Whisky Talk

Taiwanese whisky & worm tub condensers | August Outturn Podcast

Episode  |  29 July 2025  |  44 mins 44 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

Episode 77: Brutal Islay weather, direct fired stills & peated Lowland whisky | July Outturn Podcast

Episode  |  2 July 2025  |  38 mins 14 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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.

Episode 76: Logan Shaw and SMWS June Outturn

Episode  |  4 June 2025  |  36 mins 50 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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.

Episode 75: Anthony Delcros and SMWS April Outturn

Episode  |  2 April 2025  |  57 mins 57 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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.

Episode 74: Lucy Connor and SMWS March Outturn

Episode  |  5 March 2025  |  1 hr 1 min

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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.

Episode 73: Matt Bailey and SMWS February Outturn

Episode  |  4 February 2025  |  55 mins 20 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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.

Episode 72: Olaf Meier

Episode  |  15 May 2024  |  35 mins 17 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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.

Episode 71: Scotch & Sherry

Episode  |  2 May 2024  |  30 mins 56 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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 cooperages and bodegas where the casks are built and then seasoned with different styles of sherry wine.

Episode 70: Paul John

Episode  |  17 April 2024  |  28 mins 32 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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 tropical west coast.
Before enjoying the tasting, we took the chance to find out more about Paul John distillery, India’s whisky journey since independence in 1947 and what tropical maturation brings to this spirit.

Episode 69: Flavour Journey with Kami Newton

Episode  |  3 April 2024  |  41 mins 36 secs

cask strength whisky, scotch, scotch malt whisky society, single malt whisky, whisky

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 journey and why we should take time to appreciate the complexities of what’s in our glass.