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.

Almost a Podcast. Gregor wanted to ask us about our Almost a great whisky possibilities. You know, those releases, whiskie sor distilleries that could, with a wee bit of effort, be so much more enjoyed - even if it’s from the perspective of enthusiasts. On the way there we enjoy Jen’s recipe for Jalapeño syrup, tales form Rachel about how the 1700’s propaganda blighted gin, preparing for festivals and teasing the brackets challenge for our next and final episode (for this season!). So sit back, pour a dram and listen to us adjust our tighteny bits, brush away our furry things and toggle our floppy stuff. Of course, we round out with yet another I Am A Distillery, and this one’s for the real geeks. Strap in for the brackets in the final episode next time, list your own top 5 and play along. Remember to include one world whisky distillery.

The Cheesy Wan. Or - Noobs Attempt Whisky and Cheese. The team try their best to gather similar whiskies and similar cheese, but of course don’t quite get it right. Scatter-gunning the pairings, they work out there’s an art to things and while some pairings hit, others miss. Hard. This is a self-indulgent podcast but we hope you find it as laid back and easy as we did recording it; a relaxed Friday night in, late-night vibe. With cheese. So, as long as you’re not put off by chewing and lip-smacking, kick back with a cheese and whisky of your choosing and listen to Gregor admitting he gets the cheese sweats, Scott justifying never eating cheese after midnight and a general lack of cheese and whisky pairing skill. We round out with Gordon’s I Am A Distillery. Gregor & The Team The cheese selections: Parmesan Blue Cheese Cheddar Brie The Whisky selection: Bourbon-matured scotch Sherry-matured scotch A bourbon A peated scotch This was released during the Dramface holiday break, and therefor the only pod not to be 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

The Twenty wan before the cheesy wan. The prospect of cheese made some of us nervous. It’s not a secret that these sessions are recorded in twos. This session is the one before the cheese pairing and most of us were already sat in front of cheese boards. Gregor insisted we wait. Therefore, this was recorded with the stench of all sorts of cheeses filling the air, and we couldn’t eat ‘em. That’s our excuse. Gregor distracted us by discussing bottles that we should be grabbing now, before they’re gone. We then wandered into price versus age, Gordon’s insightful and revealing trip to Campbeltown and Roy’s magical trip up the Ardnamurchan peninsula. We round out with yet another remarkable I Am A Distillery. Gregor & The Team This was released early to Dramface members, thank you for your support! Music credit: That First Dram by Tom Good

Buyer's Remorse. What do you regret buying? What do you regret not buying? Even better, what did you think you might regret buying, only for it to turn out to be a revelation? Joining Gregor this time are Julie, Roy, Rob and Stuart. As we share our trials, tribulations and regrets, we also touch upon branding successes and disasters before finishing on a quite remarkable (and impressive!) I Am A Distillery. We do not manage to keep it under an hour. Gregor & The Team

14 Scores, 12 Reviewers, 7 Batches… Deep-diving into a deep-dive. Joining Gregor this time are Julie, Roy, Rob and Scott. We consider future contenders for the next mega-review thingy to test the patience of the editing team, while discussing how the last mega-review came about covering Springbank’s opinion-splitting 15yo. The I Am A Distillery challenge comes from a Dramophone contributor and member Iain Bruce which puts our own recent efforts to shame.We also tease the cheese. Gregor & The Team

“I Can’t Taste What Everyone Else Does!” Inspired by a Dramophone comment As usual we have a main topic; nosing, tasting and note-taking. As per usual, we’re all over the place and it takes us a while to get there. But get there we do. We discuss nosing, tasting and note taking. Via peanut butter, Ruffle bars, chocolate and cheese. Rob shares another killer auction steal, before breaking his mic, and then going on to break I Am A Distillery. As usual, we leave it all in. Gregor & The Team www.Dramface.com

We're rusty. In case it isn’t obvious We forgot how to do things. We have a pre-meeting planning meeting to decide how to refine our intro, which we fumble, but decide just to leave it all in. Then we forget to bring a warm-up “bum” tune, so we leave it all out. From there we kinda get it together and cover some great auction tips and reflect on a year of Dramface. It gets a little self-indulgent but only for a wee bit before Gordon brings a new word to us. This is therefore the “shunky” one. We make a few excuses on why there’s not been much in the way of podcasting recently too. Next release is already in the works! Gregor & The Team This was released early to Dramface Members https://www.dramface.com/dramface-members

A Very Messy Christmas Our Secret’s Out. We try to record multiple episodes when we get together. We cue up guests and they appear without any idea of what the subject matter is. They’re asked to bring an optional dram along and that’s it. All good. However, on nights where we‘ve all opted for the drams and we’re recording back-to-back, things become a little relaxed. Messy even. Our editor said this was the most difficult to put together. I’ve had a listen through and there are very little clues left of the wheels continually falling off, so good job. Still, it remains our messiest to date, but we think you’ll be fine with that. We begin with a topic of avoiding ‘dud’ Christmas gifts and it meanders all over the place from there. This was a lot of fun to record. It literally was the Dramface Podcast’s Christmas party. This episode was released early to Dramface members. Thank you for your support! We wish one and all a very Merry Christmas! Gregor & The Team

'Tis The Season A Little Too Relaxed? In the first of our two Christmassy-themed sessions, we have a very easy time in the company of Jen and Rachel of The Grail. This was a fun one. PG15 rated. (18 should you like to dram along!). Gregor canvasses for boozy cocktail ideas and asks about the shifting of palates and preferences during different seasons. The Grail team tackle some whisky misinformation and stereotypes based on their time in retail and welcoming visitors to distilleries. Links for this episode: The Grail - https://www.youtube.com/@TheGrailTastings This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

Our Podcast Editor Has Been Missing in Action. We had to encourage Wally to ‘have a word’ to get things moving again. Which would’ve been an interesting discussion to witness. Anyway, something seems to have worked because this October recording is now good-to-go and ready for your ears. There is some more good news too; there are another two episodes to follow in December, so we’re playing catch up to get into your good books once more. This one is perhaps the deepest dive Gregor has done on any one subject. With a drive to start to build his own whisky community around him locally, he invites Julie Hamilton to join and share everything about whisky clubs, events and festivals and she treats us with a real behind the scenes scenario for it all. There’s a familiar voice from the Dramophone and of course, a close-out with an accessible “I am a Distillery”. Links for this episode: Glasgow’s Whisky Festival - https://glasgowswhiskyfestival.com/ Scotch 4 Dummies “Whiskygasm” 2017 episode - https://youtu.be/YfTyPZJbIfA

You’ll Know What We Did Last Summer It’s still about whisky, but we speak more about the connections it affords us.  There is a little talking pish on this one (literally) and for that we’re sorry not sorry. Gregor hosts regulars Roy, Rob and Scott as they look back on what has been enjoyed during the summer break. With various members of the team enjoying travels once more, many of them have been focused on rekindling their love of whisky experiences. Earlier this year, many of the team were able to schedule things so that paths could cross. From Campbeltown to Islay during June, new connections and memories were made. Now that the dust has settled and we’ve recovered form some whisky over-saturation (some more than others) we look back and share our thoughts with you. Whisky did this. This was released early to Dramface Members. 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!

We’re not going out with a bang. Because it’s not the last podcast, only the last for this season. We’ll be back later in the year, so consider this going out with a ‘pop’ instead. We invite Ben to join Gregor, Scotty, Rob and Roy for our real ‘edgy’ list of topics. Like our preferred method of making toast. We do keep things very whisky focused though and quickly bring it back to cover whiskies that may take a little understanding, what whisky to pair with seafood, the effect of Scotland on whisky pilgrims, and how we might go about creating our own distillery. We hope you’ve enjoyed the podcast so far. We’ve loved bringing it. Let us know how we landed on your ears during the first season and what we might change going forward. Longer? Shorter? Guests picks? This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support! Already a Dramface Member? Invite yourself into the podcast and win yourself a shirt from the Dramface Store. The first Dramophone comment we use on the upcoming recording of the next podcast will snag a shirt and size of their choice. Hit the record button!

Departing Editors, Making Tea, Dream Distilleries, Good Indies and The Devil’s Grain   Tissues at the ready.* The penultimate session of this first season has some departing words from Jason, even although he’s not actually leaving, he will step down as editor.    We also meander through our dream distillery locations, helping to choose the perfect indie bottling, our favourite whisky films and, bizarrely, how we prefer to enjoy our perfect cup of tea.   The Dramophone is put to great use collecting departing wishes and thanks for Mr Mhor. Aye Dallas, no bad.   *No tissues actually needed   This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

Global Travel Retail, Renaissance & Dream Drink Partners.  This may be the longest ever. But still great fun. Jenny, Roy and Rob join host Gregor to discuss a varied range of topics that may occasionally be permitted to depart form whisky, such as what other drinks we enjoy. We also talk about the current state of travel retail with a few recommendations for those travelling this summer. The odd area of resurrection and renaissance is also a theme. Gregor asks what distilleries are most exciting either because they’re new or enjoying a revival, but he also asks what - and who - might we resurrect for whisky enjoyment in future. It sounds odd, and it is. We also celebrate our first community Dramophone dial in selection, and the Dramface Store shirt of choice goes to Hellen and Andy!

All four of us manage to keep our excitement in check . As we look ahead to a work/leisure mesh trip to Campbeltown and Islay we cover batch variation, not for the first - or last - time in malt whisky as well as archiving and documenting the variation along the years. We also look ahead to expectation from a few days of whisky travel to Scotland’s West Coast, to the whisky magnets that are Campbeltown and Islay. This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

You know, we do try to keep things positive. But things are sent to challenge that, constantly. There’s been so much news recently about pricing to demand, rebrands and nonsense that we occasionally just have to tackle it. Regulars Jason and Roy join host Gregor alongside Gordon and the returning Julie to discuss these topics. Since there’s nothing they can do about any of it they’re really just prodding around in the dark and dreaming. So while they dream, what bottles would they resurrect - if they could? This was released early to Dramface Members. Thank you for your support!

Star Wars. Speyside. Coals To Newcastle and How’s It All Going? In this episode of the Dougie Crystal Fan Club we discover when not to visit Speyside, as well as chat Star Wars and whisky, what bottles to take along and find a moment to think about Dramface so far. We also pledge to buy Bea a decent microphone, she joined us from ‘holiday’ this time and it does sound a little like she’s dialling in from space. PS: When we refer to ‘the bible’ in this episode we mean the Malt Whisky Yearbook by Ingvar Ronde - the real whisky ‘bible’. Already a Dramface Member? Invite yourself into the podcast and win yourself a shirt from the Dramface Store. The first Dramophone comment we use on the upcoming recording of the next podcast will snag a shirt and size of their choice. Hit the record button! Music credit: That First Dram by Tom Good