This is Part two...
The Colonials Are Blind.
All of them.
As you’re all aware, we’re digging up recordings from the end of last year to catch up. With light at the end of the tunnel, we share what is the longest ever recording session from us. So long, in fact, we cut it into two episodes.
Imagine this a little like a Zoom call that we recorded to share with you all, fly-on-the-wall style.
At the end of 2024, seven Colonials sat down together with different exchanges of blind samples in an attempt to surprise each other. They most definitely succeeded; it build to such a crescendo of surprise that, over the final dram, you can actually hear everyone’s brain tick as they try to work out how to get their hands on a bottle.
On the way there they visit Ardnamurchan, Springbank, Tormore, Loch Lomond, Dickel, Lochlea, Westland, St George and Ardnahoe, amongst a few others.
Watch out for a tricky end to; an Part 2 I Am a Distillery entry from long term reader and supporter Tom O.
Thanks for your patience again and hope you enjoy!
Wally & The Team
PS: as mentioned - this was recorded at the end of 2024
The Colonials Are Blind.
All of them.
As you’re all aware, we’re digging up recordings from the end of last year to catch up. With light at the end of the tunnel, we share what is the longest ever recording session from us. So long, in fact, we cut it into two episodes.
Imagine this a little like a Zoom call that we recorded to share with you all, fly-on-the-wall style.
At the end of 2024, seven Colonials sat down together with different exchanges of blind samples in an attempt to surprise each other. They most definitely succeeded; it build to such a crescendo of surprise that, over the final dram, you can actually hear everyone’s brain tick as they try to work out how to get their hands on a bottle.
On the way there they visit Ardnamurchan, Springbank, Tormore, Loch Lomond, Dickel, Lochlea, Westland, St George and Ardnahoe, amongst a few others.
Watch out for a tricky end to; an Part 2 I Am a Distillery entry from long term reader and supporter Tom O.
Thanks for your patience again and hope you enjoy!
Wally & The Team
PS: as mentioned - this was recorded at the end of 2024
Blend it like Beckham
We’re no longer late with these. We’re now retrieving long lost files…This, like the previous release, was recorded last year.You know where the fault lies. I’ll leave it at that. He’s been berated by us and has promised that things are now moving once more. It won’t hurt for you to berate a little too.This is a session where I tried to envisage a way where we could all blend the same ingredients together remotely - and anyone could potentially join in. We selected Glenmorangie’s 10yo (or the new 12yo) for the 'base' alongside a Ledaig 10 year old for peat and a bottle of Glenallachie’s Cask Strength for might and sherry spice. From these three, we tried to blend the best we could.Should you wish to participate and sip along, the ratios are as follows:Gregor: 10 parts Glenmorangie, 2 parts Glenallachie and 1 part Ledaig.Roy: 6 parts Glenmorangie, 3 parts Glenallachie and 1 part Ledaig.Gordon: Zero(!) parts Glenmorangie, 4 parts Glenallachie and 1 part Ledaig.Rob: 3 parts Glenmorangie, 3 parts Glenallachie and 1 part Ledaig.We had a lot of fun with this, on the build up and during the recording. Even the more seasoned of us were surprised with how much fun it could be. Give it a go.
Collections and selections...
…and bottles on life support.
Rob hosts Mike, Cleon, Chuck and Justin this time around as they discuss the scale and management of their collections/selections.
Some bottles are forgotten while others are nursed, to the point of being on ‘life support’.
After sharing their individual attitudes and the numbers of bottles they’re dealing with, they talk about spreadsheets and happening upon bottles that have been largely forgotten - but undeservedly so.
They then derail somewhat into a discussion about Octomore before Justin makes the faux pas of mentioning rum.
Rob hosts and entirely achievable I Am a Distillery.
Thanks for your patience and hope you enjoy!
Wally & The Team
PS: this was recorded at the end of 2024 - we’re sort of catching up…
What the fudge? Our personal whisky rants.
This was an epic recording session by five of our Colonials: Rob, Stuart, Mike, Chuck and Gus.
In what started out as personal whisky rant catharsis, they meander through so many topics we’re certain this one will go down as a re-listenable classic.
With the canny insights of Gus on hand to keep things informed, the cover TAF (tired as fudge) casks, the current whisky loch, the challenges faced by today’s producers and asking the question: are whisky enthusiasts the problem?
They then wade into even crunchier topics such as authenticity, homogenisation, the origins of sulfur and what distilleries excite them.
Mike hosts the I Am A Distillery at the end, but clearly needs to read his Malt Whisky Yearbook to get up to speed on our northern distilleries. Forgive him, he’s a lovely man, really.
Thank you for your amazing support! Enjoy!
The Roads Less Travelled
(This is also released as a video podcast over on our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@dramfacewhisky )This is later than late. This was recorded last year.To the shame of, ahem, our editor; everything is backed up on the podcasts. Same for the Colonials recordings. Same editor bottleneck. We’d fire him and replace him, but there’s a problem in the fact that it’s me.No promises about the follow on pods, we’ll just say they’re in hand. The next colonials session is being cut at the moment and this session here today will leave you ready for Thirty Four - the long promised blending session. From what we remember about it, it was a fun one. If you want to participate in Thirty Four fully; have a bottle of Glenmo 10 (or 12!) alongside a Glenallachie Cask Strength and a Ledaig 10 for our blending session.In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the boys discussing travel tips, drams that remind us of places, a new use for nappies (‘diapers’ to our American friends) and dressing up as poo.Rage against the editor in the comments if you think it’ll help the next one drop any quicker.Thank you for your patience.
The Breakfast Episode The Colonials have the idea of gathering to discuss whiskies that pair with breakfast. Each of them prepare their own idea of a perfect breakfast and then try to pair it with whisky. Don't listen while hungry. This is the Colonials Podcast; the Splinter Cell. Do not make the mistake of calling it the 'American' podcast. This was made available to Dramface members early.
[Edit: this was made as a video podcast and went out via our YouTube channel on Christmas Day. After your great feedback, we realise we should've included it here. Apologies. However, as this was edited as a video podcast - using AI no less - forgive us if it's not as 'tight' or listenable , we hope you enjoy!]
Recorded at the last minute, edited by AI and cobbled together for a Christmas Day release - our gift to you - Gregor pulls in the Grail Girls to explore pairing whisky with chocolate. Our other Christmas gifts to you include: - Some amateur ASMR - A discussion on our favourite branding - Peat vs Smoke - Jen’s Best Ever thing to pair with whisky - Our drams of 2024 - Dialling up the IAAD to 11
In the end you’ll discover the idea for the the last part in our 'pairing trilogy’; although you’ll need to commit to veganism. This was (mostly) edited by AI and as such isn’t as ‘tight’ as our usual edits. That said we hope you enjoy the upgrades in sound and video. As we had to get this out for Christmas, this wasn’t released early to members - everyone gets it on Christmas Day. That said - a huge thank you to our members, Dramface wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you for your support! Music credit: That First Dram by Tom Good
The Colonials are patient.
They submitted this recording a while ago, it’s made it through the system and now, finally, it’s yours. This could be the extended version. There is some content within that has very little to do with whisky. Actually, nothing to do with whisky.
Perhaps it’ll let you understand the team a little more, but we’re not sure that’s a good thing. Anyway, our members didn't object to the off-colour discussion in this episode, so it goes public (we’re speaking specifically about the outro, where we left the mic on… those of you with a more sensitive constitution should perhaps kill the pod as the music fades).
Things begin earnestly enough, with discussion about how reviewers go about choosing what they review - and how they approach it. They talk at length about their thoughts and attitudes on scoring. Thereafter they share fascinating stats on Dramface scores and how they might relate to prices paid.
Then, after a decent I Am a Distillery, they talk about fantastical places to poop.
Yes, I think this is their best yet.
Culture comes in many forms.
Wally & The Team
Gregor asks the team to bring along their hottest drams, by ABV content before going on to ask for their ‘hot takes’ in whisky. Inevitably with these things some controversy ensues.
We hope you’re enjoying these video pods, of which we have another couple in the editing room queue. We also have more Colonials podcasts coming hot on the heels of this. Your feedback - as always - very welcome! Share far and wide and remember to subscribe to the YouTube channel.
500 Reviews & 500 More (The Video One) This is not a response to The Dramface Colonials Podcast.* To celebrate Dramface reaching its 1,000 reviews milestone we thought it'd be a good idea to attempt a video edit this time around. Our editor is work-shy, so he might decide this is a one off, we'll see. If you enjoy this new format then hop on with the words of encouragement for future episodes to feature our (Dram)faces. This episode is a little self-indulgent, given the milestone, but we wander off to discuss the challenges of scoring as well as celebrating where we're at in whisky right now, like, today After we pause to mark 1k reviews, we all fall out with Roy over the I Am A Distillery result. Shocking behaviour. *Totally a response to the Dramface Colonials Podcast.
The Colonials are serious.
Not only have they submitted their second episode within a remarkably prompt time window, there’s another hot on the heels of this. Good news if you enjoy it, we suppose.
Anyway, Gregor has suggested that, given the difficulties in scheduling, it’s acceptable to proffer the ‘B-team’ now and again. All the while he’s readied his response, and he’s promising power-ups. Of what style we’re not sure, but we wait excitedly to see the outcome. (Members have access already).
In the meantime enjoy Rob and the team sharing their thoughts on the length of a finish, an ingenious way to free up bottle space, availability of this year’s OSWA.co.uk nominations in the not-so-united states of America as well as proffering their own picks for the OSWAs Best Value category for 2024.
Enjoy!
Wally & The Team
It’s terrifying what happens while you sleep.
With the regular podcast team struggling to get time around a mic, despite genuine efforts, a vacuum has appeared. No podcast episode has been recorded or released since early August.
Into this vacuum, we suppose inevitably, a group of Dramface team members have stepped, under well-meaning , auspicious intentions. Claiming it’s all about timezones and variation of territory, they now have shared-control of our strategic recording studio.
Luckily, they don’t know what they’re doing.
Or do they?
You decide. Leave your feedback in the comments section below.
Enjoy!
Wally & The Team
Gregor will return!
New Kids on the Block
New is the topic for this session. New distilleries, sure, but also new whiskies, new make and even how the word ‘new’ should actually be pronounced.
We cover environment and time and also wonder why Gordon can’t taste effervescence. Yet.
The Whisky Roads Less Travelled.
An eclectic discussion around trips and travels in the pursuit of whisky.
Gordon shares tales of sailing to Campbeltown while Roy heads there for the festival. All the while we share takes on dog training, island life and mixing our whiskies.
To Buy Or Not To Buy
As the team find it more and more difficult to successfully find an evening where they’re all available, we’re eeking things out. We know we could do with sharing more of these, we hope you’ll accept some rather than none. We will try harder though, we really do enjoy it..
In this session we witness Roy’s red-faced inability to find the mute button as he lets his inner demon out, before venturing into chats about different kinds of sherry maturation, buying habits and palate progression. Gordon, after his record-breaking win last time, hosts the I Am A Distillery.
New face and new voices. And new games.
A bit late...
Of course there’s a huge apology due on this one because it was recorded way back after the Easter break. This means it’s the longest to-edit Dramface podcast yet. However, that record will only stand for a week or so, since we recorded Twenty Eight at the same time and it’s still being edited now.
We hope it’s worth the wait.
With the help of the amazing Gus, we cover chocolate malt, blind tasting and where those lactic notes come from. Before we diverge into wood types and maturation, Gregor pulls out a new game he came up with in collaboration with Jenny. We round out with much cheatery in I Am A Distillery.
The Dramface Strikes Back. Again.
Covering all the topics we didn’t get to during Podcast Twenty Five.
Gregor asks the teams for some “drams of note” that we’ve encountered since we wrapped season two. From there we wander into The Jura Problem, the delightful surprises of the Dramface Top 40 and the sadness at the loss of Malt Review, before rounding off with another community-sourced IAAD.
See you back in a couple of weeks!
Gregor & The Team
The Dramface Strikes Back.
Self indulgence.
Well, a little self-indulgent. But these are mostly always just us hanging out and talking whisky and our own whisky lives, so they’re always a little indulgent. You don’t seem to mind.
We finally got to grips with where all the buttons were and hit record in time to hear some impromptu McWee karaoke before getting right into an XXL version of what was in our glasses.
This takes so long that we run out of time to cover our “drams of note” and “state of Dramface” segments which we push out to next time. Instead, we run through our highlights of whisky happenings since we lat powered up the mics, so planty more self-indulgence then. All-in-all a nice time was had.
We hope it’s okay for you too.
See you back in a couple of weeks.
Gregor & The Team
This was released early to Dramface Members first. Back to early access for the last two of the season following this.Thank you for your support!
Already a Dramface Member? Invite yourself into the podcast with the Dramophone and you could feature in a future podcast.
Music credit: That First Dram by Tom Good
Season finale. Dramface Fantasy Distillery Brackets & More.
Pick your top five, then a reserve five. Think you can keep ‘em?
Look, you’re not gonna hear from us for a while, so we left a lot in this one. More than usual? Yeah. Too much? Probably.
But we enjoyed the topics and thought you might too. We start off on annunciation and pronunciation before discussing what colour we taste in whisky. Gregor digs up some gold form Jen and Rachel on retail trends before there’s some disagreement on opening minds as people explore whisky.
All of this via chats around all whiskies ,whether planted or unpleated, before getting into an intensely fought battle for our five fantasy distilleries. If you want to play along, make your list of five plus five reserves, choose one or two players to go up against and see how many of yours stay intact.
You can see the results of the brackets below; one of the team clearly kicked it out of the park, but we’ll leave you guessing who while you listen along.
Of course, we round out with yet another I Am A Distillery, and it’s another geeky one.
