0:00:09 > 0:00:13This is the story of whisky and I start it right here,
0:00:13 > 0:00:15in the heart of Tokyo.
0:00:15 > 0:00:16Around these streets are bars
0:00:16 > 0:00:20crammed with people imbibing the amber liquid.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21It'll be a fascinating journey,
0:00:21 > 0:00:26so come with me as I tell the story of Scotland's gift to the world.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33'I'm going on a pilgrimage to find out why such a simple drink
0:00:33 > 0:00:34'has come to mean so much.'
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Hi, my name's Jim, I'm from Scotland.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40'From the makers to the marketeers,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43'and the chemists to the cocktail makers
0:00:43 > 0:00:45'and from the Highlands to Hobart in Tasmania.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'I'll be meeting the people and travelling to the places
0:00:51 > 0:00:54'immersed in Scottish whisky's world story.
0:00:54 > 0:01:00'This is the tale of an ancient craft that became a global colossus.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02'It is the tale of Scotch.'
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Isn't it grand that this stuff's made in Scotland?
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Aye, but that's gey true.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24I can't shake the feeling that so much of what makes this drink
0:01:24 > 0:01:26is what surrounds us here in Scotland.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30There is something about the landscape, about the air itself,
0:01:30 > 0:01:36some unquantifiable atmosphere that adds its personality to our whisky.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Now, it might sound overly romantic, but if the idea of terroir -
0:01:39 > 0:01:43the effect on a product of its place of origin -
0:01:43 > 0:01:46can be applied to wine, then why not to Scotch?
0:01:46 > 0:01:51Some places in Scotland feel, to me, like the living embodiment of this.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59What a majestic welcome this epic sweep of landscapes offers.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Over here, we have rugged, vast Jura, with its distinctive Paps.
0:02:06 > 0:02:12And over here, we have bountiful Islay - the Queen of the Hebrides.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17Below us, the waters swirling and birling like a witch's cauldron.
0:02:18 > 0:02:25Islay casts a spell on you, and perhaps that sorcery imbues whisky.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04I love the place names on Islay. They are all rooted in fact.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09You know, you're looking at the sea, the land, nature, topography,
0:03:09 > 0:03:14and all of these names that are derived from Norse, from Gaelic,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16from Islay's history, really.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Bunnahabhain is "at the foot of the river".
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Bunnahabhain. Um, Port Askaig is "ash tree bay".
0:03:22 > 0:03:28"Ask-vik" in Norse was, um... means ash, ash tree,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30and, remember, the Lords of the Isles,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34in the 12th, 13th century, would come in, sail into Port Askaig
0:03:34 > 0:03:39and use the ash for repairs, which is lovely, a lovely part of history.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Um, Ardbeg in Gaelic means "small headland".
0:03:43 > 0:03:49Islay means "island bent like a bow", so wonderful words and names
0:03:49 > 0:03:54that are so evocative of the land and the island of Islay, really.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58150 years ago on Islay, there were 23 licensed distilleries.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59A couple of hundred years ago,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02there were many, many more illicit distilleries and, you know,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06the people who made whisky at that time were using the landscape,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10they were using nature, the topography, hiding in caves,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13they were very cunning about where they would actually make
0:04:13 > 0:04:16their whisky, so the sense of that in Islay's landscape
0:04:16 > 0:04:20absolutely prevails, for sure - we feel it on a daily basis.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22In many ways, this is seen as the home of whisky.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25It's the Whisky Island, isn't it?
0:04:25 > 0:04:30Do you have a sense of community? Yes, of course, absolutely.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35You know, there are so many people who work at distilleries, but people
0:04:35 > 0:04:38who have lived at distilleries, generations and generations,
0:04:38 > 0:04:43so that sense of history within a distillery is very, very strong and,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46sometimes, when we talk about it, you know, the distilleries are here,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50but the villages and communities almost pre-date the distilleries,
0:04:50 > 0:04:55so, when people now come back to Ardbeg or Lagavulin or Laphroaig,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57you know, they talk about the...
0:04:57 > 0:05:00They talk about the community that they lived in, the school,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04the shop, the post office. It's not just talking about the distillery.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06The distillery was part of it,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08but you have a much broader sense of community.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13If you stepped back today and looked at a map of Scotland and said,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18"Right, we'll ostensibly build 120 factories to make a spirit,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21"um, economically, what's the most sensible thing to do?
0:05:21 > 0:05:23"Where will we build them? How big will they be?
0:05:23 > 0:05:25"How much will we produce?",
0:05:25 > 0:05:28you wouldn't end up with a map of what you have today.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32You know, these distilleries are far-flung, they're difficult
0:05:32 > 0:05:38to travel to, you're reliant on a rural population of staffing.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40There's lots of things that, economically,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43wouldn't be the thing that would necessarily be
0:05:43 > 0:05:46a suitable and significant driver for investment,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49but the history of how they've developed,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52and the fact that you have this really fantastic rural diaspora,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55is not only great for Scotch whisky, but is obviously,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59you know, great for making it intrinsically part of the country.
0:05:59 > 0:06:00This is a cultural product.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03You know, this comes from us. It comes from Scotland.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07It's part of our psyche. It's part of our history.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12And once you begin to factor that in, the importance of whisky
0:06:12 > 0:06:15to a community, whether you go up to the Highlands, to Islay
0:06:15 > 0:06:18or whatever, the importance of whisky to families,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20to communities, to farming communities,
0:06:20 > 0:06:25to ancillary industries, to transport, farmers, etc, etc,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28suddenly, it becomes more than just a product.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33As soon as whisky becomes a product, or a brand, it loses...
0:06:33 > 0:06:37It's not magic, cos magic is kind of ephemeral, magic is kind of made up.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41It's a real link to place and a real link to culture.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46The whisky industry is strong, it's forceful and it's built
0:06:46 > 0:06:50an economy on Islay in this landscape in the 21st century,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53which is so important for islanders and for locals.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57Then, it is said, the secret is in the water.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59And there's plenty of it about in Scotland.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Little springs that become clear, clean streams.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16This island has to be visited to be understood or even believed.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19The land gives itself to the whisky,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22and the whisky keeps Islay alive and vibrant.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25It produces joyous, ebullient characters
0:07:25 > 0:07:28who know they have something special going.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37'Jim McEwan is one Scotland's great distillers and an old pal of mine.'
0:07:37 > 0:07:40You live in paradise, Jim. Thank you.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43I realise that. I know you do.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45But listen, all these years I've known you, right,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48and I've interviewed you, there's one question I've never asked you.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51That's the source of your nickname
0:07:51 > 0:07:54within the world of whisky - The Cask Whisperer.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Now, how did that come about? HE SIGHS: I think...
0:08:01 > 0:08:03I used to talk to casks.
0:08:03 > 0:08:09That might sound kind of bizarre, but when I was sampling casks,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12I would, um, put a little bit of whisky in the glass
0:08:12 > 0:08:17and I'd look at it and evaluate the colour and the nose and think...
0:08:18 > 0:08:22"..You're just not ready yet. I'll see you in three months' time."
0:08:22 > 0:08:25And back to the cask and you'd try another one
0:08:25 > 0:08:27and you'd say, "Oh, my God!
0:08:27 > 0:08:31"You are ready to go! You're ready! You can fly!"
0:08:31 > 0:08:34So, once or twice, people are going past me in the warehouse
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and said, "That guy is drunk! He's talking to himself!"
0:08:37 > 0:08:40"He's talking to the casks!" I was actually talking to the casks.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Well, each of these barrels is one of your children... Yeah?
0:08:43 > 0:08:45..cos you created it. Not myself, personally,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47but myself with a team, you understand? Yes. It's not me.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50But you've created many, many fine whiskies. I know.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52But I mean, there's a whole bunch of us - the mashman, stillman,
0:08:52 > 0:08:57all that, these sort of guys - so it's a team effort, but you...
0:08:57 > 0:08:59David, let me tell you something.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02It's really, really very simple.
0:09:02 > 0:09:09If the spirit is the child, then the cask is the mother.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13If the child, when born, goes into a good cask, you're guaranteed
0:09:13 > 0:09:17to have a good whisky at the end of it, or a good adult.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20I think it is ultimately, um,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24a combination of nature and nurture.
0:09:25 > 0:09:32The nature of our landscape, er, the atmosphere, the humidity,
0:09:32 > 0:09:39um, the environment and the nurture, which is in people's minds.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43At all three of our distilleries now, we produce a peated style.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45A limited volume, but a peated style.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48And if you compare our peated style with Islay,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50they are actually totally different.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54The Islay one is drier and saltier, whereas the one in the mainland,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58up at BenRiach, and at Glendronach and Glenglassaugh,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00they're actually quite sweet peat.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02So, you know, the land does play a part.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Where the peat comes from plays a part.
0:10:04 > 0:10:05The environment plays a part.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Glenglassaugh's on the coast. It'll have a...
0:10:08 > 0:10:11It'll have a much different microclimate in the warehouse
0:10:11 > 0:10:14than at, say, in the valley at Glendronach,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17or indeed near Elgin, at BenRiach.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22If landscape does indeed influence taste, then Islay's has been
0:10:22 > 0:10:25tinting its whisky for longer than is the case elsewhere.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27It is here, go legends,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31that some of Scotland's earliest "water of life" was made.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Here we are at the rather elegant tip of Islay.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Sail that way through the mist and you reach Ireland.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43In the most romantic telling of how whisky came to Scotland,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46this whole stretch of coastline was a portal through which
0:10:46 > 0:10:50the instant Celts arrived to preach the art of distilling.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Now, depending on who you ask, we have the Irish, the Romans,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58the Persians and even the Chinese to thank for its invention.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Whisky's origins are as complex as a fine blend.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05This is Finlaggan, in the centre of Islay,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09once home to the MacDonald Clan, Lords of the Isles,
0:11:09 > 0:11:13and to what is the most likely truth of how distilling reached Scotland.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16When Angus MacDonald married
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Princess Aine O Cathain of Ulster, in 1300,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Aine's entourage brought the art of distilling from Ireland with them.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27We don't know exactly where or when, but soon,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30these distilling techniques were being employed to make
0:11:30 > 0:11:34a raw form of whisky here in Scotland for the very first time.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38DOG BARKS
0:11:42 > 0:11:47Then, in the 15th century, a first recorded mention of whisky emerged.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04The art of distilling first made it into print in Britain
0:12:04 > 0:12:06in The Canterbury Tales.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10A century later, in 1494, came Scotland's first recorded mention
0:12:10 > 0:12:14and, in it, Friar John Cor, a Fife monk,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18is listed in King James IV's Exchequer Rolls as having received
0:12:18 > 0:12:22"eight balls of malt for aqua vita".
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Now, that's enough barley to make over 1,000 bottles of whisky!
0:12:25 > 0:12:27But it's unlikely that Friar John
0:12:27 > 0:12:31was either Scotland's first or only whisky producer.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Whisky was now trickling its way across Scotland and into the
0:12:36 > 0:12:39country's customs and identity.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45The first real record I think you get of whisky becoming Scottish,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48and kind of part of a Scottish psyche,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50the first record of that is
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Martin Martin's account of whisky drinking on the Isle of Lewis,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56at the beginning of the 18th century, where he says -
0:12:56 > 0:13:00and I'll paraphrase here - but he says something along the lines of...
0:13:00 > 0:13:04when the community, that their manner of drinking was called
0:13:04 > 0:13:07"a streah" or "a round", because they would sit in a circle
0:13:07 > 0:13:10and the cup would be passed from one to the other
0:13:10 > 0:13:12and all would drink until it all became drunk.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Now, there's kind of two ways to look at that.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17You know, one is, that's just people sitting around in a circle
0:13:17 > 0:13:21in a big ceilidh and getting drunk, but I think the...
0:13:21 > 0:13:24When you begin to look deeply into that, you see here is whisky
0:13:24 > 0:13:30being used as a social lubricant, or as a way for a community to cohere,
0:13:30 > 0:13:35er, and here is whisky being used to sort out,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38to loosen people's tongues, for a community to come together,
0:13:38 > 0:13:40to say, "Right, who's getting married?
0:13:40 > 0:13:42"Who's going to be ploughing that particular field?"
0:13:42 > 0:13:44"Who's going to go fishing?"
0:13:44 > 0:13:46And, suddenly, I think, from that record, you say that whisky
0:13:46 > 0:13:51isn't just this alien spirit that's used in certain occasions,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54whisky's now part of us, it's now part of a Scottish culture.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57From fuzzy origins,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01this simple drink seeped its way into everyday life.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Nowhere came to embody the spread of whisky into an area's soul more
0:14:05 > 0:14:07than Speyside or, to some of us,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Strathspey in north-eastern Scotland.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18The peaty water of life.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21This is Speyside, the capital of whisky.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24It's a place of wonder and pilgrimage,
0:14:24 > 0:14:29a secret zone where the sweet smell of malt seems to hang in the air.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33And it's almost as if, every corner you turn, there's a distillery,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35and in every nook and cranny,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39you'll find evidence of the making and the worship of whisky.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43You know, within a 20-mile radius of where I'm standing now,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45there are about 60 distilleries.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48I mean, that's almost half the total number in Scotland!
0:14:48 > 0:14:52But you see, it's more than a whisky region. It's a whisky republic!
0:14:52 > 0:14:55And I think they should rename it the Amber Republic!
0:14:55 > 0:14:58It is truly a place of wonder!
0:15:05 > 0:15:09If you talk about The Glenlivet to the average Scotsman
0:15:09 > 0:15:12or the man on the street, his mind goes straight to the Highlands
0:15:12 > 0:15:16and he thinks of an old distillery producing the finest whisky
0:15:16 > 0:15:19distilled in the Highlands - The Glenlivet.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Glenlivet is a Speyside whisky,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28with a foot in both the past and the present.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Two centuries ago, one of countless illicit distilleries on Speyside,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35it now produces the highest-selling
0:15:35 > 0:15:37single malt in the world.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Master distiller Alan Winchester
0:15:39 > 0:15:41took me for a walk in the hills
0:15:41 > 0:15:43overlooking this amber realm.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47What would this place be like without...? You've got - what? -
0:15:47 > 0:15:51something like 50-60 distilleries round here? Well, absolutely, um...
0:15:51 > 0:15:55I mean, it's the heart and soul of this country, isn't it? Yes.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59Er, it's been very important. It's very important.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01It goes along with all the traditional...
0:16:01 > 0:16:06You can see it. ..farming, forestry, landed estates,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10where you can go fishing and shooting. The whisky distillation
0:16:10 > 0:16:15really took off here after the 1824 Distilleries Act,
0:16:15 > 0:16:17getting the push with the railways.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20It's got all the things correct here.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23It's got bags of peat, if you want to make peaty whisky.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Lots of water, a fairly dry climate at the coast,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29which is ideal for growing barley,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32so all the... all the magic comes together
0:16:32 > 0:16:34and then, as Sir Walter Scott said,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37the cunning alchemists were based at Glenlivet.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39DAVID LAUGHS And that's an important part
0:16:39 > 0:16:42in making whisky as well. Cunning alchemists? Yes.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Aha! I like that title.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47If you travel round the world, you find local spirits
0:16:47 > 0:16:51and you'll say, "Why's that spirit not bigger in the world?"
0:16:51 > 0:16:55You go to Calvados, you get that apple brandy. Mm-hm.
0:16:55 > 0:16:56You do see it round about.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01Whisky was this local drink, it was used by my great-grandfathers
0:17:01 > 0:17:05and that to turn a little barley into a bit of cash, you know,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08add value to it and it would keep better.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13It was one of the few agricultural products that improves with keeping,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15with age, you can't keep milk for years.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18You make cheese to preserve your milk, etc.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22So it was part of that, and then it was very much woven into the fabric
0:17:22 > 0:17:26of the country from the early days of distillation.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28One of the founders of Cragganmore distillery speaks
0:17:28 > 0:17:30about 200 illicit stills here.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Now, that seems a lot of little stills working away,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36so there was crofts all around here, er...
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Small production, so, to fill a few ankers,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42you needed a few of these working.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45So, all these communities were working their little stills,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48very remote, and also, some of the estates
0:17:48 > 0:17:52would take whisky as the rent. It would be part of that cash trade.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Just for consumption? For their own personal consumption?
0:17:55 > 0:17:57Personal or sell on.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Because many of the local distillers here were the distillers and
0:18:01 > 0:18:05then they handed it onto the smuggler, the other...
0:18:05 > 0:18:06A distiller was called a smuggler,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10but the smuggler was the guy that took it to the market, and they were
0:18:10 > 0:18:13the hard men that would take on the Customs and Excise, etc.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17A lot of the ladies did the distilling in the area round here,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19in these 200 illicit stills.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22When they smuggled them on land, were they actually carrying casks?
0:18:22 > 0:18:25They would strap the casks to the ponies.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30Two ankers onto the side of a Highland pony and away they went.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33It was maturing all the way to the market.
0:18:33 > 0:18:34THEY LAUGH
0:18:37 > 0:18:40The smuggling of whisky was a way of life.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Scallywag, brazen stories are still proudly told on Speyside.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47One of my favourite spots here is
0:18:47 > 0:18:50the Fiddichside Inn, in Craigellachie.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Joe Brandie married into a family that had been running the pub
0:18:53 > 0:18:58since 1919 and were shifting whisky less legitimately before that.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Joe, there's a wonderful photograph up there
0:19:00 > 0:19:02of an interesting character. Who's he?
0:19:02 > 0:19:08That was my wife's grandfather and he was a gamekeeper over in Glass,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11you know, between Dufftown and Huntly... Uh-huh.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14..er, in a very remote croft there.
0:19:14 > 0:19:20And he used to make his own whisky and the Customs and Excise
0:19:20 > 0:19:23used to go and try to catch him.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28They would go dressed as tramps and knock at the door and
0:19:28 > 0:19:30he would say, "Oh, come on in!"
0:19:30 > 0:19:33and they thought, "Oh, well, this is it now."
0:19:33 > 0:19:37They were asking for something to warm them up and they thought he'd
0:19:37 > 0:19:42produce the whisky, but he didn't, he gave them a bowl of soup instead.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45THEY LAUGH But he was finally caught.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49His boss was the laird over at where he worked.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54It was in a dinner down in London and, unknown to him,
0:19:54 > 0:19:59sitting next to him was the head of Customs and Excise and, er,
0:19:59 > 0:20:04he said to the head of Customs - he didn't know that was him -
0:20:04 > 0:20:08he said, "I would get a better dram from a gamekeeper."
0:20:08 > 0:20:14So they came up and caught him and confiscated some of his gear
0:20:14 > 0:20:16and he was fined ?10.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Just because of an overheard conversation in London? Yes.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Dear me, oh, that's a shame that he was caught out.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Yeah, he was caught out.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29So, Joe, when you were a boy,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32you must have been aware of illegal stills all round this area?
0:20:32 > 0:20:37Oh, there was a lot, but I don't remember much about them at all.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39But I know there was a lot,
0:20:39 > 0:20:41there was a lot in Glenlivet
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and they used go to Inverness with the whisky,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48but they got word that they were going to be waylaid
0:20:48 > 0:20:51on the way by the Customs and Excise,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55so they hired a hearse - and it was horse in these days -
0:20:55 > 0:20:59put a coffin in it and put all the whisky into the coffin
0:20:59 > 0:21:01and when they passed,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04the Customs and Excise, they took off their bonnets
0:21:04 > 0:21:06and let them go through.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10And you can get a hell of a lot of whisky into a coffin, couldn't you?
0:21:10 > 0:21:12A good lot, yeah.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16In this region, it feels like whisky is in the soil.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19While history's more clandestine traditions are gone,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21some roots remain firm.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25There are entire whisky generations here,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28some connected by association, and some by family.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Glenfarclas, one of the many distilleries
0:21:32 > 0:21:34scattered throughout Speyside.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Like many places, this seems to inspire an old-fashioned
0:21:38 > 0:21:41devotion and dedication from the workforce.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44I've found that's true right across the whisky industry in Scotland.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48Because everyone I talk to seems to have a passion
0:21:48 > 0:21:51and a commitment to their work and the craft,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54and in a cynical 21st century, that's pretty rare.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59But I guess it helps that very often the distilleries are family owned,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02and none more so than this one, because this is owned by one of
0:22:02 > 0:22:05the first great whisky families, the Grants,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08who are now in their sixth generation of custody.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11George, Glenfarclas is a family affair.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14It is indeed. Is that important to you?
0:22:14 > 0:22:16It's the most important thing that we have.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18It gives us our most exclusive selling point,
0:22:18 > 0:22:23our most exclusive, advantageous... over other brands.
0:22:23 > 0:22:24In the world today,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27so many brands are being overtaken by big conglomerates.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30We're still family owned, still family run,
0:22:30 > 0:22:31still very much family hands on.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34And you're determined to keep it that way. Very much so.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Very much so. So, you must be the sixth generation.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41I'm the sixth generation of my family to work here.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45And you can trace them all back to the very origins.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48We do, so it was my great-great-great-grandfather
0:22:48 > 0:22:51that bought Glenfarclas in 1865
0:22:51 > 0:22:54for the princely sum of ?511 19s.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Away you go!
0:22:56 > 0:23:00So we hope it's worth a little bit more now. I bet it is.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03I mean, I'm able to drink whisky, taste whisky,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05sell whisky that was made by my grandfather,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08made by my father, you know, it gives you so much passion to it.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12And it's not even just the fact that we're family owned, family ran,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14so many people that have worked here
0:23:14 > 0:23:16have worked here for generations as well.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18So it really is a totally family affair.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21But also that means the whisky you're producing today will be
0:23:21 > 0:23:24enjoyed by your children or your grandchildren in years to come.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26That's the beauty of it.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30So any mistakes I make, nobody will find out for a few generations.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33You'll be well gone. That's very good.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36That's what you call passing the buck. That's it.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41How many people do you employ here? We've got about 35, 36 people here.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Some of them have been here for a very long time.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47We have a gentleman in the still house who's been here
0:23:47 > 0:23:49for over 42 years.
0:23:49 > 0:23:5242 years? Yes, he's been here for a while.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56So will he get a special bottle or a cask when he retires?
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Well, he's one of these people that I don't think ever will retire.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01But for his 40th anniversary,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04we gave him a gallon bottle of 40-year-old...
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Ohh! ..which apparently didn't last very long.
0:24:08 > 0:24:09THEY LAUGH
0:24:11 > 0:24:15It wasn't always as easy to move whisky around as it is now
0:24:15 > 0:24:19for Glenfarclas and Speyside's many other distilleries.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22The coming of the railways was momentous for this area.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28I'm about to jump aboard the Whisky Train. I can't wait.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:24:42 > 0:24:44I love train journeys,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47but this has got to be the slowest train journey I've never taken.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Good afternoon, sir. Can I interest you in a wee dram?
0:24:54 > 0:24:56Peter, what are you offering me?
0:24:56 > 0:24:59I'm offering you Chivas Regal 18-year-old.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01I think that'll do me very nicely, thank you.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05OK? Slainte! Thank you. Your very good health.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15This railway shunts along as a tourist attraction.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18It takes day-trippers from Dufftown to Keith...
0:25:18 > 0:25:20through beautiful Speyside.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24But it also has a deep meaning to the whisky industry
0:25:24 > 0:25:28and the flowering of this area as the centre of whisky,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31because, historically, it was very difficult to get anything in or out
0:25:31 > 0:25:33of this remote pocket of Scotland.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36And then suddenly, at the tail end of the 19th century,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40they opened the railway and it became much, much easier
0:25:40 > 0:25:45to get coal into the area and the best of Strathspey out to the world.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50And just as Islay and Campbeltown had used water as their motorway
0:25:50 > 0:25:53to create their own eras as being the centre of
0:25:53 > 0:25:57whisky excellence, the railway shifted it here,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01so these very tracks helped change this area
0:26:01 > 0:26:03and this industry for ever.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Here's to the Whisky Railway.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:26:15 > 0:26:19Tourism founded upon history and a vibrant, modern whisky industry
0:26:19 > 0:26:21brings thousands of people to Speyside
0:26:21 > 0:26:24from every corner of the globe.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25Some of them never leave.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Like Tatsuya Minagawa,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30owner of the Highlander Inn in Craigellachie.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35How long have you been here? 17, 18 years. 17, 18 years.
0:26:35 > 0:26:36Stopped counting.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Wow! So what was your passion? Did you come because of the whisky?
0:26:40 > 0:26:41Purely, yeah.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44So initially it was the whisky, then you fell in love with
0:26:44 > 0:26:46the country and the people and you decided to stay.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Absolutely, yes, it's not only whisky,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50I'm living totally your life -
0:26:50 > 0:26:54whisky, scenery and the people, all mixed together.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56You're in the heart of Scotch whisky country... Mm-hm.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59..and you're selling Japanese whisky. Yes.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Do many people buy it?
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Surprisingly yes. Really?
0:27:03 > 0:27:06It's not cheap stuff, it's quite pricey, some of them,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09but ten years ago, people say,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13"Oh, Japanese whisky, rubbish!" I'm not doing Scotch.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17But nowadays, people come here only for Japanese whisky, some people.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19Do you appreciate the differences
0:27:19 > 0:27:21between Japanese whisky and Scotch whisky?
0:27:21 > 0:27:25Japanese whisky industry inspired by Scottish whisky industry.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Basically, we learn how to make whisky from this country.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32So, ingredients we use and the method -
0:27:32 > 0:27:34exactly this same as the Scottish way.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37So I'm always telling people, you know,
0:27:37 > 0:27:42Champagne comes from France, you know, Cava from Spain.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46All the same ingredients, same principle, right?
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Both good product.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52So Japanese whisky and whisky from Scotland, pretty much like that.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54You're in a very unique position.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57You're a man from Japan, from the other side of the world,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02you grew up in whisky, you come here and you're surrounded by whisky
0:28:02 > 0:28:04at the heart of whisky country,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08so you see it from an outsider's perspective.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Do we do enough, do we appreciate our own whisky enough?
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Or does it take someone like you to come from another culture,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16another language, to come and say to us,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18"Hey, look what you have on your doorstep"?
0:28:18 > 0:28:20I think the same happens back home, you know?
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Young people don't drink sake, you know, drink beer,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27wine or a cocktail, it's exactly the same as here.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Say some weekend a number of young people,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33they pretty much drink vodka and...
0:28:34 > 0:28:38..Jack Daniel's or maybe a pint of lager,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41so whisky is, I don't know...
0:28:41 > 0:28:46You have to be like some sort of a certain age to appreciate... Mm-hm.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Yeah. So, I don't know, those young people when they grow up,
0:28:49 > 0:28:51a little older, maybe they will start drinking whisky.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55When they reach the age of wisdom... Oh, that's a good one, aye, yeah.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57..they will start to drink whisky. Yeah. Yes.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07There remains a Speyside institution built upon such wisdom of age,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11a Victorian grocer, blender of whisky and curator of fine malts
0:29:11 > 0:29:13that continues to thrive.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18In 1895, a family opened a grocery store here
0:29:18 > 0:29:20on a street corner in the heart of Elgin...
0:29:20 > 0:29:22It was Gordon MacPhail's,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25and like the other great whisky families, like the Buchanans and
0:29:25 > 0:29:29the Walkers, they created a great whisky brand from a corner shop,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31and as the whisky side of the business expanded,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34they had the foresight to do deals with the Spanish for their oak,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37and with fellow Scots for their best whisky.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41So, Gordon MacPhail soon became a byword for quality whisky.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44It's a business rooted in the family and it still is.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48SHOP BELL JINGLES
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Stephen, this shrine to whisky started off as a wee grocer's shop
0:29:53 > 0:29:55on a street corner in the heart of Elgin, didn't it?
0:29:55 > 0:29:58Yes, back in 1895, David. Yeah, so a long...
0:29:58 > 0:30:01Just coming up to our 121st birthday, in fact.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05It was James Gordon and John MacPhail who started the business
0:30:05 > 0:30:07with a young apprentice by the name of John Urquhart,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10and John, who was my great-grandfather,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13worked his way up through the business very quickly
0:30:13 > 0:30:17to become a partner by 1911
0:30:17 > 0:30:20and in 1915 he was sole owner.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22So, the Urquharts have been involved since day one.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25We've passed the knowledge of whisky down through, now,
0:30:25 > 0:30:26four generations.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30Gordon MacPhail was built on two strands of whisky selling -
0:30:30 > 0:30:34they made blended whiskies, as befitted a grocery store,
0:30:34 > 0:30:37and bought casks to be matured in their own warehouses,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40then bottled and sold on.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43That second strand thrives today.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46LIGHT SWITCHES CLICK
0:30:48 > 0:30:49Wow!
0:30:50 > 0:30:51Look at this!
0:30:52 > 0:30:55It's a liquid museum of whisky.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57It's owned by Gordon MacPhail.
0:30:59 > 0:31:04There are over 7,000 oak casks here, slowly maturing the whisky inside,
0:31:04 > 0:31:08and each barrel is stamped with the name of a different distillery,
0:31:08 > 0:31:12and the idea is that they're brought here for further maturation,
0:31:12 > 0:31:15so that the aspects of climate and place
0:31:15 > 0:31:18can add unique flavours to the whisky.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Gordon MacPhail's believe it's the wood that makes the whisky
0:31:23 > 0:31:26and I think I tend to agree with them
0:31:26 > 0:31:30cos, you see, these casks are a portal into another world.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38It's quite something to imagine that, once bottled or blended,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40so much of the liquid gold here
0:31:40 > 0:31:43will reach markets way beyond these shores.
0:31:43 > 0:31:48Over 90% of Scotland's whisky is sold outside of the United Kingdom.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58When Scotland sells its whisky, it sells casks,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01but also places like Speyside...
0:32:01 > 0:32:02The marketing of Scotch
0:32:02 > 0:32:05has long promoted an image of Scotland to the world
0:32:05 > 0:32:08with triumphant success,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11no matter how far from reality that image stretches.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13BAGPIPES PLAY
0:32:13 > 0:32:15A land of beauty and poetry...
0:32:16 > 0:32:18A land of violence and colour...
0:32:18 > 0:32:21A part of the world unlike any other in its people,
0:32:21 > 0:32:23its exciting history and even its products...
0:32:24 > 0:32:28..probably the most famous of which is...Scotch.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34Fusing a sense of the romantic with arresting visuals and novel methods,
0:32:34 > 0:32:36advertising put this product on the path
0:32:36 > 0:32:39to global success.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41In 1898, Dewar's produced
0:32:41 > 0:32:45the world's earliest filmed advertisement for any product.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48It was the first major strike by an industry
0:32:48 > 0:32:51which knew that sales rested on image and communication.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58The story of Johnnie Walker represents Scotland's success
0:32:58 > 0:33:02in marrying tradition and innovation to take a drink to the world.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06This is the life-sized figure of the very handsome Striding Man...
0:33:08 > 0:33:09Johnnie Walker's Red Label,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12which is the largest-selling Scotch whisky in the world,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15and it's owned by Diageo.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19Now, Diageo have enough resources to employee six archivists,
0:33:19 > 0:33:20which is extraordinary in itself,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24and they take great pride in being custodians of the history
0:33:24 > 0:33:27of some of the major whisky brands over the last 100 years,
0:33:27 > 0:33:31but more than that, they also contain the image of Scotland
0:33:31 > 0:33:35as it has changed throughout the world over those hundreds of years.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47Oh, these wonderful old tomes, look at the size of them, great ledgers!
0:33:47 > 0:33:49All written by hand.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53'The Diageo Archive also includes a temple of bottles.'
0:33:53 > 0:33:54Cor, wow!
0:33:56 > 0:33:57Christine, this is amazing.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02We use this space to show the evolution of our brands from
0:34:02 > 0:34:05the very earliest bottle, and also to look at brands that have come
0:34:05 > 0:34:07and gone over the years.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09This is actually our oldest bottle of Johnnie Walker.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11It dates from the 1880s.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14We don't really know why it has a snake in it...
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Um, we think it left Scotland without a snake
0:34:17 > 0:34:19and probably went somewhere in the Far East,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22but it's not unusual for things that end up in whisky bottles.
0:34:22 > 0:34:23That is truly bizarre!
0:34:23 > 0:34:26We're not sure how it ended up back in Scotland,
0:34:26 > 0:34:27but we actually found it
0:34:27 > 0:34:30when we were clearing out a space at one of our packaging plants
0:34:30 > 0:34:32about 12, 13 years ago.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35So it's amazing what you can still find around in the industry
0:34:35 > 0:34:37and in the business.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40So, we're always adding to the archive with historical items,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44but actually, we always collect everything that we create today
0:34:44 > 0:34:46to build the archive of the future. So what I love...
0:34:46 > 0:34:48One of the things that I love about our archive,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50it's never going to be complete cos we're always going to be
0:34:50 > 0:34:52adding to it and always telling the story.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55Yeah, it's a living, working, growing archive. Absolutely, yeah.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59So, this side really shows some of our Johnnie Walker collection,
0:34:59 > 0:35:03our Gold Label, Blue Label and Green Label, but actually,
0:35:03 > 0:35:06around the other side we have Red Label and Black Label,
0:35:06 > 0:35:11and they were introduced in 1909 and the display really shows
0:35:11 > 0:35:14the evolution from our earliest right through to present day.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18Christine, one of the most famous logos and brand marks
0:35:18 > 0:35:21in the world of whisky is the Johnnie Walker walking man.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Yeah, the Striding Man, yeah, yeah. The Striding Man.
0:35:24 > 0:35:25Yep. So, yeah, he's really famous,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28so wherever you travel around the world, everybody recognises
0:35:28 > 0:35:31the Striding Man and associates it with Johnnie Walker.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35Um, we've got some bottles where you can see how the Striding Man
0:35:35 > 0:35:37first appears...
0:35:37 > 0:35:41So, he was actually drawn in 1908 and... 1908?!
0:35:41 > 0:35:46Yeah, so the story goes that we... The Walkers invited Tom Browne,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49who was the cartoonist for Punch magazine to lunch
0:35:49 > 0:35:51and he drew the figure on the back of a menu card.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53But even though it was drawn in 1908,
0:35:53 > 0:35:57it didn't actually appear on the pack until the 1950s.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01So, here we can see how the Striding Man looked in the 1950s.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03Did he change over the years? He has evolved.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08Yeah, so right from when Tom drew him in 1908, through to the '50s,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11individual artists drew the figure,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14and then, in more recent times, they've actually modified him,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18made him a bit more contemporary, and in 1999 we switched
0:36:18 > 0:36:21the direction in which he was walking. Why did you do that?
0:36:21 > 0:36:25That coincided with the launch of our Keep Walking campaign,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28which was the first truly global advertising campaign for
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Johnnie Walker, but it was also the advent of the Millennium,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35so it was all about the brand moving into the next century.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40'In 2009, Diageo and London agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty produced
0:36:40 > 0:36:43'this enchanting commercial in which Robert Carlyle delivers
0:36:43 > 0:36:46'the history of Johnnie Walker blended whisky
0:36:46 > 0:36:48'in just six minutes.'
0:36:48 > 0:36:51John actually grew up on a farm on the west coast of Scotland
0:36:51 > 0:36:55and when he was 14 years old, in 1819, his father died
0:36:55 > 0:36:57and the decision was taken to sell the farm
0:36:57 > 0:37:00and the money that they raised, they used to buy a grocery shop
0:37:00 > 0:37:01and that's where he started selling
0:37:01 > 0:37:03and eventually blending his own whiskies.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06But young John was smart enough to be lucky.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08His father's farm, where he was born and raised,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12was sold and the proceeds used to open a grocer's...
0:37:12 > 0:37:15'The Johnnie Walker described so vividly by Carlyle
0:37:15 > 0:37:19'was just one of many individual entrepreneurial whisky blenders
0:37:19 > 0:37:21'whose names became brands.'
0:37:21 > 0:37:24And they bought this lovely grocery shop.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27You know, in the early days, in John's time,
0:37:27 > 0:37:29it would have sold household products,
0:37:29 > 0:37:30but also wines and spirits,
0:37:30 > 0:37:34and we are lucky enough to have this inventory from 1825,
0:37:34 > 0:37:36which actually tells us what John was selling
0:37:36 > 0:37:37in the shop at that time.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41Back then, all grocers stocked a range of local single malts,
0:37:41 > 0:37:43but they could be...
0:37:45 > 0:37:46..a wee bit inconsistent.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48For John, that wasn't good enough.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51He began blending different malts together
0:37:51 > 0:37:55as a way of offering his customers a consistent, unique product.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57So, if we think about it, in John's time,
0:37:57 > 0:37:58he didn't have a brand,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00so customers would just come into the shop and say,
0:38:00 > 0:38:03"I like this type of whisky," or, "This type of flavour,"
0:38:03 > 0:38:06and he would make something to suit them, and that's how the whisky...
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Wow, like bespoke whisky, really. Yeah, that's how...
0:38:08 > 0:38:10They're tailor-made for the individual.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13..Walker's whiskies started and it was his son, Alexander,
0:38:13 > 0:38:15that created the first brand.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19Young Alexander wasn't content with being Scotland's biggest blender,
0:38:19 > 0:38:21not ambitious enough for him, no, no.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25He convinced the ships' captains of Glasgow to act as agents for him
0:38:25 > 0:38:29and drove the whisky bearing his father's name across the globe.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33By 1860, he had developed the square bottle.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37They started exporting their whisky overseas, and it was all about
0:38:37 > 0:38:41getting more in a crate, less damages, ease of transportation.
0:38:41 > 0:38:42200 years later...
0:38:42 > 0:38:46'Striding among the midges of Loch Doine in the Scottish Highlands,
0:38:46 > 0:38:51'Carlyle nailed this one-take wonder at 8pm on the last day of filming.'
0:38:51 > 0:38:55So, how long did the company stay in the family's hands? Um, so...
0:38:55 > 0:38:57Until when?
0:38:57 > 0:39:01John Walker Sons became part of the Distillers Company in the 1920s.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04Johnnie Walker and other blending companies like Buchanan's and
0:39:04 > 0:39:05White Horse all became part
0:39:05 > 0:39:08of the Distillers Company around the same time.
0:39:08 > 0:39:09But they kept their autonomy, didn't they?
0:39:09 > 0:39:12They certainly did and at that time we had moved on to the third
0:39:12 > 0:39:16generation of Walker's and they still ran the company, even though
0:39:16 > 0:39:19it was part of this bigger parent company, I guess.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22One of the things that I love about the archive is we actually
0:39:22 > 0:39:24have advertising and photographs from most of those export markets,
0:39:24 > 0:39:26so we can not only tell, you know,
0:39:26 > 0:39:28the great back story for Johnnie Walker,
0:39:28 > 0:39:33but we then can show how it appears, you know, in Latin America and Asia
0:39:33 > 0:39:37and out there in the world, and what a huge global success it's become.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42From modern-era films to ornate printed sketches of old,
0:39:42 > 0:39:46advertising has been crucial to the expansion of Scotch,
0:39:46 > 0:39:48whether aficionados like it or not.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52The malt whisky snobs seem to see marketing somehow
0:39:52 > 0:39:54as the demon in the world of whisky.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56Well, frankly, again, reality check -
0:39:56 > 0:40:00no marketing, no Scotch whisky industry.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03And in the late 19th and early 20th century,
0:40:03 > 0:40:08the big blending houses pioneered marketing and they brought in
0:40:08 > 0:40:12expertise from America in terms of this new science of advertising,
0:40:12 > 0:40:17they used the very best copywriters, they used the very best artists
0:40:17 > 0:40:20and if you visit our archive and look at some of that material -
0:40:20 > 0:40:23you really need to look at it hard and think about it
0:40:23 > 0:40:26to understand how brilliantly executed it is -
0:40:26 > 0:40:28and I think people who do whisky marketing today
0:40:28 > 0:40:32have a lot to learn from the way it was done 100 years ago, you know.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40I mean, if you just think, you know,
0:40:40 > 0:40:42of the number of bottles of Johnnie Walker that are sold
0:40:42 > 0:40:43around the world and they've got...
0:40:43 > 0:40:46on the bottom of each bottle, it's got "product of Scotland".
0:40:46 > 0:40:50It's in houses almost everywhere in the world, you know,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54and that's what people are going to think - Scotland, Scotch.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58During the bad days of the '70s, '80s, into the 1990s,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01marketing was running whisky rather than production,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04and marketing and production did not talk to each other.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07So, if you think, like, back in the 1980s,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10where, you know, sales are going like that,
0:41:10 > 0:41:13but if you are a marketing director, are you going to turn around to your
0:41:13 > 0:41:16boss and say, "You know, next year, boss, I'm going to be selling less"?
0:41:16 > 0:41:18You'd be out the door.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21So everybody was saying, "Oh, no, we're going to sell more, things will turn round."
0:41:21 > 0:41:24So you suddenly get production going like that and sales going
0:41:24 > 0:41:27like that, which you end up with Whisky Loch as a result of that.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29Marketing is a very easy thing to have a,
0:41:29 > 0:41:32"Ooh, it's bad, they're doing evil things..."
0:41:34 > 0:41:37My job is to get really nice, amazing whiskies out there
0:41:37 > 0:41:41for people to drink, so I don't think that's a bad thing.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47Graphic designer Jules Akel
0:41:47 > 0:41:52relocated to Dalwhinnie in the north of Scotland from London.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55He became captivated by the influence of marketing
0:41:55 > 0:41:58upon Scotch whisky and turned his fascination
0:41:58 > 0:42:02into a number of beautifully crafted distillery books.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08In it is to be found the sunshine and shadow
0:42:08 > 0:42:10that chased each other over the billowy cornfield,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13the hum of the bee, the hope of spring,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16the breath of May, the carol of the lark,
0:42:16 > 0:42:18the distant purple heather in the mountain mist
0:42:18 > 0:42:21and the wealth of autumn's rich content,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24all golden with imprisoned light.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27Absolutely beautiful, Jules, isn't it?
0:42:27 > 0:42:28It is. And that was Tommy Dewar.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32Can you imagine drinking the whisky after reading that? DAVID CHUCKLES
0:42:32 > 0:42:36But that really creates an impression about a place
0:42:36 > 0:42:39and the story of a...
0:42:39 > 0:42:40whisky...
0:42:42 > 0:42:45..is not sold without those stories,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48those fantastically evocative purple pastures of prose, aren't they?
0:42:48 > 0:42:49Mm-hm.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53Cos if we just drink whisky from a label-less bottle,
0:42:53 > 0:42:55without a brand, it's going to be nice,
0:42:55 > 0:42:59but if you know the story behind it, the characters who built
0:42:59 > 0:43:03the distillery and the brand and its location
0:43:03 > 0:43:05on top of a moor or somewhere,
0:43:05 > 0:43:07then you go back to the spirit, don't you?
0:43:07 > 0:43:10You do, and it's a much richer experience, yeah.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12Yeah, and you enjoy it so much more.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16Great brands will have a people story, a place story
0:43:16 > 0:43:21and a production story and Scotch is the best in the world at doing that.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24So you'll always have either...
0:43:24 > 0:43:27you know, a distillery founder, do you know what I mean?
0:43:27 > 0:43:29There's always... So you can think of it,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31you can name every Scotch brand and you can tell me
0:43:31 > 0:43:34there's distillery founders or there's, you know,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37blender founders, there's a place, there's a...
0:43:37 > 0:43:41this beautiful iconic distillery or this area of Scotland
0:43:41 > 0:43:47full of glens and nooks and crannies and smugglers and harlots,
0:43:47 > 0:43:51and you'll have a production story and everybody will say, "Well...
0:43:51 > 0:43:57"There's up to 40 different whiskies in this blend!" Or...
0:43:57 > 0:44:01"Well, we make it with the widest copper pot stills in the world."
0:44:01 > 0:44:04You know, so there's always those things.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07Those are the bits that actually make it really interesting,
0:44:07 > 0:44:09because every brand I've ever worked on,
0:44:09 > 0:44:12once you find those stories, you love it.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14Sometimes you'll see the message
0:44:14 > 0:44:16being very much about heritage,
0:44:16 > 0:44:18about the Auld Alliance,
0:44:18 > 0:44:20about the clans, about the piper,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22about whatever it is,
0:44:22 > 0:44:24and sometimes you'll purely see it as the brand,
0:44:24 > 0:44:29and the brand values and what they stand for in terms of character,
0:44:29 > 0:44:31and the kind of markets they go to
0:44:31 > 0:44:34and how they're served as long drinks,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37and you're a million miles away from tartan and heather
0:44:37 > 0:44:40and pipes and bagpipes, and sometimes it's not even
0:44:40 > 0:44:42necessarily known as being Scotch whisky.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44It's known as being "that brand".
0:44:44 > 0:44:46Brands are personalities,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50so if you're a pretentious person, you might like a pretentious brand.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53We feel affinities to certain brands
0:44:53 > 0:44:56because they work with us as persons, don't we? Yes, true.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03So here we are in Dalwhinnie,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06and the whisky has a very appealing story.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09We're right up in the heather moors,
0:45:09 > 0:45:12top of the Grampian mountains,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16with all those glorious peaks of snowy tops,
0:45:16 > 0:45:19but if you stop and think about the Dalwhinnie distillery
0:45:19 > 0:45:24and its product, how much of it actually is of Dalwhinnie?
0:45:24 > 0:45:28It gets the water from down the burn,
0:45:28 > 0:45:32the grain is grown miles away, it's malted miles away,
0:45:32 > 0:45:36the wood that the cask... the whisky's put in the cask,
0:45:36 > 0:45:38that comes from abroad.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44But it's manufactured here, put in the casks and then,
0:45:44 > 0:45:49well, many of those casks are left down in the Central Belt,
0:45:49 > 0:45:53so what is it of Dalwhinnie, you see? It's interesting, isn't it?
0:45:53 > 0:45:57Mm-hm. But the story is very powerful and very romantic. It is.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00You compare that to, say, a chateau
0:46:00 > 0:46:04which makes glorious wine and cognacs,
0:46:04 > 0:46:08they'll have their own land, their vineyards
0:46:08 > 0:46:10and they'll make the wines there in the chateau,
0:46:10 > 0:46:14and then they'll put it in the casks in their cellars,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17and then they'll bottle it there in the chateau,
0:46:17 > 0:46:22so it's much more of a provenance story, isn't it?
0:46:23 > 0:46:25But here, it's more like an assemblage, isn't it?
0:46:25 > 0:46:27Mm-hm. It's interesting, isn't it?
0:46:27 > 0:46:30It's a really interesting way of looking at it, yes.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33So... But it's been a very successful campaign,
0:46:33 > 0:46:35the branding with Dalwhinnie. Yes. Extremely successful.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38Well, that's where design comes along, you see,
0:46:38 > 0:46:43and creates this story out of what it's got and makes it so appealing,
0:46:43 > 0:46:45and gives it a provenance.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49Scotland is... It's a tiny, tiny place.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52To have such presence from something
0:46:52 > 0:46:55that we produce is just phenomenal,
0:46:55 > 0:46:59so I think it's grown beyond being just a drink.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03It is something that is about passion, about love,
0:47:03 > 0:47:04about friendship, about family
0:47:04 > 0:47:07and everything else that encompasses that.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11Like any image, it's rooted in some sort of a reality,
0:47:11 > 0:47:13but of course it ignores
0:47:13 > 0:47:15some of the industrialisation
0:47:15 > 0:47:17that's necessary to the industry.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20It ignores some of the scale, and the picture-postcard image
0:47:20 > 0:47:24that we might have of the little distillery nestled in the glens
0:47:24 > 0:47:26doesn't necessarily accord with
0:47:26 > 0:47:29the reality of a mega warehouse somewhere in the Lowlands,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32but there's enough there for us to hang onto and believe in.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35My marketing director came in and said,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37"I'd like to replace the capsule...
0:47:37 > 0:47:40"I'd like to replace the ROPP...
0:47:41 > 0:47:45"..with a cork and capsule." ROPP is a screw-top.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49"I'd like to replace that with a cork and capsule."
0:47:49 > 0:47:50And I said, "Why?"
0:47:50 > 0:47:54He said, "Because it just... It's not classy the way it is."
0:47:54 > 0:47:58And I had a phone call from my brother, and he said,
0:47:58 > 0:48:05"Why on earth did you change the screw-top to a cork and capsule?"
0:48:05 > 0:48:10And I thought, "Oh, my..." All my fears are coming.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12I said, "Why? What's wrong?"
0:48:12 > 0:48:15He said, "Well, when it was a screw-top,
0:48:15 > 0:48:21"I could open one at night, pour myself a dram before I went to bed.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24"Now, when I pull the cork, it goes..."
0:48:24 > 0:48:26HE IMITATES A CORK COMING OUT
0:48:26 > 0:48:31And my wife says, "Jack! Is that you at the Macallan again?"
0:48:31 > 0:48:35As advertisers know, whisky creates desire.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38One modern expression of this is the exponential growth
0:48:38 > 0:48:41in people buying Scotch for collection and investment.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44This is McTear's Auction House in Glasgow
0:48:44 > 0:48:47and I've come to bid for a piece of the action
0:48:47 > 0:48:51with two men who make a living from doing just that.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55So, Andy, what is this? Apart from a display case of gorgeous whiskies.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Well, what we've got here is some of the...
0:48:58 > 0:49:00I guess the oldest and rarest in the auction,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03so there's some absolutely fantastic...
0:49:03 > 0:49:05what we call the three types of whisky,
0:49:05 > 0:49:07so the drinker, the collector and the investor,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10so I'm a drinker, a collector and investor, but as a collector,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13I'll buy kind of weird old stuff that I just think is cool,
0:49:13 > 0:49:15that I just have never seen or the label's a bit odd.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18It might cost ?20 at auction. I know it's never going to go up in value.
0:49:18 > 0:49:19I might drink it one day
0:49:19 > 0:49:22but it's a collectable, so it's just a kind of different, weird thing.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26What makes a difference? Is it the rarity of a whisky
0:49:26 > 0:49:29or is it the taste that gives it its premium value?
0:49:29 > 0:49:31So, quality is paramount. Rarity, scarcity,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34we're looking for all these things. Let's take this, age and vintage,
0:49:34 > 0:49:36so we're looking at this Macallan
0:49:36 > 0:49:38and I'm going to pick this one out specifically.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41My colleague to my left here, David, actually was responsible
0:49:41 > 0:49:43for the liquid and the bottling of this specific bottle,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46so David's signature is on every single one
0:49:46 > 0:49:47of just over 3,000 bottles.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49But, David, you weren't alive in 1946!
0:49:49 > 0:49:52I obviously didn't distil the whisky but I was lucky enough
0:49:52 > 0:49:54to work at Macallan during the 1990s
0:49:54 > 0:49:57and I was given the kind of task, I suppose, to select the barrels
0:49:57 > 0:50:01that went into the 1946 vintage, which was a terrific responsibility,
0:50:01 > 0:50:03great, great fun doing it,
0:50:03 > 0:50:07but the one downside was having to sign 3,036 certificates.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09It took me a whole week to sign...
0:50:09 > 0:50:11to sign all the certificates for these bottles,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14but it's a wonderful old smoky style of Macallan, very unusual...
0:50:14 > 0:50:16Because Macallan's not a smoky whisky.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18It typically is not, but when you look at Macallan
0:50:18 > 0:50:21pre and post the Second World War, it actually was a smoky whisky
0:50:21 > 0:50:22when coal was in short supply
0:50:22 > 0:50:25and they used peat to actually dry the malted barley back then.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28So why did they change? Why did they stop using the peat?
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Coal became available again after the Second World War,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34so they went back to something that was much more fuel efficient.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37Interesting. So what would that be worth now?
0:50:37 > 0:50:40Anything, ?7,000, maybe even ?8,000 a bottle. When it first came out...
0:50:40 > 0:50:43You're joking! ..in 1998,
0:50:43 > 0:50:46I think it was retailing for about ?1,575 a bottle.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Shall we head off and spend some money? Let's do that.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51As long as it's yours. No way, Andy.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53That lot is going now, are you all done at 80?
0:50:53 > 0:50:56At ?80 on that lot there, ?80 and it's away to...
0:50:56 > 0:50:58Buyer number for that is 656.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05280, 300 bid. (Is it just one bottle?) Any advance at ?300?
0:51:05 > 0:51:08320 at the back there. Any advance on that 320, can I see 40?
0:51:08 > 0:51:09We're at 320 standing.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12Any advance at 320? 340 seated.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14360 bid, any advance at 360?
0:51:14 > 0:51:16380? 360 here standing.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18Any advance at 360 again?
0:51:18 > 0:51:22Are you all done at 360? Last chance at 360...
0:51:22 > 0:51:24GAVEL STRIKES 360, that is 36606.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26Thank you. That's away at 360...
0:51:26 > 0:51:28So will you drink that or hold on to it?
0:51:28 > 0:51:30I don't know. Let's find out afterwards.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Depends how thirsty we get.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35We open at 100...
0:51:35 > 0:51:38'After Andy's success, it was my turn to bid.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41'Competition comes not just from those in the room, but
0:51:41 > 0:51:44'from remote online and telephone bidders across the planet.'
0:51:44 > 0:51:48Can I see 90 again? We're at ?80 in the book here. Any advance at 80?
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Are you all done now? Any advance at ?80 on that lot there?
0:51:51 > 0:51:5490 with you, sir. Any advance at 90 way at the back?
0:51:54 > 0:51:55Any advance at 90? Are you all done?
0:51:55 > 0:51:58At ?90 for that lot, that is going at 90. Are you all done at 90?
0:51:58 > 0:52:01GAVEL STRIKES ?90, thank you. Yay!
0:52:03 > 0:52:05Result. Well done.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11After a morning's hard bidding,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15Andy, David and I went for lunch to discuss the finer details of
0:52:15 > 0:52:19whisky valuation, collection and investment.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22Now, do you buy and sell these whiskies for yourselves
0:52:22 > 0:52:25or for other people? Well, we act as the catalyst in the middle,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28so we've got a number of buyers that are looking for specific
0:52:28 > 0:52:31bottles or collections, and we have a number of sellers at any one time,
0:52:31 > 0:52:34so we're really just a matchmaker, so we bring the two parties together
0:52:34 > 0:52:38so certain people might be looking for a collection of rare Macallan
0:52:38 > 0:52:40or a collection of the rare malts from Diageo,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43or maybe they're peat freaks and they love Ardbeg
0:52:43 > 0:52:45and want every single bottle of Ardbeg on the planet,
0:52:45 > 0:52:48so we help kind of plug those gaps that they might have in their own collection,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51and sometimes, which is really interesting from our point of view,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55in recent times, people have come to us as professional investors
0:52:55 > 0:52:57rather than just kind of amateur collectors,
0:52:57 > 0:52:59and that something that's really changed,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02probably in the last two, three, four years maximum,
0:53:02 > 0:53:03where people can see value,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06they've maybe done a little bit of tracking of their own
0:53:06 > 0:53:10and they understand that we've got this incredible database, 146...
0:53:10 > 0:53:14Thousand. ..pieces of data now, covering 22,000 different bottles,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17that give us a really powerful... That's phenomenal.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20..piece of insight that obviously people use for a number of different reasons.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23Now, David, who are these individuals that you work
0:53:23 > 0:53:26on behalf of? I know that you can't be indiscreet... Of course.
0:53:26 > 0:53:28But obviously, A - they have money. Yes.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30They have money to spend and money to burn.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33Yes, and most people might expect that it's all Asian money or
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Chinese money. That's not the case.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38We've got clients from North America, from Canada,
0:53:38 > 0:53:40from Europe, from the UK, Hong Kong,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44Taiwan, Singapore, I mean, it really is quite global
0:53:44 > 0:53:48and we're kind of surprised at where we get calls from.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51What percentage of your clients buy whisky purely for investment
0:53:51 > 0:53:55and which of them buy it purely because they just love whisky?
0:53:55 > 0:53:57The vast majority of the...
0:53:57 > 0:54:01kind of the big old bottles that we are moving at the moment
0:54:01 > 0:54:03are for collecting and investing.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07However, we recently sold a collection for
0:54:07 > 0:54:09just under half a million pounds
0:54:09 > 0:54:12to somebody who opened it
0:54:12 > 0:54:16and is probably drinking it as we are sat here now.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19They opened and are drinking a half-million-pound collection
0:54:19 > 0:54:22of whisky? Absolutely. How many bottles would be involved? 50, 50...
0:54:22 > 0:54:2550 bottles exactly. Now, this is the interesting thing.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28We did this, we did a similar collection or the same collection
0:54:28 > 0:54:32three or four years ago to a different buyer
0:54:32 > 0:54:35and we sold it for slightly less than that,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and this buyer again opened this collection of 50 bottles
0:54:39 > 0:54:42and drank it with his mates playing snooker,
0:54:42 > 0:54:47so the answer to the question, does everybody buy for collecting and investing? Absolutely not.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49That is really good news, gents,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52because I think whisky is for drinking and for enjoying.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55We couldn't agree more. It's one of the most delicious nectars available
0:54:55 > 0:54:57in the history of humankind. Couldn't agree with you more.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00And to buy a bottle, or a collection of bottles,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03purely for investment purposes, to me, is immoral.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05Yeah, do you know what... I know it must be, you know...
0:55:05 > 0:55:09You're both on a cleft stick because you make a living from it. Indeed.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Yeah. It's kind of half-and-half, and we've grown up, both of us,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15drinking whisky as well as both of us collect whisky, and both
0:55:15 > 0:55:19of us invest in whisky at the same time, so three distinct areas
0:55:19 > 0:55:22that we focus on, which is drinking, collecting and investing.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40The one thing that I guess worries me particularly is this idea
0:55:40 > 0:55:43that's taken hold recently that you can "invest" in whisky,
0:55:43 > 0:55:44that whisky is some kind of
0:55:44 > 0:55:47an alternative to the stock market,
0:55:47 > 0:55:49some kind of an alternative
0:55:49 > 0:55:51to pork belly futures or whatever it might be.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54Now, I have a very firm view on this.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58Whisky was made to be drunk and to be enjoyed.
0:55:58 > 0:56:03Whisky has no meaning until the moment of its consumption.
0:56:03 > 0:56:10It is just a glass bottle of cold tea until its destruction,
0:56:10 > 0:56:15and only in its consumption does it achieve meaning and worth and value.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23So, chaps, this is the bottle of Rosebank 12-year-old
0:56:23 > 0:56:27that I bid so successfully for. Well done. Congratulations.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30But, Andy, you've got a treat for me in that glass, haven't you?
0:56:30 > 0:56:33Oh, this is... Because you've popped your cherry at auction,
0:56:33 > 0:56:34at a whisky auction,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37we thought we'd celebrate with something special,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40so we brought you some Mortlach from 1936... Mortlach!
0:56:40 > 0:56:43..to celebrate with. Please accept that on Davy and I.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48Oh, it's got a wonderful nose!
0:56:49 > 0:56:51Slainte. Slainte mhath.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54'The pursuit of Scotch is full of surprises.
0:56:54 > 0:57:00'I never expected to be drinking a 1936 Mortlach in a Glasgow car park.'
0:57:00 > 0:57:01How much would this cost a bottle?
0:57:01 > 0:57:04?3,500 at the moment if you buy it retail.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Three-and-a-half grand? Yeah, yeah.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09You haven't poured me a big enough dram.
0:57:09 > 0:57:10THEY LAUGH
0:57:10 > 0:57:12You've got the last. That's it. Run out!
0:57:18 > 0:57:22The first whisky experience that I - vaguely - remember
0:57:22 > 0:57:26was in Studland Beach in England.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29I was over working in a pub for the summer
0:57:29 > 0:57:33and I decided to join some of my new friends for a night out.
0:57:33 > 0:57:34I was about 18 and let's just say
0:57:34 > 0:57:38I decided after that night that I would never drink whisky again.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41I remember the first one that I tasted and hated
0:57:41 > 0:57:44when I was very young was on a camping trip with my dad.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47I think we were in Jedburgh and he had brought a hip flask of
0:57:47 > 0:57:51Highland Park, which is one of his favourite whiskies, along with him,
0:57:51 > 0:57:53and I took a sip of it and just thought it was disgusting.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56It was a Lagavulin
0:57:56 > 0:58:01and I assumed that all whisky was really smoky and peaty,
0:58:01 > 0:58:04and I absolutely loved it. I completely fell in love with it.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07It was actually the point that changed my life.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15Next time, I'll be visiting a spellbinding whisky collection,
0:58:15 > 0:58:18then assessing the rise of craft distilleries
0:58:18 > 0:58:21and the future of Scotch, but most importantly,
0:58:21 > 0:58:25I'm heading to Norfolk, Sweden, Japan and Australia
0:58:25 > 0:58:27to meet our whisky rivals.
0:59:26 > 0:59:30DINAH WASHINGTON: # Now you say you love me