Whisky Talk

Whisky Talk

Welcome to Whisky Talk! Hosted by Richard Goslan, editor of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s members magazine Unfiltered, we'll be introducing you to some of the people who make whisky, the places it comes from and the characters who bring it to life.

Episodes

Sleeping in the maltings & whisky goosebumps | Stewart Buchanan Benriach distillery

October 7, 2025 • 35 mins
Global Malts Ambassador for Brown-Forman, Stewart Buchanan stepped into Queen Street earlier this year to talk about his whisky adventures with Mads Schmoll. From his early days on the island of Mull to travelling the world to talk all about all things BenRiach today, he’s worked in nearly every part of the industry. Tune in to hear more and watch as Stewart and Mads try The Vaults Collection, Cask No. 12.80: Heaven in a leather ha...
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Eight new flavour profiles & local whisky heroes | October Outturn Podcast

October 2, 2025 • 40 mins
This month Calum and Duncan are joined by Mads Schmoll to uncover the Society's eight new flavour profiles. Working their way through each of the new profiles, the trio reveal what members can expect from this evolution and shine a light on a new Winter Series.
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The perfect pairing & whisky that makes you go mad | September Outturn Podcast

September 3, 2025 • 47 mins
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Taiwanese whisky & worm tub condensers | August Outturn Podcast

July 29, 2025 • 44 mins
This month Calum and Duncan tuck into some unusual cask types, taste whisky from Taiwan and find the perfect introduction to peat. Our latest Creators Collection, Tales of the Worm Tub, transports the duo back in time as they experience a different era of Scotch whisky distillation.
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Episode 77: Brutal Islay weather, direct fired stills & peated Lowland whisky | July Outturn Podcast

July 2, 2025 • 38 mins
This month Duncan and Calum are joined by Society brand ambassador and member services executive, Francesco Ramella. While finding out what's on offer in the July Outturn, the trio remember their favourite outdoor adventures and discuss Francesco's whisky journey.
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Episode 76: Logan Shaw and SMWS June Outturn

June 4, 2025 • 36 mins
This month Calum and Duncan are joined by Logan Shaw, the assistant venue manager at our Queen Street Members’ Room. With hip flasks in hand, the three get stuck into this month’s Outturn with plenty of adventures, stories and drams along the way.
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Episode 75: Anthony Delcros and SMWS April Outturn

April 2, 2025 • 57 mins
This month Calum and Richard are joined by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society's Anthony Delcros as the trio prepare for this year’s whisky festivals. Anthony reveals his own whisky journey while covering all the adventures he has planned to take the Society’s tastings off the beaten track at the Speyside, Campbeltown and Islay festivals.
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Episode 74: Lucy Connor and SMWS March Outturn

March 5, 2025 • 61 mins
This month Calum and Richard get zen as they’re guided through a ‘dramaste’ styled tasting by Lucy Connor. Lucy took a day out from her time behind the bar at The Vaults to chat through this year’s International Women’s Day bottlings, discuss some of her maverick tasting ideas, and share her own whisky journey.
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Episode 73: Matt Bailey and SMWS February Outturn

February 4, 2025 • 55 mins
Richard and Calum catch up with Matt Bailey, who recently joined The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s European team as managing director. The trio discuss Tasmanian whisky, psychotic dram decisions and delve into some of the Society bottlings coming out in the UK and Europe in February.
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Episode 72: Olaf Meier

May 15, 2024 • 35 mins
Scotch Malt Whisky Society ambassador and Tasting Panel chairperson Olaf Meier is a fountain of knowledge, driven by a limitless number of whisky stories and a huge passion for the Society and the wider whisky world. Olaf now finds himself celebrating his 20th year representing the Society. Despite having more than two decades of whisky experience, Olaf started his journey with humble beginnings, as Duncan Gorman finds out.
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Episode 71: Scotch & Sherry

May 2, 2024 • 30 mins
In this episode we’re going on a special journey across Spain, to tell the story of whisky and sherry and the wonderful synergy between the two worlds when it comes to sherry cask matured whisky. We travel to the oak forests of Galicia in the far northwest of Spain to take the creation of Spanish oak casks right back to the beginning, in the Cantabrian forest, before heading south to Jerez and the Sherry Triangle, to visit the coop...
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Episode 70: Paul John

April 17, 2024 • 28 mins
Regular listeners will know that we are fortunate at The Scotch Malt Whisky Society to welcome representatives from distilleries, who visit us in our Members’ Rooms, share some special samples of their whiskies with our members, and give us their insights and knowledge about their distilleries. In March we had a visit to the Vaults by Heemanshu Ashar from Paul John, the pioneering Indian distillery based in Goa on the country’s tro...
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Episode 69: Flavour Journey with Kami Newton

April 3, 2024 • 41 mins
In this episode, we’re taking a deep dive into the flavour journey that takes place every time we uncork a bottle of whisky and then nose and taste it. It’s a process that the Tasting Panel at The Scotch Malt Whisky Society goes through with every sample that is presented for possible inclusion in a Society bottling. So we caught up with Tasting Panel chair Kami Newton, to find out more about the different steps on this flavour jou...
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Episode 68: Blair Athol

February 28, 2024 • 40 mins
We were fortunate to have a visit from two of the team from Blair Athol distillery to The Vaults in February, for a special tasting of four expressions of Blair Athol whisky, along with a sample of one of the Society’s own single cask offerings. Blair Athol distillery manager Derek Younie was joined by Peter Milne from Diageo’s Whisky Specialist Team to talk members through the samples and provide insight into the history and worki...
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Episode 67: Springbank

January 31, 2024 • 67 mins
In February, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society paid host to Melanie Stanger from Springbank distillery in Campbeltown, who visited our Members’ Room at The Vaults in Leith to tell us more about this legendary distillery and share a few special drams.
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Episode 66: Pip's Prague Adventure

December 4, 2023 • 20 mins
The vintage Lagonda belonging to Society founder Pip Hills played an instrumental part in our whisky club’s foundation, carrying the first precious cargo of single casks from Speyside back to his Scotland Street home in Edinburgh to share with friends. In 1990, Pip Hills and his brother-in-law Dick Pountain decided to take a road trip to Prague in the Lagonda, to witness Václav Havel’s inauguration as president of the Czech Republi...
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Episode 65: Matugga Rum

August 30, 2023 • 31 mins
A taste of rum at a family gathering led husband-and-wife team Jacine and Paul Rutasikwa on the path to setting up their own distillery in the town of Livingston, near Edinburgh. Mads Schmoll paid a visit to uncover the fascinating story behind Matugga Rum and how it blends elements of African, Caribbean and Scottish cultures and heritage
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Episode 64: Val McDermid

August 25, 2023 • 22 mins
Crime writer and whisky enthusiast Val has been a fan of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society since its early days, after receiving an educational journey across the whisky regions from a friend’s father who was something of an aficionado. Whisky Talk caught up with Val in an Edinburgh coffee shop to find out more about her whisky passion, her writing career and who would be her fantasy whisky-drinking companion.
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Episode 63: Maverick - The Founder's Tale with Pip Hills

August 1, 2023 • 23 mins
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is marking its 40th anniversary with an updated and revised edition of Pip Hills' memoir, "Maverick – The Founder’s Tale", which now includes the story of 'coming in from the cold' after leaving the whisky club in the 1990s. Pip tells Richard Goslan about reconnecting with the Society and what we can expect from the new version of his book.
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Episode 61: Denis Lesgourgues

May 31, 2023 • 78 mins
In this episode of Whisky Talk the Society strays from the familiarity of Scotland's malt whisky to the south of France for an insight into the world of Armagnac. Denis Lesgourgues, a third-generation owner of armagnac house Château de Laubade, paid a recent visit to The Vaults to tell a packed Members’ Room about the beauty of this underappreciated spirit.
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