen used historically instead
of going for a regular, justregular Virgin American white
oak, choosing things likechinkapin oak and leaning into
(24:51):
examples that he's come acrossin both the craft American
whiskey industry and the craftAmerican beer industry and
applying those to ShorecrossWhiskey Really big fan of
Shorecross.
Fiona and David Boyd Armstrongare the founders.
And then another distillery andwhiskey brand is Killowen
Distillery.
Probably I think it's thesecond smallest Irish whiskey
distillery on the island and ifyou compare their size give you
(25:13):
some sense of the size.
The Middleton distillery thatproduces Jameson rolls out about
3000 barrels of whiskey a day.
Killohan Distillery rolls outabout two barrels a week and it
is a highly economicallychallenging environment, no
doubt to be producing thatlittle spirit, but they have
very small stills.
But they are making maybe someof the most flavorful whiskeys
(25:34):
on the island and they'reshowing us that with a very slow
, economically disadvantageousprocess we as consumers get to
taste very flavorful whiskeys atthree years of age where other
distilleries with their bulkmass approach may require a lot
(25:54):
longer in the wood because earlyon they weren't able to afford
the time at fermentation and atdistillation in the small
quantities.
So I would put a three-year-oldwhiskey from Cullowen up there
with a 15-year-old whiskey fromanother distillery.
So those are two brands thatreally get me excited.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That's amazing and I think that just touches on what
you were saying before about.
You know there are someconsumers that will really reach
for the story.
They want to know that there'sthat rich story behind it and
then some that are really goingfor these complex flavor
profiles, and I think the onethat you just highlighted really
has both and really presents anopportunity for consumers to
(26:32):
try something different at ayounger age.
So that's really cool.
I'm going to have to pick up abottle of that, so I appreciate
that recommendation.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
And we at Stories and Sips, our whiskey club, we
collaborate with brands to bringsingle casks of whiskey to our
audience and both of thosebrands we worked with in the
past and the whiskeys wereleased from them were
massively voted, some of thefavorite whiskeys that people
had.
And it's not due to what we did, but rather we were able to
just bring small, small batchreleases to the market so that
(27:03):
people who love whiskey got totry something that would not
typically be available.
From a flavor perspective,certainly up until the last
three or four years you couldn'thave tasted these kind of
flavor profiles and, yeah, it'stestament to the work they're
putting in and I hope that theystay around long enough for us
to be drinking those whiskeysfor a long time.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think providing that level of
access, I mean, that's whatreally what we strive for at MHW
is to provide the smallerentrepreneurial brands this
platform of growth, and I thinkyou are very similar in that way
, in that you are taking a lotof brands that maybe wouldn't
look at certain US marketplaces,as you know, the next place to
(27:41):
go but you are introducing tothe consumer that is really
really ripe for that opportunityand that flavor profile.
And I think you know, just beingable to almost match those two
together is really important.
And you know, I hope that youcontinue this for many years,
even as your you know nextventures carry on, because I do
think consumers, they needsomeone that is willing to kind
(28:05):
of open them up and give themaccess to new opportunities
within.
I mean, you can go to the shelf,for example, and there's
hundreds of options, but to havesomeone sort of guide and show
you what your taste is and Ilike going back to what you had
mentioned previously about itdoesn't matter what your taste
is.
You could like, you know, theone that might be $12 on the
(28:26):
shelf, but if you like it, thenyou like it and that's what it
is.
So I think you know that's whatmakes your your experiences
really special and, that said,I'd love to really segue into um
all of these new incredibledistilleries, as well as
historical ones that are reallyheritage distilleries, um some
that are, you know, more tourism, uh showcases.
(28:47):
But I would love to understandmore about your Irish whiskey
experiences, how that companystarted, what you offer to
consumers who go abroad toIreland and what they can
experience.
And then I'd love to hear moreabout your partners and what
they bring to the company andreally just give the opportunity
(29:09):
for, hopefully, some brandslistening to get involved as
well, as with this Irish WhiskeyCruise that you have coming up.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
I would love to.
So the Irish WhiskeyExperiences Company came out of
a conversation over a fewglasses of whiskey as all the
best conversations come out ofand myself and a friend we were
live streaming Anthony Sheehy,who's the founder of Irish
Whiskey Auctions.
We were hosting a live streamone night and talking about
auctions and sourcing rare oldwhiskeys and trying to how we
(29:37):
could help you get those, andthis mad idea came out.
Wouldn't it be amazing if wedid a tour of distilleries in
Ireland over a two week period?
We just got a bus, jumped onthe bus and the bus brought us
around all these distilleriesand we had dinners and hotels
all included and we didn't haveto worry about a thing.
And with the audience that wason at the time, everyone was
saying that's a great idea.
(29:57):
I would do that if youorganized it.
And we just kept spitballingthis over the course of an hour
and then we went to bed and thenext morning we woke up and
there were quite a few messagesin our inbox, each of us people
asking when are you doing thisIrish whiskey tour?
And we got back on the phonewith each other and we said this
seems like there's interest andour significant others talked
(30:17):
us out of a 14-day jaunt aroundIreland, claiming on medical
grounds it would be notrecommended, and so we thought
why don't we put together aseven-day trip around Ireland
and get a bus?
We'll call it the Whiskey Busand we will reach out in their
lives.
Well, the whiskey industry roseto meet us and laid on amazing
(30:50):
experiences opening casks ofwhiskey in warehouses, having
dinners beside the copper potstills, going underground to
where whiskeys used to be stored, and underneath the cities.
An unbelievable trip was plannedand executed back in 2022.
Was planned and executed backin 2022.
30 Americans joined us, oneIrishman and we had an amazing
time and we hit.
(31:11):
Let me see what was it Ninedistilleries, 16 pubs, we had 63
pours of whiskey over the sevendays and we got everybody home
safely.
And the first question we gotwas when are we doing it again?
So in 2023, we put some mannersto this thing and we created a
company called Irish WhiskeyExperiences and we planned two
whiskey buses in 2023.
And we hired a friend of ours,lauren McMullen, who spent 10
(31:36):
years working at Bushmills andshe had welcomed us on our first
whiskey bus to Bushmills andshe joined us and really put a
level of professionalism thateither me or Anthony couldn't
provide, and she polished thisup and we had two more sold out
whiskey buses.
And then 2024 came along twomore sold out whiskey buses.
And then, this time, we askedLauren if she'd become a
(31:58):
co-founder and a director andowner with us.
So Lauren now is the co-ownerof Irish Whiskey Experiences,
together with me and Anthony,and we're just about to welcome
our fifth bus full of guests inthe next week to Belfast for
seven days in the north, hittingAntrim and down.
And next year we just launchedour two whiskey buses for 2025.
We're doing one from Dublinacross the country to Galway and
(32:21):
then one from Dingle in thesouthwest of Ireland, up to Cork
.
And they've all been justamazing, amazing experiences,
and I'm a big believer thatwhiskey is more than the liquid
in the glass.
It is a chance to connect, it'sa chance for a community to be
built, it's a chance for amazingconversations to be had, for
great friendships to be made,and that's what these whiskey
(32:43):
buses have done.
Now we've had a lot of repeatbusiness on these buses.
In some cases, some of thebuses have had 60% repeat
business and the guests a coupleof guests said to us like
what's next?
You know, we've done a few ofyour buses, what's next?
And I threw around the idea of,well, you know why don't we get
in a boat?
And we'll sail around theCaribbean.
And people laughed and I didn'tand I thought, no, no, I'm
(33:05):
serious.
And so this idea again becamethe next thing.
So we had this idea to createthe Irish Whiskey Cruise and
that's what we've done and wehave chartered a portion of a
ship and in 2025, we are goingto Puerto Rico in November 2nd
November 2nd to 9th for sevendays around the Caribbean, seven
different islands, and we'rebringing whiskey brands with us
(33:26):
and they're going to be on boardtalking about whiskey, sampling
whiskey, and every island we goto, we're going to have an
Irish whiskey experience ashorein those islands and there'll be
a whiskey menu that we'redeveloping with lots of Irish
whiskey brands.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You're bringing Irish whiskey to all these Caribbean
islands.
There's going to be a new surgeof interest everywhere you go.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
Why not?
They gave us Rome for manyyears, so we're bringing whiskey
back to them and we're uh,we're about 80 sold out or
already with our, with ourcabins, so, which is great.
So I think we've got 12 cabinsleft to sell between now and
november 2025.
So that's irish whiskey.
Experience is really, in anutshell, is about experiences
that you wouldn't normally havearound irish whiskey.
(34:05):
You have with us and you havethem with the people who you
normally don't get access to,who make the whiskey, who own
the brands, who own thedistilleries, who are the
masters of their craft.
You get access to them to dofun things, whether it's sitting
by the pool on the cruisesipping on a Irish whiskey
cocktail, talking about tripledistillation, or whether it's
coming to Ireland and special 30year old barrels being opened
(34:29):
up just for you and even bottledup for you to take home bottles
because you're part of ourwhiskey bus.
That's what we're all aboutJust a lot of fun around Irish
whiskey.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Does it feel a little bit full circle for you, since
you used to work in cruise shipoperations?
People know that, barry, am Iallowed to say that?
Speaker 4 (34:43):
Yeah, no, it's fine.
In fact, we're going to thesame ship I worked on.
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I love that.
That is full circle, thenthat's incredible.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Yeah, I was in charge of purchasing food and beverage
purchasing for three ships, andone of the ships is the ship
that we're going to now use forour whiskey crew, so it was fun
visiting it recently and sittingin the same chair I sat in, but
now I'm the customer this timeand I can make demands and I can
ask for things.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Can I jump in here and ask on the, since we're
talking about whiskey tourism?
I visited Scotland a couple ofyears ago myself and sort of
whiskey tourism was a big partof my personal itinerary and I
made sure to hit some of thesedistilleries that we found on
the map.
But when we pulled up to thegate we found that they didn't
have it set up for any kind oftourism type activities.
(35:32):
They didn't have a tasting room, they didn't have it set up to
where you could even tour thegrounds.
How important do you think itis from your perspective for a
brand to capture some of thesetourists as they come over
mostly from America?
Speaker 4 (35:45):
It's a great question and I think it is an individual
decision on behalf of the brandin terms of what is their goal?
What are they trying to do?
There are whiskey brands thathave large contracts to supply
whiskey to supermarkets thatreally don't need anyone to ever
come visit them.
They just need to keep sendingcontainers to Asia and America
and, as long as they sell it andthe check clears, everyone's
(36:05):
happy and everyone got what theywanted.
There are other brands that arelooking to maybe it's to
establish a sense of place andhave a brand home and feel that
that's part of their marketingstory, and that is a huge part
for a lot of brands who are veryproud to talk about it.
Now, it's an expensiveundertaking and it's a lot of
work for the initial return onit, but some brands do feel like
(36:28):
they're not.
They're not at the races untilthey have a destination to point
to and say this is where we'remade, or this is where we blend,
or this is where we want you tocome and join us.
I think it is important for some, especially if you're going
down the road of trying to builda legacy brand over a long
period of time and build deep insome cases generational
(36:48):
connections.
The place is so important tothe person who, if their father
drank or their mother drank acertain whiskey and then as a
child you're like you see thisand when you're old enough you
want to drink it.
Then you think I want to go towhere that whiskey was made and
we do see so many people comingto Ireland and wanting to visit.
I want to go to to Middletondistillery.
(37:08):
That's where my dad alwaysdrank Middleton very rare.
Or I want to go to Bushmills.
I always remember my grandfatherhaving a little bottle of
Bushmills in the corner of thehouse.
It is important, that sense ofplace, and it's about just, yeah
, it's emotional and that it isa marketing tool.
I remember listening to FawnWeaver talk about building their
distillery in Kentucky andtheir place for Uncle Nearest
(37:30):
and their whiskey and how sheinsisted to her investors that
we needed millions and millionsand millions, because the
greatest marketing we can everdo is build a place that we can
come and point to and say thisis where the whiskey is from
right here, and it's animportant part of our marketing
and the best spend they couldever make.
And I think some brands arethinking exactly the same way in
Ireland.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Barry, I know I mentioned sort of like spending
some time in Scotland myselfdoing some whiskey tourism.
Let's talk about the Irishversus Scotch.
What's your take on thedifference or the merits of one
versus the other?
Let's go, let's make somecontroversy.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
I've been doing this far too long to be baited into
an answer like that.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
And I respect the hustle here and the quest for
soundbites.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
I knew you were going to go around this question.
Let me give you both adiplomatic and a proud answer.
If you're trying to get me todo the whole Irish versus
Scotland thing, I won't.
But what I will say is thisanytime I have produced any
videos that have talked aboutthe first mention of Aquavitae
or the Water of Life, which,incidentally, was in Ireland in
1324 and will be another 150years before it's in Scotland, I
(38:37):
get hate mail.
I get Scottish people who areso upset like they take it so
personally.
They don't like facts.
But what I will say is thatthere are great whiskeys in both
countries and I'll leave it atthat.
We don't need to go any further, whatever, you like, absolutely
.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I mean the more that we can grow the whiskey category
as a whole, and I think you'veeven said this too about Asian
whiskeys.
You're like it's interesting,but I'm glad that they're
growing the category.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
A hundred percent and I will say this the Scotch
whiskey industry has done aremarkable job of establishing
an interest in brown spiritsglobally.
But if you think about, therewas a time when Ireland far
outpaced the Scots in terms ofvolume production.
Today that's not even close.
The Scots produce I think it'sabout a billion bottles of
whiskey a year.
Ireland is about 140, 150million.
(39:28):
We don't have the capacity fromeither a distilling or a
maturation or a bottlingcapacity, to get anywhere near
the Scots, and we won't in ourlifetimes.
And it's not a competition.
Whatever you like, enjoy it andbuy more of it.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yes, I love that and I will say too.
I'll add and Ian is probablythe best suited to add to this,
having been with Warbia for anumber of years but you know,
the agricultural output thatIreland has is I mean, it's for
the size of the country it'sincredible.
So that's something thatthere's a lot of pride.
(40:04):
There's a lot of agriculturaland farming pride in Ireland
that I think carries over to thebottle.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
That's right.
All you need is a plate ofIrish soda bread and Kerrygold
butter and a glass of whiskey,and you're sorted.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
And do you mind if I ask you what the single best sip
of Irish whiskey you've everhad is?
Speaker 4 (40:24):
It'd be like choosing your favorite child and I it
depends.
I often liken favorite whiskeyto music.
Every day I'll listen todifferent tunes, depending on
the mood and the weather andwhether I'm happy or sad, and I
think it's the same with whiskey.
It's what appeals today, and Iwill say that the best
experiences around whiskey havebeen with people that make you
(40:46):
smile and laugh, and at thatstage it could be a $20 bottle
in your glass, it doesn't matter.
It's just about the experienceand the people that you're
having it with.
So I've yet to have a trulyawful Irish whiskey, and long
may that continue.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Well said, Sanja.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
To move away from the Scotch-Irish whiskey politics,
if you will.
We're going to ask a truly,just a straight-ahead, fun
question that we always ask ourguests on the show here, and
that is simply what is yourfavorite alcoholic beverage or
cocktail right now?
This doesn't have to be adesert island situation.
Just right now, what's on yourradar?
Speaker 4 (41:28):
We just released our 11th Irish whiskey at Stories
and Sips, collaborating withDunville's Irish whiskey, and
this is my favorite right nowand I'm drinking it every night,
and it's a 12-year-old singlemalt that has spent four years
in a Palo Cortado sherry caskand it is like you need a knife
and fork to drink it.
It's so thick and syrupy, it'sunbelievable.
And that's what I'm drinking alot of right now.
(41:48):
In terms of cocktails andalcoholic beverages, I stick to
Irish whiskey predominantly,mostly because there's only so
much a liver can take, and I'dlike to keep it with Irish
whiskey.
And then, in terms of cocktails, I like to use a rich, heavy,
heavily sherry Irish whiskey andan old fashioned and a classic
old fashioned Angostura, bitters, sugar syrup and Irish whiskey,
(42:10):
and then just a little a littlepiece of orange in there.
No, no cherries, no, no gardenin there, just a little bit of
orange.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
That's my favorite cocktail For listeners who want
to check out more and find outmore about stories and sips and
Irish whiskey experiences.
You can check out BarryChandler himself on Instagram
and on TikTok.
On Instagram he isIrishWhiskeyBarry.
You can also find stories andsips and Irish whiskey
experiences on that platform andother places.
We'll have links to all of thatin the show notes that you can
(42:41):
click.
It'll be easy to follow on yourplatform of choice and find out
more.
So thank you so much, barryChandler, for stopping by and
sharing your expertise and findout more.
So thank you so much, barryChandler, for stopping by and
sharing your expertise andstories with us.
Speaker 4 (42:50):
Thank you so much for having me.
This was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
And thank you listeners for joining us on the
MHW Mark podcast, and thanksagain to Bridget McCabe and Ian
Perez for joining me in hosting.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Thank you, thanks Jimmy, thanks Barry.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Sláinte, sláinte, this this podcast is produced by
me, jimmy Moreland, withbooking and planning support by
Cassidy Poe.
It's presented by MHW.
Find out more at mhwltdcom orconnect with MHW on LinkedIn.
Lend us a hand by subscribing,rating and reviewing this
podcast wherever you listen.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
We'll be back in your feed in two weeks.
We'll see you then, cheers.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.