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[pensive music playing]
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[film camera rolling]
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[Dave] Whisky is boiled beer.
It's simple as that.
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You take the cereal, you grind it up,
you add hot water to it.
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That converts starch into sugar.
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You add yeast to that sweet liquid.
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That ferments it into a beer.
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And then you boil it in a copper still.
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Alcohol boils
at a lower temperature to water.
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So all the flavours you've created
during fermentation
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and the flavours from the cereal itself
end up being concentrated.
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Then you're going to take that,
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and because it's still fairly rough
around the edges,
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you're going to age it in oak casks.
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And the oak casks mellow it out,
add more flavour itself,
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because it's coming out of the oak,
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and it softens out,
and boom, there you have it.
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That's whisky.
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[pensive music playing]
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[Dave] I'm biased because I'm Glaswegian.
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And, you know,
I haven't lived there for a long time,
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but, you know, where's home?
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Glasgow's home.
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It's incredibly friendly,
it's incredibly funny,
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it's working class,
it's an architectural splendour.
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It's been at the heart
of incredible movements in art and design,
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and music, and whisky-making,
and trade and industry.
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It's been a place of incredible poverty.
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It's frustrating and it's tough at times,
but, yeah, that's life.
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And it's where I was brought up.[laughs]
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That's it, you know.
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And you've got to accept it
in all its kind of messy contradictions.
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That's kind of Scottish, I think.
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My dad was a whisky drinker.
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He would have one dram every night
when he came home from work.
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I got to a certain age.
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I suppose I must have been like 10 or 11,
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and I was allowed to add the water
to his whisky,
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and he was very particular about it.
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You know, the tap had to run
for a certain amount of time.
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You had to judge exactly
the coldness of the water.
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And exactly the right amount of water
had to go into the whisky,
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just enough to kind of cloud the dram,
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so you get that viscometry
going on in there.
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And it would just be that one dram
of a blended whisky every night,
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unless his family were around.
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And at that point, all my uncles
and aunts would arrive.
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And all the men drank whisky,
apart from my Aunt Mary.
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My Aunt Mary drank whisky and soda.
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She was considered quite racy
for doing that.
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There'd be music, there'd be…
there'd be fiddles.
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Uncle Tom would have a fiddle out,
my Aunt Jean would be at the piano.
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Everybody'd be singing songs,
you'd be doing your party pieces.
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All my cousins would be around.
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All the adults smoked in those days,
so you'd find yourself…
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It was a bit like an Ivor Cutler scene.
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You'd find yourself kind of on the carpet
underneath this layer of smoke.
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So, I suppose even from an early age,
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I was aware of whisky's ability
to pull people together.
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It was part and parcel
of being a community,
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part and parcel of being a family.
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And I think when you look at whisky
from a historical point of view,
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you realise that once you cut through
all the business
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and everything surrounding whisky,
that that's what its role has been.
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Somehow, whisky has a greater function,
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and its greater function is this sense
of being part of an environment,
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part of a culture.
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And because it's part of an environment,
it's an expression of that environment,
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an expression of who you are.
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Therefore, there's a direct link
between that and art and literature.
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It's gone beyond just this thing
in the glass,
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and it's somehow rippled out
across the whole of Scottish culture.
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[pensive music continues]
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[ocean waves crashing]
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[Dave] Islay is this wee island
off the coast of Scotland.
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It's a hundred miles due west of Glasgow.
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And it has everything you need
in one place to make great whisky.
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It's a great example of how the rock
and the climate
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bring barley into life
and bring farming into life
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and allow the possibility of whisky
to be made.
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And you've also got just remarkable people
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who understand how to manipulate
all these things
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to make something which is compelling.
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And they're also quite thirsty,
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so they've been doing it
quite a long time.
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You've got to have a bit of fun
with whisky.
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[man] Of course you have.
That's what whisky's all about. Fun.
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[Dave] Do you think people
are a bit too serious about it?
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[Iain] Well, it's good to be serious.
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We wanna be serious ourselves
when we're doing it,
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but it's nice to get a wee bit of fun.
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-Aye, because you kinda… You miss that.
-Oh, definitely.
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You know you guys. You're there to put
smiles on people's faces, aren't you?
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[Iain] Hopefully.
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[Dave] How long has the family
been here on Islay?
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How… How do you date it back?
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Well, we can date it back
a long, long time.
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I think… Definitely over 200 years.
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[Dave] What was it like growing up
on Islay? Was there whisky around?
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[Iain] Yes, there was whisky along.
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My grandfather liked whisky,
and my late dad liked whisky too.
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My late dad worked on Laphroaig
for a long time.
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And he would enjoy a dram.
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They weren't big drinkers,
it was just when they were going out,
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special occasions, having a few drams.
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And what would he have drunk then,
your dad and your granddad?
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-[exhales] Anything they would get.
-[both laugh]
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[Dave] But it seems to me whisky-making,
when you were growing up,
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was much more like the old ways
of doing it,
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-like the old farm way of doing it.
-[Iain] Yes.
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[Dave] You know, you would close down
in the summer,
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you… you would cut your peat,
you would distil over the winter,
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your cattle would get the draff
and etcetera, etcetera.
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Distilleries in the old days
were only going for so long.
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In the summertime, they used to stop,
go out to the peat moss,
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cut the peats, lift them
and take them home.
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[Dave] So what you're cutting now
is what, hundreds of years…
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[Iain] Yes. Thousands of years old, yes.
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[Dave] Tell me what the difference between
the top peat and the bottom peat is.
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[Iain] Well, you see there,
the top peat is very stringy,
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and the bottom peat looks more like coal.
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The top peat's giving you the smoke,
whereas bottom peat is burning like coal.
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So, the distilleries want the top peat
because…
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-Yes, to get smoke.
-Right.
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[soothing music playing]
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[Dave] There's a distinct possibility.
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that Islay was where distillation made
its first footfall in Scotland,
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thanks to the arrival there of a family
of doctors called the Beatons.
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And they began distilling from beer,
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a drink which became known
as "uisge beatha", water of life.
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The Beatons were the loyal doctors
to a household in Ireland,
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and that household married
into the McDonalds,
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and when that sort of alliance
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was done about the 1300s at that point,
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then, you know, that aqua vie,
uisge beathaproduction
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then would have come to Islay as medicine.
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[Georgie] It would have come
into the royal household, into the court.
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It would have been used as medicine.
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Of course, we know as well
it's not just medicine it was used for,
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and then it would be,
as you would see in story and song,
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that it was actually used
before going to battle and celebrations,
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things like that as well.
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But that's where the sort of secret
of distillation would have journeyed in.
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So Islay was important
for so many different levels,
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but, actually, the people
and the type of people
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that were actually living here
and ruling huge swathes
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of Ireland and Scotland from Islay
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would have actually brought that
here to the royal household.
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-[Dave] So it had strategic importance.
-[Georgie] Absolutely.
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[Dave] And then something
which was, you know, able to be produced
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because of the conditions
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and something which was of high quality
and using the herbs
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and everything which was growing
because of these conditions.
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Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, everything
came together for being a perfect place.
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[wind blowing]
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[Dave] I seem to have spent a bit of time
wandering around graveyards.
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[Claire] I think that's the thing
when you're interested in the past and…
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-It happens to me a lot.
-[both laughing]
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This is a dedication
to the Beaton physicians of Islay.
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I mean, it's an… an example
of the stature that they had
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and how highly esteemed they were
at that point in history.
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And these two doctors, it's believed,
are linked to the Patrick Beaton,
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who was Robert the Bruce's head physician.
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It's interesting to see that distillation
is first found, you know,
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around about the time the Beatons arrived
in Scotland, it's first documented.
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It's hard to think where else it could
come from at that point in history,
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because they brought so much skill
and knowledge with them.
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I suppose, these days, you say,
"Well, they're doctors".
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But in those days,
they're… they're quasi-magicians,
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they're druids, they are…
they are possessors of incredible facts.
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-[Claire] It was very dangerous times.
-[Dave] It started in the century, yes.
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[Claire] And Neal Beaton, in fact,
was accused of witchcraft.
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The accusation was based on him admitting
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that he could tell
the properties of plants
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through taste, and by colour,
and by smell.
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And that's an early form
of chemistry.
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I mean, that's how…
that's how we discovered chemistry.
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You know, he was a pioneer at the time,
but he was accused of witchcraft for this
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because it was not something
that his society understood.
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[pensive music playing]
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[Dave] Storytelling is cultural history.
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Sometimes it seems fantastical,
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and it might just be a poetic way
of describing a truth.
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So the… the potential origins
of distillation
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and, you know, why… why distillation
was a secret guarded
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primarily by women for a long time
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becomes part and parcel of that great
story about the Queen of the Sidhe,
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the fairy queen
in Fairy Hill on Islay,
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summoning the women of the islands
to Fairy Hill,
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where once they had arrived
and the doors on the hill had opened
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and… and all the women
of the islands entered,
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she poured them,
into their scallop shells, a liquid,
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and the liquid was knowledge.
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You know, there… there's, you know,
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the knowledge of distillation
encapsulated.
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And there's wise women, there's…
there's power, there's information,
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and it's rooted in the landscape,
it's rooted in the place.
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It's a story of… of incredible beauty,
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but there's a real… there's
an abiding truth at the heart of it,
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and the abiding truth is, you know,
women had this knowledge.
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But it's a much more interesting way
of saying it
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rather than, you know,
actually your great-granny, you know,
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picked these herbs off the rocks.
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You know, you take it off
into this… this mythic realm,
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and it just,
it creates even greater power.
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Fantastic.
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[Claire] Yeah, I think so.
I think if we went for the…
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That's super nutty.
That's got the macadamia nut…
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-Yes!
-…kind of thing going on.
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Now that you've said that,
I can totally get that nuttiness.
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[Dave] We had this mad idea
that if uisge beathawas made in Islay,
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we might as well recreate it.
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So we went around the island and picked
a whole number of different herbs,
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for their curative and aromatic purposes.
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So there's angelica, there's wild thyme,
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there's hog seed, creeping thistle,
and meadowsweet.
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All went into our brand-new,
yet ancient recipe.
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-[James] So we just… load it up?
-[Claire] Yeah.
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This is really hubble-bubble
toil and trouble. [laughs]
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[Dave] We have, of course,
taken out a licence for this.
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[James chuckles] Yes.
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Just in case anyone from HMRC is watching.
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[Claire laughs]
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-Honest folks.
-[Claire] All above board.
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No excise man to be chasing us.
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[Dave] So just kinda coming back
to the principles of this…
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I mean, Scotland has the right terroir,
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00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,120
the right conditions for growing barley,
for growing oats,
231
00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,320
and therefore people began to make spirit
from what grew around them.
232
00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:48,800
Presumably, the people
who were here originally, you know,
233
00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,080
if they were making medicine
or uisge beathasor whatever,
234
00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:54,880
you know, they're still only going to be
using what grows around them.
235
00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:56,880
The old adage is, medieval times,
236
00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,760
you never made it seven miles from home,
so it would have been…
237
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,880
These days, there's such a focus
on provenance and local, and…
238
00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,240
You know, that-- You had little choice
in that, I suppose, back then.
239
00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:13,960
Each region, each village, each family
would have had their own little take,
240
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:15,440
everyone's mum's clootie dumplings
241
00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:17,760
are always the best
there's ever been, so… [laughs]
242
00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:21,760
[James] You know, very often,
it's the most everyday plants
243
00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,120
that are giving you such fabulous--
244
00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:24,320
I mean hogweed.
245
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:26,440
You'll find precious few folk around
246
00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:29,680
that realise the…
the massive explosion of flavour
247
00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:33,480
you'll get out something as basic
as hogweed, hog seeds.
248
00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,560
Here are people who are living
within a landscape, you know,
249
00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,000
and actually know every nuance.
250
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,080
You know, they understand
the movements of the deer,
251
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:42,200
they understand the seasons,
252
00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:44,120
they understand the plants,
etcetera, etcetera.
253
00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:48,360
And it… it filters through
into the poetry and the song.
254
00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:49,360
But it's also here.
255
00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,840
You know, it's also here in distillation,
and it's here, presumably,
256
00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:55,360
you know, in some tangential way,
257
00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,560
in the flavours that they're going to be
producing in their whiskies.
258
00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:03,320
[seagulls squawking]
259
00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:08,080
[Georgie] It's a communal thing,
really, isn't it?
260
00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,120
I think it would have been
very much around the,
261
00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:11,920
"this is the grain that we have",
you know,
262
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,160
within a family or a small community.
263
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:16,800
And they would be making it communally,
for sharing communally.
264
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:18,120
It was never about selling whisky.
265
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:19,640
It was always about sharing whisky
266
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:22,920
and always about sharing stories
and times together.
267
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,480
And I think that's very much, you know,
a part of the culture on Islay is that,
268
00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:29,280
because you are more isolated,
269
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,240
that what you have belongs to everyone
within your community,
270
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:33,800
and everyone is there to help each other.
271
00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:35,680
I think that that probably hasn't changed.
272
00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:37,120
I think that's the way that's always been.
273
00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,920
[Niall] But also a long, dark winter.
274
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,480
-[Dave laughs]
-[Niall] You know…
275
00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:45,880
And there wasn't an awful lot.
276
00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,400
You know, the crops were in,
the peats were cut,
277
00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,480
the animals were back in
from the sheilings.
278
00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:53,640
They've distilled their spirit
and they're sitting there,
279
00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:55,000
it's dark at half past 4:00.
280
00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,480
It's not light really
until nine o'clock in the morning.
281
00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:04,040
There was a really rich oral culture
of stories, and tales and traditions.
282
00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,640
They had to do this, because
if they didn't, what would they do?
283
00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:10,319
You know, and whisky would have played
a large part in that as well.
284
00:17:14,319 --> 00:17:17,280
[liquid trickling]
285
00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:18,560
[Claire] Oh, hold on, we're coming.
286
00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:23,760
That's sweet.
287
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:26,359
That's really sweet. [chuckles]
288
00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,760
That's the… That's the angelica.
289
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:30,840
Oh, yeah, wow.
290
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,440
-[Claire] I think it's angelica.
-That's extraordinary.
291
00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:34,520
It's really come through.
292
00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:36,960
-[Claire] Yes, it really, really did.
-[Dave] It's really, really intense.
293
00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:38,120
[Claire] Oh, my goodness.
294
00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:40,240
[Dave] That's fantastic.
I can live with that.
295
00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:49,000
[Dave] Traditionally, with uisge beathas,
they ended up being coloured.
296
00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:50,440
So we might colour this one up.
297
00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,320
I think we'll just kind of experiment
and see if…
298
00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,480
You know, just to give it
a tiny little bit of colour.
299
00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,640
I love it. Love it. [laughs]
300
00:17:58,720 --> 00:17:59,880
[sniffs] Yep, really nice.
301
00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:03,160
-[Dave] We have uisge beatha.
-[Claire speaking in Irish]
302
00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:05,280
-Oh, yeah, it's all coming together there.
-[Dave] Yeah.
303
00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:07,720
You do get that orange back
from the angelica.
304
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:09,840
It's fantastic.
You know, it takes you right back
305
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,360
to the early days of… of distillation.
306
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,040
This is what it would have been like,
you know.
307
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,560
-Yay!
-[all laughing]
308
00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:21,480
["Mo Thruaigh Leir Thu 'Ille Bhuidhe"
playing]
309
00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:27,280
♪ Mo thruaigh leir thu ille bhuidhe ♪
310
00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:32,520
♪ 'S ann an duigh tha'n deigh ort ♪
311
00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:33,800
[Dave] From a historical point of view,
312
00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:38,960
how important was song to…
to the Gaelic-speaking community?
313
00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:42,360
[Rachel] Every task would have a song
to go along with it.
314
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,440
A good example is like a waulking song,
not a walking along the road,
315
00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:46,600
but waulking the tweed.
316
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,400
So women would sit around a table
317
00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,080
and sort of beat the tweed to shrink it
and make it water-tight.
318
00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:57,600
And so this would have a kind of
specific kind of beat and a rhythm,
319
00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,400
and… and they would sing
these waulking songs.
320
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,080
For me, even though, like,
a lot were eventually written down,
321
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,400
Gaelic poetry is, in fact, lyrics.
322
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:08,520
There's a turn of phrase
that I really like, that people often use,
323
00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:11,320
which is, "so-and-so gave me this song".
324
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,560
You know, there's sort of people
giving these songs,
325
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:17,680
passing them on through, you know,
the generations,
326
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:19,360
which is a lovely… lovely thing.
327
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:25,440
♪ Mo thruaigh leir thu ille bhuidhe ♪
328
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:30,800
[Rachel] So, the song, "Mo Thruaigh
Leir Thu 'Ille Bhuidhe", it's called.
329
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,120
"'Ille Bhuidhe" is the blond-haired boy.
330
00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:37,520
And I didn't know this,
it was the great Kenna Campbell
331
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,720
who told me once that the blond-haired boy
was actually the whisky.
332
00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:47,800
And the verses sing about smuggling whisky
from Ireland over to Scotland.
333
00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:49,280
It's got a lot of momentum, the song.
334
00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:51,400
It kind of just sort of chugs along,
you know.
335
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:05,480
[Dave] Over the past two days,
336
00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:09,640
we have indulged in something
which is quasi-legal…
337
00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:11,440
[people laughing]
338
00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:15,720
[Dave] Umm, to recreate an uisge beatha.
339
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,120
So this is what
we're going to be drinking.
340
00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,520
["Mo Thruaigh Leir Thu 'Ille Bhuidhe"
continues]
341
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:24,120
[Dave] Martin Martin,
whose name keeps reappearing,
342
00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:29,280
wrote this account of… of drinking
in the islands of Scotland
343
00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:33,760
when he was travelling, stravaiging around
the beginning of the 18th century,
344
00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:36,840
and it goes something like this.
345
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,320
The manner of their drinking
was called a "streah a 'round".
346
00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,840
[Dave] And a cup would be passed
from one to the other,
347
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,240
and the cup would be drained,
348
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,920
and the drinking would go on 24,
sometimes 48 hours.
349
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,840
-[people laughing]
-[Dave] You're here for a while, guys.
350
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:57,840
Until all became drunk.
351
00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:02,600
And there were men stationed at the door
with wheelbarrows, taxi firms…
352
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:04,880
-[people laughing]
-[Dave] …to carry them off.
353
00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,920
Then you look at it a bit more closely
and you say,
354
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,360
"Actually, this is an important moment
in the history of whisky,
355
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,280
for this is an account of whisky
actually becoming part of us".
356
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,080
It's not-- It's a community
gathering together.
357
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,640
And automatically, even these days,
we gather together in circles.
358
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,760
It's democratic. Nobody is sitting
at the head of the table.
359
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,720
And you can imagine just the cup
getting passed from one to the other,
360
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:29,200
and the conversation starting,
361
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,440
and it's going to be about crops
or it's going to be about marriages.
362
00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,440
It might be about war or whatever,
but it's a community coming together
363
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,800
and it's whisky sitting there
at the heart of it.
364
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:42,520
And for me, that account
is whisky becoming part of us.
365
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,400
So here's to whisky being part of us.
366
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,680
-[people speaking in Irish]
-[Dave] And I hope you like it.
367
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,000
[pensive music playing]
368
00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:15,360
My official first dram
was just after my dad died.
369
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:17,960
And my Uncle Tom took me to the pub
370
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:22,320
and went up to the bar,
and he just ordered two whiskies.
371
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,720
And it was--
372
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,720
I remember thinking at the time, you know,
this is an important moment,
373
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:35,600
because this somehow was a confirmation
that things had changed.
374
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,000
I was a man. Something had happened.
375
00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:41,840
And it was a way of perhaps
getting over grief,
376
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,320
it was a way of him in his own
really lovely, quiet ways of saying,
377
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,120
"All right, boy, you know,
you've grown up".
378
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:05,240
[indie music playing]
379
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:12,320
[singing indistinctly]
380
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,120
So you probably don't have a clue
who's gonna walk through the door next,
381
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:28,320
because, suddenly,
you've got an international audience,
382
00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,120
you've got locals coming in,
you've got students coming in,
383
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:32,960
all different age groups,
etcetera, etcetera.
384
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:37,400
I had a guy in last night who had
20 minutes before his train at Central,
385
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:42,000
and so he was in for one dram,
one last dram before he left Scotland,
386
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:44,240
which was really nice,
but he put us under a bit of pressure.
387
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:45,520
[Frank]
You know, I'm going, "All right, okay,
388
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:47,320
so how long have we got to pick this?
Would you like…"
389
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,200
"No, I just want one dram now".
I was like, "All right, fine".
390
00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,920
There's more people talking about it,
and there's more people talking about it
391
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,760
in ways that people
who are not natural whisky drinkers
392
00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:00,840
might get on board with more.
393
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,600
Once you're in the door,
once you've got a dram in your hand,
394
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,440
you have something you're drinking,
something you like, you don't like,
395
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:07,920
you can express an opinion on it,
396
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,720
and you might end up talking to the guy
next to you and asking what he's drinking.
397
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:12,840
Are you drinking the same thing
or are you drinking a different thing?
398
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:14,080
And you'll end up chatting about it
399
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:15,360
because you've now got
a shared vocabulary.
400
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,320
You've never met this person before
in your life,
401
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:19,560
but you've now got something
to talk about.
402
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,520
It's not difficult to make whisky.
403
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,240
It's difficult to make good whisky,
but it's not difficult to make whisky.
404
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:29,080
It was always a simple drink.
405
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:31,240
Everything else that we've added to it
over the years
406
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:33,840
is just because we like getting
into the nitty-gritty of something.
407
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,360
You get people who have more
of an interest in provenance,
408
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,680
about who's making it, where it's made,
and what it's made from.
409
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,400
And that then plays
right into whisky's real house.
410
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,120
That gives them a chance
to talk about everything
411
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:46,640
that's ever gone on in Scotland.
412
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:48,040
[Dave] For it's such a humble drink.
413
00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:49,880
You know, you think of it.
You know, it's what?
414
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,000
You know, barley, water, yeast, and oak.
415
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:53,840
Boom, there you go. Thank you very much.
416
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:55,320
[Frank] It's guys making it in a cave
by a bong.
417
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,400
You're not talking about a château
in France surrounded by vineyards.
418
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:01,800
-[Dave] Thanks a lot, man. [laughs]
-It's good to see you.
419
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:03,400
[Frank and Dave speaking in Irish]
420
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:18,560
How are you?
421
00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:31,040
[Dave] So one of the interesting parallels
that exist between whisky and the arts
422
00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:33,240
is this idea of the continual.
423
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,320
That the artist, the musician,
the whisky maker,
424
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,640
is a link in a chain
that goes back for centuries.
425
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,560
There's this tradition,
but it's a tradition
426
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,240
that continually adds new variants
and elements
427
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,440
in order for it to grow and evolve.
428
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:52,360
It's like singing a ballad.
429
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:56,320
The words are there, the tune is there,
but if you're singing that old song today,
430
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,840
you're going to be putting
your own spin on it.
431
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,760
And it's this balance that exists
between tradition and innovation
432
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:04,760
that are the roots of creativity.
433
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:06,520
And that's what fascinates me
about whisky.
434
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:09,640
And I think that is what roots whisky
in the culture.
435
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,280
["Firewater" playing]
436
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,040
♪ How can I ever know you? ♪
437
00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:33,840
♪ How can I ever know you? ♪
438
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:43,080
♪ I know your way your way of living
Till I know your way of dying ♪
439
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:52,640
♪ And how will I remember
Till I taste the nectar of your ember? ♪
440
00:26:55,680 --> 00:27:01,520
♪ Where is the firewater tonight?
Where is the firewater? ♪
441
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,240
[Alasdair] I'm always kind of writing,
but at the same time,
442
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:06,880
I'm… I'm also researching
traditional songs.
443
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:11,120
So, you know,
while I'm waiting for a new…
444
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,440
a new batch of self-written material
to kind of germinate,
445
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,240
I'll be focusing more
on the traditional songs.
446
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,960
♪ How can I ever know you? ♪
447
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:37,080
♪ How can I ever know you? ♪
448
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:45,280
♪ How can I know you're full grown
Till I've known you as a child? ♪
449
00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:48,800
[Dave] You've got traditional songs,
but you've got electronics and--
450
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,240
But you've got a 19th century piano.
451
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,600
I mean, how important is it for you
452
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:58,600
to be constantly moving
the tradition forward,
453
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,680
being aware of what's around it without
actually losing what makes it special?
454
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:08,680
I think of what the great English folk
singer, Martin Carthy, said,
455
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:10,000
something along the lines of,
456
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,560
"You know, the worst thing that you can do
with these songs is just not sing them".
457
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,800
You know, it's… I think as long
as you have love and respect, and…
458
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,400
treat them with care,
you can be as radical as you like.
459
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,160
♪ Clear as a firewater ♪
460
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:31,440
♪ Sky above us, soil beneath us
We'll build our library of aethers ♪
461
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,000
♪ Library of aethers ♪
462
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:40,120
♪ Library of aethers
We'll build our library of aethers ♪
463
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:42,680
♪ Library of aethers ♪
464
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:49,040
♪ Where is the firewater?
Tonight, where is the firewater? ♪
465
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:51,960
♪ Where is the firewater? ♪
466
00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:54,880
♪ Where is the firewater? ♪
467
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,960
[Dave] My lightbulb moment,
my whisky epiphany,
468
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,920
took place in the far northwest
of Scotland.
469
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,720
The three of us decided to go
to a cèilidh in Ullapool,
470
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,200
which is about 30 miles away.
471
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:08,840
And knew that a whole bunch of friends
472
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,640
would have a head start on us
in terms of the drink,
473
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,280
so we decided we would try and achieve
some… some degree of parity,
474
00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:19,480
on the road down to Ullapool.
475
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,520
And two of us began drinking.
476
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,200
The driver didn't, I hasten to add.
477
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:29,800
And I looked out the window,
and there was this landscape,
478
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:31,720
there was the incredible moorland,
479
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:37,400
and sudden mountains rearing up
and lochans and the sun just going down.
480
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:42,400
And I took another sip, and I realised
that this whisky is from this place.
481
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,280
You know, this is more than just a drink.
482
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:48,800
This is a manifestation of place.
483
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,280
The people who made this
have created it.
484
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,960
You know, it was a spark of creativity.
485
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:59,320
And, you know, whisky, suddenly, for me,
at that particular point,
486
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,080
became something I wanted
to learn more and more about.
487
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,200
Whisky suddenly became
more than just something
488
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,480
that was made in this kind of
obscure thing called a distillery
489
00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,400
and actually became part
of a creative impulse.
490
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,960
And that was it. I fell in love.
491
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:24,000
I asked you, as we were wandering here,
you know, about your whisky epiphany,
492
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:28,040
you know, that moment
where everything just went "wow".
493
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:29,800
You said it was Talisker.
494
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:31,600
My wife and I, girlfriend at the time,
495
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,320
had been picking grapes in France,
got friendly with an American guy,
496
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:35,560
who was also picking grapes.
497
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,640
He was from California. He said,
"Oh, hey, I'm coming to Scotland".
498
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:41,880
So he came to stay with us
in my student flat in Edinburgh,
499
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:43,720
and he said, "Can we go
and look at some distilleries?"
500
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:47,360
So I borrowed my auntie's car,
my Auntie Jenny from Lochgelly,
501
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,560
I borrowed her car, and we drove
around the north of Scotland
502
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:52,880
visiting as many distilleries as we could.
503
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,280
-No real plan to it at all.
-[Dave] Yes.
504
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:57,560
But we had some amazing nights.
505
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:02,120
And one in particular,
we were staying in a youth hostel in Uig,
506
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,720
I think, Isle of Skye,
way in the middle of nowhere,
507
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,360
and we knew that the local whisky
was Talisker,
508
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,760
and we walked into this
quite a rough bar, I would say.
509
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,880
You know, the piano player stopped playing
as we walked in through the front door.
510
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,720
The barman was kind of polishing glasses,
looking at us a wee bit suspect, you know.
511
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,960
Walked up and said,
"Two Taliskers, please".
512
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:25,160
And he went, "Sixty, 70 or 100 proof?"
513
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:26,560
I went, "Hundred".
514
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:31,160
-The piano player starts playing again.
-[Dave and Ian laughing]
515
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,960
[Ian] I mean, that wee tour I did
with my friend was a fantastic adventure.
516
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,720
An adventure in place, an adventure
in geography, and meeting people.
517
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:40,360
You go to Shetland, different people.
518
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,600
People are very different
from the people on the mainland.
519
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,280
You go to Aberdeen,
people are different from Dundee,
520
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:48,160
different from Inverness,
different from Glasgow.
521
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:49,720
Go to Western Isles, different again.
522
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,960
So it's this very multifarious
small country.
523
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:55,960
And the whisky's part of that,
because every whisky is different.
524
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,800
Every whisky's different,
every whisky is particular to that area.
525
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:00,320
And all the cultures and all the people
are different.
526
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,640
The language is different.
The way we talk is different.
527
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,360
It's a very insular country in some ways
but also a very outward-looking country.
528
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,640
It's a country that's very proud
of its past but very fixed on the future.
529
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,600
It's a country that is open to change
but is also wary of change.
530
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,320
It's a complicated place,
a really complicated place.
531
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:27,920
[birds chirping]
532
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,400
[Alasdair] I find it helps
to make me stupid.
533
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:41,680
I've got a very active brain,
but if I stupefy myself with whisky,
534
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:43,240
I fall asleep easier.
535
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:48,320
It makes it easy for… easier…
536
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:51,720
for intellectually active folk,
537
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,040
who find their intelligence
a bit of a pest,
538
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:58,960
to stupefy themselves.
539
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,640
In relation to Scotland,
if you look at it,
540
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,520
you'll see that it is like…
541
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:14,320
a large collection of islands
jammed together.
542
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,320
This was brought forcibly to me by…
543
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:22,160
a French filmmaker.
544
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,000
The way he put it was that the…
545
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,480
that Glasgow had little to do
with Edinburgh,
546
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,360
that the Highlands had little to do
with the Lowlands,
547
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:37,000
and that the Borders
were distinct as well.
548
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:41,120
And you can see it running
right through, that…
549
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:45,680
that the nations that Scotland
was eventually gathered together
550
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:50,400
from all had their capital cities
551
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,080
on a variety of different volcanic rocks.
552
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,720
Edinburgh Castle, Dumbarton.
553
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,080
These different nations
554
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,160
were always squabbling or fighting
with each other.
555
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:11,239
The unifying power that made
the Highlands and Lowlands and…
556
00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:16,920
and the other lords and lairds cooperate
557
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:21,719
was the English attempt to take over,
558
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:26,480
and the Scots united to prevent that…
559
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,320
for a long time.
560
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:39,719
When I was at university, there was quite
a thing for the Caledonian Antisyzygy,
561
00:34:40,639 --> 00:34:42,600
being where extremes meet.
562
00:34:42,679 --> 00:34:44,239
In MacDiarmid's phrase.
563
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:47,440
So it's that kind of tension
between polar… polarities.
564
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,560
It's in all of us,
this Jekyll and Hyde, this…
565
00:34:49,639 --> 00:34:53,360
this tension between doing good
and doing-- and breaking the rules.
566
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,320
It's fun to break the rules,
it's fun to be Mr Hyde,
567
00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:58,800
it's fun to make up your own rules
for living,
568
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:00,720
and not have to live by society's rules.
569
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:05,000
Isn't this antisyzygy thing
a peculiar Scottish phenomenon?
570
00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:07,280
Or do we just think
it is because we're Scottish?
571
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:12,920
It permeates our literature in a way
that I don't see in other cultures.
572
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:19,320
Specifically in literature,
I think that notion of the divided self
573
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,800
is everywhere in Scottish poetry
and fiction and drama.
574
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,440
Maybe it's peculiar in some ways
to smaller countries
575
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:30,480
that feel smothered by bigger cultures
next door to them.
576
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:35,520
But I do think that there's a darkness
in the Scottish soul.
577
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:37,520
You've got long dark nights, right?
578
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,840
Long dark nights,
when we just tend to sit and brood.
579
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:43,320
We brood, we drink whisky,
and we read books.
580
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,120
[baby crying]
581
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:58,520
[Ian] It's the man himself, Fergusson,
striding with his books.
582
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,240
-Yeah. That looks cool.
-Good man. And he's buried here.
583
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:04,280
-Let's go and have a wee chat with him.
-I've not been here for ages.
584
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:08,240
Yeah, Fergusson is one of these poets
that I wasn't aware of
585
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:09,640
when I was at school.
586
00:36:09,720 --> 00:36:13,240
At primary school, we had Burns
drummed into us, by the Burns Club.
587
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,160
And then suddenly, you know,
588
00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:17,840
you became aware
of this guy, Robert Fergusson,
589
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,840
who had been writing these extraordinary
long poems about Edinburgh
590
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,360
that were very much
about the city of the time,
591
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:25,640
and he'd been forgotten about.
592
00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:29,080
[Dave] But also, he wrote about whisky,
which nobody was doing.
593
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,640
Uh-huh. So, I was wondering
if, at his grave,
594
00:36:31,720 --> 00:36:34,440
perhaps you could read
the first four verses
595
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:36,600
of "The Kings Birth-Day in Edinburgh".
596
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,400
-The King's Birth-Day in Edinburgh.
-[Dave] Which ended in a riot.
597
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:40,760
[Ian] Yeah, quite. Of course.
598
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:44,480
But, I mean, I'm no poet myself,
but I'll give it my best shot.
599
00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:47,200
"The Kings Birth-Day in Edinburgh.
600
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:52,440
I sing the day sae aften sung
Wi' which our lugs hae yearly rung
601
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,200
In whase loud praise the Muse has dung
A' kind o' print
602
00:36:56,280 --> 00:37:00,080
But wow, the limmer's fairly flung
There's naithing in't
603
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,440
I'm fain to think the joy's the same
In London town as here at hame
604
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:08,040
Whare fouk o' ilka age and name
Baith blind an' cripple
605
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:12,680
Forgather aft, O fy for shame
To drink an' tipple
606
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:18,040
O Muse, be kind, an' dinna fash us
To flee awa' beyont Parnassus
607
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,520
Nor seek for Helicon to wash us
That heath'nish spring
608
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:25,440
Wi' Highland whisky scour our hawses
An' gar us sing
609
00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:30,880
Begin then, dame, ye've drunk your fill
You woudna hae the tither gill?
610
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:34,760
You'll trust me, mair would do you ill
An' ding you doitet
611
00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,920
Troth 'twould be sair against my will
To hae the wyte o't".
612
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:40,040
I would change that line.
613
00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:42,800
I would sort of switch those words around,
but that's me, you know.
614
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,560
[chuckles] I don't understand
all of that, but it's lovely,
615
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:47,520
and it's musical, and it is about whisky.
616
00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:51,640
It's a lovely thing for a nation
to have its own drink.
617
00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:54,120
I mean, whisky has been hugely successful.
618
00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,360
I mean, Fergusson was the first to start
recording it in literature, really,
619
00:37:57,440 --> 00:37:59,880
and doing it in a way that said,
look, this is part of the people,
620
00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:03,080
this is the people's drink,
this is part of our culture, our nation.
621
00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,680
It's this drink
is closely linked in with us.
622
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,120
The Edinburgh he's talking about
is an Edinburgh that,
623
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:10,520
when people come here,
now in contemporary times,
624
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:12,120
they want to see that Edinburgh.
625
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:15,400
And because the Old Town is fairly intact,
or a lot of it's fairly intact,
626
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:18,920
they can see his Edinburgh,
they can see Fergusson's Edinburgh,
627
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,520
they can see the Edinburgh of Burns
and Robert Louis Stevenson.
628
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:23,920
So when you go down these wee alleyways
off the Royal Mile
629
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,200
or into a kirkyard,
like Cannongate Kirkyard,
630
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,560
you will encounter the Edinburgh
that would have been known intimately
631
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:30,880
by people like Robert Fergusson.
632
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,360
This is what he would have seen,
this is where he would have walked around,
633
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:35,120
and these are the bars
he would have gone into.
634
00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:38,240
And there is that myth of the writer,
the hard-drinking writer,
635
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,720
which, you know,
has always been there.
636
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:44,720
And you look at the number of great
writers who've been done down by it.
637
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:46,880
And who's to say
it didn't play a small part
638
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:48,360
in the downfall of Robert Fergusson?
639
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:52,720
I mean, he did end up in a lunatic asylum,
he did end up his days impoverished.
640
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:56,880
And, you know, sometimes a drink
brings out the worst in you
641
00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:58,880
as well as best in you,
and not everybody can handle it.
642
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,880
[pensive music playing]
643
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,840
[Dave] The song you're gonna be singing
for us, can you tell us about that?
644
00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:17,720
[Alasdair] Yeah, the song is called
"Johnny My Man".
645
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:21,840
And I think it was first published
around 1850,
646
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:27,200
and I suppose it's basically a song
about the perils of drink.
647
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:32,240
♪ Oh, Johnny my man ♪
648
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:38,520
♪ Do you no think o' risin' ♪
649
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:42,800
♪ The day is far spent ♪
650
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:47,640
♪ And the nicht's coming on ♪
651
00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:52,920
♪ The siller's a' done ♪
652
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:57,880
♪ And the stoup steamed the foyer ♪
653
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:02,760
What I love about this song
is that it's, it's the wife
654
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,440
that is the person who is saying,
655
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:09,040
"your… your babies are crying,
your babies are starving,
656
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:10,280
you've got to come home".
657
00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:12,440
And I think that's what makes it
so powerful
658
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:15,120
and less of a kind of a preachy ballad
659
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,200
and more of something that really
gets to the heart of the matter,
660
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:21,240
which is this absent father,
absent husband,
661
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:26,360
who is basically being kind of ground down
by the perils of whisky.
662
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:28,560
[Dave] Well, you know,
it's kind of the emotional impact.
663
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:32,000
♪ Come in by, my dearie ♪
664
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:37,720
♪ And sit down beside me ♪
665
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,920
♪ For it's time enough yet ♪
666
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:47,960
♪ To be gaun awa' hame ♪
667
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:52,760
♪ How about Johnny my man? ♪
668
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:58,800
♪ When we first fell a-courtin' ♪
669
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:03,960
♪ There was naething but love then ♪
670
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:08,680
♪ To trouble our mind ♪
671
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:13,200
♪ And we spent all our days ♪
672
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:19,280
♪ 'Mang the sweet-scented roses ♪
673
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:24,360
♪ And we never thought ♪
674
00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:29,120
♪ Towards gang awa' hame ♪
675
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:33,080
I was thinking about it on the train…
on the train on the way down here,
676
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:37,960
like about analogies
between the process of making whisky
677
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:40,000
and then the process
of making music and…
678
00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:44,840
And I kind of think of both of them
in alchemical ways,
679
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:48,560
in that you're taking these base elements
680
00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:53,160
and, you know, combining them
and processing them,
681
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,960
working intensely
and carefully with them
682
00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,000
to… to create something new and unique.
683
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:04,440
And, you know, I suppose every…
every whisky is unique.
684
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:07,200
Every… Every new piece of music
685
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:11,280
that's been created by this alchemical
means is unique.
686
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,680
It's a kind of paradox
because you're doing something
687
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:18,360
that is ancient and has been done
countless times before,
688
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:21,080
you know, with whisky, with music,
with any kind of art,
689
00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:24,200
yet you're also…
you're also creating something
690
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:26,480
that's never been created before.
691
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:30,160
You know, just because of the particular
arrangement of the elements
692
00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:31,680
that you're working with.
693
00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:37,040
♪ But thae days are a' past ♪
694
00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:43,400
♪ And will never return, love ♪
695
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:47,520
♪ So sit down beside me ♪
696
00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:52,120
♪ Nor think o' gaun hame ♪
697
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,760
History is a kind of slippery thing.
Everybody's got their own interpretation.
698
00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:02,800
So this is my interpretation
of the history of whisky,
699
00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:05,600
in a fairly condensed, distilled form.
700
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,760
If you take the Beatons, the Beatons
are coming from a medicinal side,
701
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:14,240
and at the same time,
contemporaneous to that,
702
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:17,400
you have alchemists
looking at distillation
703
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:18,320
in a completely different way,
704
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:21,000
in a much more kind of abstract
and philosophical way,
705
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:25,480
including the great mad alchemist,
John Damian,
706
00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:29,280
who was the court alchemist
to King James IV,
707
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:34,160
and who decreed at one point
that he had learned how to fly
708
00:43:34,240 --> 00:43:38,320
and… and said he could fly
from the battlements of Stirling Castle.
709
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,680
And he made himself a set of wings,
feathery wings,
710
00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:43,520
and leapt off the battlements
711
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:46,240
and plummeted into a dung heap
at the bottom
712
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:48,320
and broke his… broke his thighbone.
713
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:50,360
I think as a result of that,
714
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:52,920
people look at alchemists
as being kind of charlatans,
715
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:53,960
but they weren't.
716
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:56,760
A lot of them were actually
very, very serious scientists.
717
00:43:58,080 --> 00:43:59,360
So you kinda got two schools.
718
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,040
You've got this kind of medicinal school
719
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:04,760
and you've got the more theoretical
school from alchemy,
720
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:09,240
and you've got places such as Lindores,
where monks were distilling.
721
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,440
Again, possibly for medicine
and medicinal purposes,
722
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:15,720
but also equally perhaps
for experimental purposes.
723
00:44:16,240 --> 00:44:20,760
The knowledge of distillation
then spreads out across the community,
724
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:24,520
so that the people themselves
began to make a distillate,
725
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:25,960
probably flavoured up.
726
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:27,240
And then slowly but surely,
727
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:30,320
the medicinal side
simply disappears completely.
728
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,680
[synth music playing]
729
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:47,880
[Dave]
Distillation was an agricultural activity,
730
00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:52,560
so the knowledge of distillation,
the use of distillation,
731
00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,040
and the development of this thing
that we call whisky
732
00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:56,800
spreads across the whole of Scotland.
733
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:01,160
And one of the most important areas
which began to develop
734
00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:03,280
is what we now refer to as Speyside.
735
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:06,880
Because what happened
at that particular point is that
736
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:12,000
there's various changes
in laws and taxation,
737
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:17,360
which effectively criminalised
small-scale distillation.
738
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:22,840
And as a result, this kind
of smuggling era, as it's called,
739
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:26,720
begins to… begins to start,
begins to commence.
740
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:28,000
When you think of it in this way,
741
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:31,600
you know, where is the best place
to make illicit hooch?
742
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:35,720
The best place to make illicit hooch
is somewhere which is hard to get to.
743
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:37,200
Somewhere which is hard to police.
744
00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:40,720
And if you go
to the southern part of Speyside,
745
00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:44,040
into the braes of Glenlivet
and the southern part,
746
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:48,080
which is very wild, very rough,
lots of kind of hidden little valleys,
747
00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:49,360
they're hard to police.
748
00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:57,000
If you wanna hide away,
this is… this is the place, isn't it?
749
00:45:57,640 --> 00:45:59,960
Time to get the hiking boot on,
I would say?
750
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:02,080
[Dave] I think so. Off we go.
751
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:12,200
[man]
Well, it's pretty fertile as well, though.
752
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:16,080
I mean, it's kinda…
It's high up, it's green there.
753
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:20,760
But it's completely… You're pretty much
completely surrounded by hills.
754
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:23,560
This is a perfectly cut location.
755
00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:28,040
Long winter months
where the… the area could be cut off.
756
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:29,960
You didn't have modern snowploughs.
757
00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:33,840
What a great time
to turn that… that summer barley…
758
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:35,440
Turn that summer barley into…
759
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:39,360
…into a cash crop
that you can sell to the middle men,
760
00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:40,960
and it'll be smuggled away.
761
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:44,920
[Dave] Tell us about Scalan, then.
762
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:51,120
[Alan] Scalan is fascinating, because
in the 17th century, this was a college.
763
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:55,800
College of Scalan. And this is where
the priests came to do their training.
764
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:59,680
Remote, because we were
after the Reformation.
765
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:04,680
But these guys went to Rome,
they read the classics,
766
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:06,720
but they also had to farm for themselves.
767
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:10,320
The burn. Water supply,
good, clean water supply,
768
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:12,440
and lots of springs
on the sides of the hills.
769
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:14,560
So a lot of ale, bread…
770
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:17,080
And who knows what else. You know?
771
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:20,280
-Maybe do a bit of brewing. A wee ale.
-Right.
772
00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:24,240
-You might just boil it, and it's whisky.
-Aye, just by accident, Your Honour.
773
00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:26,400
Yeah. Just, "Oh! Perfect!"
774
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:27,680
Just dropped it in the soup pot
by mistake.
775
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:31,560
And you've got plenty--
If somebody is forming a lookout,
776
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:34,320
they've plenty of time
to see anybody coming,
777
00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:38,360
because the redcoats
would be coming in over that hill there.
778
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:49,240
[Dave] Because they're hard to police,
they begin to specialise,
779
00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:53,680
and you see these kind of centres
of excellence beginning to spring up.
780
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:58,560
So it began to build a reputation.
It began to be branded.
781
00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:05,280
People began asking for Glenlivet Whisky,
because it was a sign of the good stuff.
782
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:21,960
[Andrew] The first record of whisky
came when the legs of the horses
783
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:27,400
pulling the coal down from Dunfermline
got a bit tangled up
784
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:31,080
and they were dressed
with a dressing of aqua vitae.
785
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:32,360
[both laughing]
786
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:36,400
That's… As far as I could make out,
that was in 1768.
787
00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:42,040
In the early part of the 18th century,
788
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:46,720
you had… if you… if you had a still,
you had to have it licensed.
789
00:48:47,720 --> 00:48:49,720
And then Lord Bruce,
790
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:55,320
who was made responsible
for collecting the duties…
791
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:59,280
Whether he collected
a little extra as well, I don't know.
792
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:04,320
It wasn't until 1800
793
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:08,840
that we built a large shop,
794
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:12,200
which had everything in it
for the men to work.
795
00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:13,960
And by pure chance,
796
00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:19,600
this volume here has survived.
797
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:25,120
It's from 1824 to about 1826,
798
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:28,600
and in it is recorded
799
00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:34,280
the amount of whisky that went through
the shop in Charlestown,
800
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:40,000
and it amounted
to just under 6,500 gallons.
801
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:45,640
Now I'm not certain
whether they were Imperial gallons
802
00:49:45,720 --> 00:49:47,440
or whether they were Scottish gallons,
803
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:53,960
but considering there were only 132 houses
in the village of Charlestown,
804
00:49:54,040 --> 00:49:55,240
this is not bad going.
805
00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:57,760
-That's a… That's a fair amount.
-Yeah.
806
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:00,720
[indistinct chatter]
807
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:17,120
[Dave] We navigate our lives
by our sense of smell.
808
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:21,520
And it's remarkable how many aromas
are triggered by our childhood memories.
809
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:27,320
And the smell of vanilla for me was eating
ice cream in Millport in the summer.
810
00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:29,120
It was only years later,
811
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:31,840
when I was walking
around Glasgow's Botanic Gardens,
812
00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:33,480
that I found vanilla growing.
813
00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:38,360
And the smell of coconut for me
was hot gorse flowers.
814
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:44,560
Whisky has this ability
to take you on a journey into your past
815
00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:46,680
and also into its landscape.
816
00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:51,000
Every sniff, every sip
will take you deeper in.
817
00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:55,560
And once you begin to be aware
of the aromas around you,
818
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:58,360
so you begin to consciously engage
with the world.
819
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:01,520
And you know, what is better
than engaging with the world?
820
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:06,200
Gaelic poetry also has
this vivid engagement
821
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:08,240
with landscape and the senses.
822
00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:12,640
Like whisky-making, it's a manifestation
of place and creative thinking.
823
00:51:15,160 --> 00:51:17,600
-[water running]
-[birds chirping]
824
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:25,000
[wind blowing]
825
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:29,000
-[Dave] You know this book, don't you?
-[Alan] Nan Shepherd, yeah, yeah.
826
00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:31,720
[Dave] There's a thing in it
I wanted to have a wee read of.
827
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:37,600
This is her. She's walking into…
828
00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:41,240
And as Robert McFarlane said, she didn't
walk up a mountain, she walked into one.
829
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:42,680
-Walked into it.
-Yeah.
830
00:51:42,760 --> 00:51:44,560
-So it was all-encompassing.
-Yeah.
831
00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:45,680
Yes, exactly.
832
00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:47,680
You know, what's the point
of just getting to the top?
833
00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:50,080
[Dave] You know, it's actually getting in
and understanding it.
834
00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:51,520
That's… That's more important.
835
00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:54,080
[Alan] I probably totally agree with that,
you know, because--
836
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:56,200
Yeah, let's… let's climb that mountain.
837
00:51:56,280 --> 00:51:59,480
We've bagged a Corbett.
Let's get up there, let's get down again.
838
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:00,920
-What are we missing?
-Yes.
839
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:04,160
I'll tell you what you're missing.
See there? Here we go.
840
00:52:04,240 --> 00:52:07,840
"Each of the senses is a way
into what the mountain has to give".
841
00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:10,960
"The palate can taste the wild berries,
blaeberry,
842
00:52:11,040 --> 00:52:14,200
wild free-born cranberry,
and most subtle and sweet of all,
843
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:17,120
the averin or cloudberry,
a name like a dream".
844
00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:20,240
"The juicy gold globe
melts against the tongue,
845
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:22,000
but who can describe a flavour?"
846
00:52:22,720 --> 00:52:24,000
"So with the scents".
847
00:52:24,080 --> 00:52:26,520
"All the aromatic and heady fragrances,
848
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:29,760
pine and birch, bog myrtle,
the spicy juniper,
849
00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:31,920
heather and the honey-sweet orchis,
850
00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:35,360
and the clean smell of wild thyme
mean nothing at all in words".
851
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:38,680
-"They are there to be smelled".
-Yes.
852
00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:40,760
And you see,
the first time I read that, I went,
853
00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:42,760
"All right, I might as well give up,
854
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:45,800
for that means, like, whisky-tasting notes
mean nothing", you know?
855
00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:47,040
[both laughing]
856
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:51,880
But then, if you look at it,
it's really about experiencing it.
857
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:55,760
It's about, when you are out and about,
you live it, you pick up something,
858
00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:57,800
and I spotted you,
as we were walking up the road,
859
00:52:57,880 --> 00:52:59,480
you picked a rose
and you smelled the rose.
860
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:01,440
-Yeah, that's it.
-You know? And it's…
861
00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,640
it's living and understanding
what the aromas are around you.
862
00:53:04,720 --> 00:53:07,600
The sense is,
is that it started years ago in this…
863
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:11,040
Everybody was,
"Oh, there are big, black mountains behind
864
00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:14,480
and oh, it's such a barren terrain".
865
00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:15,560
[Alan] No, it's not.
866
00:53:15,640 --> 00:53:18,840
It's fragrant. Today, the mist's down.
867
00:53:19,880 --> 00:53:23,560
There's a bit of moisture in the air.
The countryside's very fragrant.
868
00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:25,720
Now, that--
869
00:53:25,800 --> 00:53:30,240
There's a coconut, the whins,
the broom and things, it's passed.
870
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:32,680
But you get that coconut
when it's out, and…
871
00:53:33,280 --> 00:53:35,960
It's… It's more than that.
And you're right.
872
00:53:36,040 --> 00:53:38,640
She walked into the mountain, yes. Yeah.
873
00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:48,600
[Dave] When you're sitting there
874
00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:52,600
and you're standing there in your library,
with all these bottles in front of you
875
00:53:52,680 --> 00:53:54,800
in all the different colours,
all the different aromas,
876
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:56,000
how do you navigate?
877
00:53:56,080 --> 00:53:57,520
What's the process?
878
00:53:58,240 --> 00:54:02,160
I'm looking for
what I would describe as weight,
879
00:54:02,720 --> 00:54:07,120
intensity of aroma and defining character.
880
00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:14,960
So it could be that it's really heavy,
it's very vanilla,
881
00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:16,920
but there's a spike of citrus in there.
882
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:21,120
[Sarah] But it could be very vanilla
with not so much citrus,
883
00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:23,800
there's a hint of dried fruit
coming in there.
884
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:27,480
But sometimes, you'll find that vanilla
with dried fruit, and you go,
885
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:28,960
"Oh, where does this go?"
886
00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:33,840
"It doesn't fit in either of the places
for the whiskies that I'm trying to make".
887
00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:36,280
"Am I gonna make a new product with it?"
888
00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:39,400
And sometimes I'm not sure,
so I'll just put it to the side,
889
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:43,720
and I'll bring it back out
at a later day and say,
890
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:46,360
"Oh, yeah, actually,
that's gonna be much better
891
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:49,480
for 15-year-old or for 18-year-old",
and I'll put it away entirely,
892
00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:54,560
or I'll ring-fence it
for potential future new products.
893
00:54:54,640 --> 00:54:56,320
[Dave] So, I mean, it sounds…
894
00:54:56,400 --> 00:55:00,000
I suppose it can sound analytical.
And it has to be analytical, you know.
895
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:02,880
That's fitting, that's not fitting,
etcetera, etcetera.
896
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:06,440
How-- Where does
the creative process come in then?
897
00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:08,640
If you think about an artist,
898
00:55:08,720 --> 00:55:11,400
everyone's got the ability
to paint a picture.
899
00:55:12,120 --> 00:55:14,920
And everyone's got the ability
to create colour.
900
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:17,600
It's just unfortunate some folk
will make a muddy brown.
901
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:18,600
[both laugh]
902
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:21,880
They can't do purples,
they can't make it look beautiful,
903
00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:23,520
but they'll still make a picture.
904
00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:28,880
And it's the same thing for whisky-making.
It's… I believe it's artistic.
905
00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:34,920
It's about being able to tell a story
through flavour and aroma.
906
00:55:38,240 --> 00:55:43,000
[Dave] So there's 130 distilleries
operational in Scotland at the moment.
907
00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:48,560
Each one creating something
which is unique to that specific place.
908
00:55:49,760 --> 00:55:52,840
If you talk to the real experts of whisky,
909
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:57,080
and you say, "Well, why do two
distilleries sitting next to each other
910
00:55:57,160 --> 00:56:00,520
make fundamentally
different-flavoured spirits?"
911
00:56:00,600 --> 00:56:03,080
They will eventually go, "We don't know".
912
00:56:04,040 --> 00:56:07,080
There is something magic about location.
913
00:56:07,160 --> 00:56:10,320
There is something about specific spot
914
00:56:10,400 --> 00:56:14,440
where a distillery is that will create
a flavour that is unique to that place,
915
00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:16,720
and nobody knows why that is there.
916
00:56:16,800 --> 00:56:17,920
And thank God they don't.
917
00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:20,600
Because there is a mystery to whisky.
918
00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:22,720
There is something magical about it.
919
00:56:22,800 --> 00:56:27,720
There is this ability of a distillery
or a spirit from a distillery
920
00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:32,120
to somehow literally distil
the place in which it's been created.
921
00:56:32,200 --> 00:56:35,320
[upbeat music playing]
922
00:56:57,760 --> 00:56:58,640
[whistle blows]
923
00:57:07,640 --> 00:57:10,600
[Dave] In the 1860s,
the railway arrives in Speyside.
924
00:57:11,320 --> 00:57:13,840
And this is good
from a whisky point of view,
925
00:57:13,920 --> 00:57:16,320
because it allows the whisky
to get out of the region
926
00:57:16,400 --> 00:57:19,560
and also allows coal and casks to come in.
927
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:23,400
The railway also brings visitors,
928
00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:27,120
because by this time, the Highlands
of Scotland are a destination
929
00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:28,880
for middle-class English tourists.
930
00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:30,720
And they're coming up to shoot,
and to fish,
931
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:33,400
and to gaze at romantic vistas.
932
00:57:35,480 --> 00:57:36,600
Because Scotland is hip.
933
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:40,840
So enter whisky,
which now begins to gain respectability.
934
00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:49,320
There's a lovely account
935
00:57:49,400 --> 00:57:53,320
of drinking around this time,
which describes how a toddy trolley
936
00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:56,160
was brought out
at the end of this rather grand meal,
937
00:57:57,880 --> 00:58:03,520
allowing everyone to make a toddy to his,
and it was always his, own specification.
938
00:58:03,600 --> 00:58:07,400
And it speaks of how the aromas
of the whisky, and the lemon,
939
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:10,520
and the honey and the hot water
would mingle with that
940
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:12,840
of the Romanée-Conti and Lafite.
941
00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:16,360
We've moved a long way
from Highlanders sitting around
942
00:58:16,440 --> 00:58:17,960
drinking out of scallop shells.
943
00:58:19,360 --> 00:58:21,800
[soothing music playing]
944
00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:42,480
[music stops]
945
00:58:45,200 --> 00:58:47,520
[birds chirping]
946
00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:51,280
[Dave]
So Scotland changes in the 19th century.
947
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:54,720
You know, it ceases to be
this kind of scary place,
948
00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:59,360
you know, where peculiar people,
hairy people in odd dress were living,
949
00:58:59,440 --> 00:59:01,040
to become something that was fashionable.
950
00:59:01,120 --> 00:59:04,120
[Nick] Queen Victoria
made Scotland famous.
951
00:59:04,200 --> 00:59:06,720
She had a distillery
on the doorstep of Balmoral.
952
00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:11,120
John Begg, who owned Royal Lochnagar,
was known as the Queen's loyal distiller.
953
00:59:11,800 --> 00:59:15,320
And his whisky actually was, for a while,
very fashionable and popular in London.
954
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:17,280
Because London was a window for the world.
955
00:59:17,360 --> 00:59:19,600
It wasn't just about
what people in London saw,
956
00:59:19,680 --> 00:59:22,080
it was about all those people
who came to London.
957
00:59:22,160 --> 00:59:23,920
[Dave] And who made this happen then?
958
00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:26,040
[Nick]
I mean, it's the great sort of Scottish,
959
00:59:26,120 --> 00:59:29,880
mid- to late-Victorian Scottish sense
of entrepreneurship.
960
00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:32,800
And this… I think this belief…
961
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:35,560
Because that's what you see
when you really try to get inside
962
00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:37,600
the heads of these people
and look at what they were doing.
963
00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:39,800
This belief that you could do
anything you want to
964
00:59:39,880 --> 00:59:43,200
if you really tried hard enough, you know.
965
00:59:43,280 --> 00:59:47,040
I mean, just think of saying,
"We're going to make a hundred cases",
966
00:59:47,760 --> 00:59:50,480
you know, when all you've been doing
is working in a grocery shop,
967
00:59:50,560 --> 00:59:55,240
and then suddenly it goes
from a hundred cases to 10,000 cases.
968
00:59:55,320 --> 00:59:56,960
And, you know, by the turn of the century,
969
00:59:57,040 --> 01:00:00,280
these companies are producing
thousands and thousands
970
01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:04,800
of cases of whisky, which means
raw materials, not just whisky.
971
01:00:04,880 --> 01:00:11,600
It's glass, it's cork, it's closures,
it's cases, it's packing, it's transport.
972
01:00:11,680 --> 01:00:13,480
It's never been done before.
973
01:00:13,560 --> 01:00:16,040
And they're just making this stuff up
on the hoof.
974
01:00:20,640 --> 01:00:24,200
Running right through this house,
underneath where we're sitting here,
975
01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:27,840
is a long corridor,
and out of it runs the cellar,
976
01:00:28,520 --> 01:00:31,440
but at the end of the corridor
is the nursery.
977
01:00:32,360 --> 01:00:37,560
And when I was four and five years old,
I used to hear "tinkle, tinkle, tinkle",
978
01:00:37,640 --> 01:00:40,560
and this was my father
coming with the butler
979
01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:43,760
with the keys to the cellar,
tinkle, tinkle,
980
01:00:43,840 --> 01:00:46,960
and I went along and helped them.
981
01:00:47,880 --> 01:00:52,240
So the butler heaved it over like this,
and I stood underneath…
982
01:00:53,440 --> 01:00:55,120
with this,
983
01:00:56,200 --> 01:00:58,640
and I put it in there,
984
01:00:58,720 --> 01:01:02,080
and I held it, and glug, glug, glug,
you'll see it from there.
985
01:01:02,160 --> 01:01:05,360
And as soon as that was finished,
I went… [sniffs]
986
01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:08,240
[both laughing]
987
01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:10,600
That was my first Savoy.
988
01:01:10,680 --> 01:01:13,280
-That was your first Savoy? Aged four?
-Yeah. Yes.
989
01:01:15,040 --> 01:01:18,640
In the days after the first war,
990
01:01:20,160 --> 01:01:25,360
gentlemen still maintained the discipline
991
01:01:25,440 --> 01:01:30,640
of there being no bottles of whisky
seen anywhere in the house.
992
01:01:31,480 --> 01:01:35,160
And instead of that, you…
you had these lovely little…
993
01:01:36,280 --> 01:01:37,760
-decanters.
-Very beautiful.
994
01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:39,160
Later on,
995
01:01:39,840 --> 01:01:42,680
if you had visitors and it was found
996
01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:47,120
that some of the gentlemen
wanted to drink whisky at dinner,
997
01:01:47,760 --> 01:01:49,280
this was produced.
998
01:01:49,360 --> 01:01:54,520
And this was very quietly slipped down
beside the gentleman's place,
999
01:01:54,600 --> 01:01:56,560
and he gave himself a dram,
1000
01:01:56,640 --> 01:02:01,080
and then, just as quietly,
it was removed and put back again.
1001
01:02:01,160 --> 01:02:05,080
So never was a bottle seen
anywhere near the table.
1002
01:02:05,160 --> 01:02:08,160
-So it was discretion at all times.
-Yes, yes.
1003
01:02:08,240 --> 01:02:10,280
And I think these are rather fun.
1004
01:02:10,360 --> 01:02:11,680
[Dave] They're rather beautiful.
1005
01:02:16,680 --> 01:02:18,280
The novelist Sir Walter Scott
1006
01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:20,920
helped to create
this romantic view of Scotland.
1007
01:02:22,560 --> 01:02:25,880
By the end of the 19th century,
this image had become increasingly
1008
01:02:25,960 --> 01:02:28,120
clichéd and sentimentalised.
1009
01:02:28,200 --> 01:02:30,400
Scotland had been reduced
to this shorthand
1010
01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:33,280
of tartan, stags
and an emptied landscape.
1011
01:02:34,280 --> 01:02:36,560
It's what blended whisky picked up on
1012
01:02:36,640 --> 01:02:38,880
as it began to sell itself
around the world.
1013
01:02:38,960 --> 01:02:40,680
Welcome to Scotch-land.
1014
01:02:43,360 --> 01:02:45,600
As a result,
by the start of the 20th century,
1015
01:02:45,680 --> 01:02:49,360
the close ties between Scottish culture
and whisky had been loosened.
1016
01:02:49,920 --> 01:02:53,680
It was made here, but it no longer
reflected the reality of the country.
1017
01:03:02,080 --> 01:03:06,280
There was a rear-guard action to try
and reclaim a singular Scottish identity,
1018
01:03:07,240 --> 01:03:10,080
and this was fought by artists
and a number of writers,
1019
01:03:10,160 --> 01:03:13,720
such as the poet Hugh MacDiarmid,
and the novelist Neal M Gunn,
1020
01:03:13,800 --> 01:03:16,000
both of whom used whisky as a metaphor
1021
01:03:16,080 --> 01:03:19,000
for the state of the nation
and Scottish identity.
1022
01:03:39,400 --> 01:03:42,320
I was just thinking
that if you look at the way
1023
01:03:42,400 --> 01:03:45,400
that Scottish literature was in the 19th
century, tail-end of the 19th century,
1024
01:03:45,480 --> 01:03:48,240
it was all very couthy,
it was very sentimentalised,
1025
01:03:48,320 --> 01:03:49,320
it was all Kailyard.
1026
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:51,600
And you look at the way whisky was sold
'round about the same time,
1027
01:03:51,680 --> 01:03:56,160
it was this kind of Harry Lauder,
music-hall "Scotch-land" kind of thing.
1028
01:03:57,000 --> 01:03:58,680
In some ways,
1029
01:03:58,760 --> 01:04:02,360
I'm just wondering whether whisky,
at that point, as literature did,
1030
01:04:02,440 --> 01:04:04,880
kind of lost touch with the culture.
1031
01:04:04,960 --> 01:04:06,000
[Ian] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1032
01:04:06,080 --> 01:04:07,600
I mean, I do wonder about that,
because that did persist…
1033
01:04:07,680 --> 01:04:11,040
That Kailyard Scottishness did persist
when I was a kid.
1034
01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:14,320
The White Heather Clubon TV
and all these kinds of shows
1035
01:04:14,400 --> 01:04:17,760
that were just people going "hee yeuch"
and burling around in kilts
1036
01:04:17,840 --> 01:04:19,680
and then drinking a whisky
in between times.
1037
01:04:19,760 --> 01:04:22,160
And you're going,
"That is… That is a Scotland".
1038
01:04:22,240 --> 01:04:23,560
"That is a version of Scotland".
1039
01:04:23,640 --> 01:04:27,160
And it's a version that could sell itself
quite successfully to tourists.
1040
01:04:27,240 --> 01:04:30,160
But as you've suggested,
it was another Scotland
1041
01:04:30,240 --> 01:04:33,200
that MacDiarmid wrote about
in A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle.
1042
01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:34,880
Umm… [stuttering]
1043
01:04:34,960 --> 01:04:37,800
-A poem that's awash in alcohol.
-Yeah, yeah.
1044
01:04:37,880 --> 01:04:41,760
[Nick] The tartan and the heather thing
is a bit of a myth.
1045
01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:46,640
Okay? And it's one of those things
that we hear so much about.
1046
01:04:46,720 --> 01:04:49,760
You know, the Scotch whisky industry…
1047
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:52,240
Well, it needs to get away
from tartan and heather.
1048
01:04:52,320 --> 01:04:54,480
Sure, people used Highland imagery,
1049
01:04:54,560 --> 01:04:58,560
and the reason for using Highland imagery
was very important.
1050
01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:01,400
Blends needed to be seen
as being authentic.
1051
01:05:01,480 --> 01:05:03,640
They needed to be seen
as being legitimate.
1052
01:05:03,720 --> 01:05:05,120
So it wasn't as much about tartan
and heather,
1053
01:05:05,200 --> 01:05:08,320
it was about the authenticity
of the product at a time
1054
01:05:08,400 --> 01:05:11,240
when, publicly,
the authenticity of the product
1055
01:05:11,320 --> 01:05:14,440
was being questioned to a great extent.
1056
01:05:14,520 --> 01:05:17,760
Scots went all the way around the Empire
and beyond, you know,
1057
01:05:17,840 --> 01:05:19,680
and they took all of these things
with them.
1058
01:05:20,240 --> 01:05:21,920
And they took tartan with them.
1059
01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:25,080
I mean, whisky didn't take tartan there,
they took them there.
1060
01:05:25,160 --> 01:05:28,600
All the Scottish soldiers that
were 'round the world in the 18th century
1061
01:05:28,680 --> 01:05:31,880
were taking tartan there,
which was when it first became known.
1062
01:05:31,960 --> 01:05:34,480
I remember going to somewhere
in South Africa
1063
01:05:34,560 --> 01:05:37,880
where there was a tribe
who wear tartan as their costume,
1064
01:05:37,960 --> 01:05:41,160
because they were beaten
in some battle by Scottish soldiers,
1065
01:05:41,240 --> 01:05:45,080
and they adopted tartan
as a sign of respect for these warriors.
1066
01:05:45,160 --> 01:05:49,200
So you can't just pin tartan on to whisky.
It's a much bigger thing, you know.
1067
01:05:49,280 --> 01:05:52,000
[pensive music playing]
1068
01:06:12,680 --> 01:06:17,840
[Dave] The Kingdom of Fife is this
fascinating little area of Scotland.
1069
01:06:17,920 --> 01:06:20,400
It's kind of Scotland in miniature
in many ways.
1070
01:06:20,480 --> 01:06:23,760
You had heavy industry, you had mining,
1071
01:06:23,840 --> 01:06:26,920
you had leather works,
you got fishing as well,
1072
01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:28,000
you got agriculture,
1073
01:06:28,080 --> 01:06:30,920
you've got seats of learning
such as St Andrews.
1074
01:06:31,000 --> 01:06:36,360
But it's also home
to this extraordinarily new community
1075
01:06:36,440 --> 01:06:42,720
of artists, and musicians,
and painters and distillers
1076
01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:47,440
who are out there creating something
1077
01:06:47,520 --> 01:06:49,680
really new and compelling.
1078
01:06:50,600 --> 01:06:52,480
Especially the East Neuk of Fife,
1079
01:06:52,560 --> 01:06:55,960
which is the extreme east end of Fife.
1080
01:06:56,040 --> 01:06:59,760
It… It's a place where thinkers go
1081
01:07:01,520 --> 01:07:04,480
to actually work out what they want to do.
1082
01:07:05,240 --> 01:07:07,120
It gives people a bit of space.
1083
01:07:07,200 --> 01:07:09,360
People are… are making their music
1084
01:07:09,440 --> 01:07:12,800
and making their art,
and making their beer or whisky
1085
01:07:13,760 --> 01:07:17,920
in the way that they want to make it,
rather than being beholden to the market.
1086
01:07:18,000 --> 01:07:19,480
If you like it, that's brilliant.
1087
01:07:19,560 --> 01:07:22,040
If you don't like it,
well, that's unfortunate.
1088
01:07:22,120 --> 01:07:24,760
But you know what? It's what I want to do.
1089
01:07:24,840 --> 01:07:27,760
This is me expressing myself creatively.
1090
01:07:29,840 --> 01:07:32,200
[insects chirping]
1091
01:07:32,880 --> 01:07:36,600
[Dave] So you've left
the high-flying corporate world,
1092
01:07:37,240 --> 01:07:40,240
and you're now here in shorts
and a t-shirt,
1093
01:07:40,320 --> 01:07:43,000
in an empty space
in the East Neuk of Fife.
1094
01:07:43,080 --> 01:07:44,840
[Stephen] I think I always wore shorts
and a t-shirt.
1095
01:07:44,920 --> 01:07:47,000
-[Dave] That's true.
-[Stephen laughs]
1096
01:07:48,400 --> 01:07:53,360
We're gonna make
a Lambic-style farmhouse beer.
1097
01:07:53,440 --> 01:07:57,320
Up here, we'll have a coolship
for cooling down the wort,
1098
01:07:57,400 --> 01:07:58,920
and then getting in wild yeasts.
1099
01:07:59,520 --> 01:08:02,440
The important thing is we don't…
we don't clean the rafters.
1100
01:08:02,520 --> 01:08:04,520
-[Dave] Okay.
-Which is not,
1101
01:08:05,120 --> 01:08:08,200
you know, Environmental Health like you
to have everything really clean.
1102
01:08:08,280 --> 01:08:11,760
[laughs] So when I… when I…
1103
01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:14,240
You know,
they were talking about us coating,
1104
01:08:14,320 --> 01:08:15,520
painting the rafters,
1105
01:08:15,600 --> 01:08:17,800
and I was saying,
"No, but we want fruit flies
1106
01:08:17,880 --> 01:08:23,040
and we want beasties to come in
to spread the yeast around".
1107
01:08:23,120 --> 01:08:24,960
-[Dave] You want it to be foosty.
-[Stephen] Yeah.
1108
01:08:25,040 --> 01:08:28,279
So, through here,
we've got your distillery.
1109
01:08:28,359 --> 01:08:30,319
Yeah, we're putting a small distillery in.
1110
01:08:30,399 --> 01:08:31,560
-[Dave] Okay.
-[Stephen] We want to make
1111
01:08:31,640 --> 01:08:33,600
farmhouse-style whisky.
1112
01:08:33,680 --> 01:08:37,840
So using wild ferments from here,
1113
01:08:38,720 --> 01:08:43,760
and hopefully,
we'll make quite a kind of heavy spirit.
1114
01:08:43,840 --> 01:08:46,000
[birds chirping]
1115
01:08:46,080 --> 01:08:47,160
[Dave] Are you going…
1116
01:08:47,720 --> 01:08:50,880
Are you just going back to this kind of
supposed golden age of whisky?
1117
01:08:50,960 --> 01:08:53,160
[Stephen] No, no. I'm not into that.
1118
01:08:53,240 --> 01:08:57,000
But I want to make something that's
really good quality that I can control.
1119
01:08:57,080 --> 01:09:01,000
And because we want to remain
a small business,
1120
01:09:01,080 --> 01:09:02,160
it doesn't need to be scalable.
1121
01:09:02,240 --> 01:09:04,359
We'll fill half a cask a week.
1122
01:09:04,439 --> 01:09:07,560
And then after we've filled them,
we'll leave the space in there for oxygen.
1123
01:09:07,640 --> 01:09:09,359
-[Dave] So just like that?
-[Stephen] Yeah.
1124
01:09:09,439 --> 01:09:10,359
-Bit of space.
-[Dave] All right.
1125
01:09:10,439 --> 01:09:13,520
Which, you know, I think people would do,
if it wasn't for accountants,
1126
01:09:13,600 --> 01:09:15,760
because, you know, you've got to maximise.
1127
01:09:15,840 --> 01:09:16,840
That's an accountant's nightmare
1128
01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:18,880
that you have space
that would be lying empty.
1129
01:09:18,960 --> 01:09:20,000
-Yeah.
-Umm…
1130
01:09:20,080 --> 01:09:21,960
But I think that's a better thing
for flavour.
1131
01:09:24,000 --> 01:09:26,279
[Stephen] I think
that there's so many small producers.
1132
01:09:26,359 --> 01:09:30,160
The ones that survive are the ones
that do things in a…
1133
01:09:32,080 --> 01:09:33,760
quite a stubborn way.
1134
01:09:34,600 --> 01:09:36,960
There's a rebelliousness as well.
1135
01:09:37,040 --> 01:09:39,040
And you see that…
1136
01:09:39,120 --> 01:09:42,760
that's a kind of common link in the people
who are trying to do something different.
1137
01:09:42,840 --> 01:09:46,880
There is a great Scottish word, "thrawn",
you know, which kind of means…
1138
01:09:46,960 --> 01:09:52,040
It's not stubborn, it's a determination
to do what you think is right.
1139
01:09:52,120 --> 01:09:55,000
[Stephen] I think Francis at Daftmill
is an example of that.
1140
01:09:55,080 --> 01:09:58,280
Somebody just doing things
the way they want to do them.
1141
01:10:02,880 --> 01:10:04,840
So, tell us about this.
1142
01:10:04,920 --> 01:10:07,880
So here you are, you're a
successful farmer, you're making--
1143
01:10:07,960 --> 01:10:09,960
-Am I?
-You're growing barley for…
1144
01:10:10,040 --> 01:10:11,520
Yes, I'm being nice to you, you know.
1145
01:10:11,600 --> 01:10:13,920
[Dave laughs]
You're growing barley for distillers,
1146
01:10:14,000 --> 01:10:16,080
you've got your cattle,
you've got your vegetables,
1147
01:10:16,160 --> 01:10:19,320
and then you go, one day,
you wake up and you go,
1148
01:10:19,400 --> 01:10:22,360
"I know. I'm gonna make whisky". So what--
1149
01:10:22,440 --> 01:10:24,160
-It wasn't really a "one day" thing.
-[laughs]
1150
01:10:24,240 --> 01:10:28,640
It was an idea that kicked around
for a long, long time,
1151
01:10:28,720 --> 01:10:31,240
but nothing ever happened with it.
1152
01:10:31,320 --> 01:10:32,920
You know, we just thought,
1153
01:10:33,000 --> 01:10:36,600
wouldn't it be nice one day
to have our own distillery?
1154
01:10:36,680 --> 01:10:41,600
Because, you know, we've always drunk
plenty of whisky, so…
1155
01:10:41,680 --> 01:10:44,200
[Francis] And we grew the barley
that made the whisky,
1156
01:10:44,280 --> 01:10:47,200
so it would be quite nice to do the bit
in the middle as well.
1157
01:10:50,040 --> 01:10:53,760
We spent a long time figuring out if…
1158
01:10:54,360 --> 01:10:56,080
you know, if it was possible to do it.
1159
01:10:56,160 --> 01:10:58,000
You know, could… could we do it?
1160
01:10:58,080 --> 01:11:00,920
Maybe we didn't think long enough
on "Should we do it?"
1161
01:11:01,600 --> 01:11:02,560
Time is the main thing.
1162
01:11:02,640 --> 01:11:07,240
You know, the amount of hours that
we have got to spend in the distillery,
1163
01:11:07,920 --> 01:11:10,640
compared to spend on the tractor seat.
1164
01:11:11,480 --> 01:11:12,880
So, you know… [clears throat]
1165
01:11:13,600 --> 01:11:18,240
The farm pays the wages at the moment,
so it takes priority.
1166
01:11:18,760 --> 01:11:21,920
We can only make whisky in the…
in the quieter times,
1167
01:11:22,000 --> 01:11:23,760
in mid-summer and mid-winter.
1168
01:11:24,960 --> 01:11:27,320
Spring and autumn
is busy times on the farm, so…
1169
01:11:29,160 --> 01:11:30,960
[Dave] And you've also been very…
1170
01:11:32,320 --> 01:11:36,600
determined in only releasing
the whisky when you felt it was ready.
1171
01:11:36,680 --> 01:11:39,560
I remember I've pestered you for years,
sort of saying, "Come on!"
1172
01:11:39,640 --> 01:11:42,400
"When are you going to release it,
your first whisky?"
1173
01:11:42,480 --> 01:11:46,080
And it's only just come out, and that's,
what, 15 years after you started, so…
1174
01:11:46,160 --> 01:11:47,640
Why that way?
1175
01:11:48,600 --> 01:11:49,720
[Francis] It wasn't ready.
1176
01:11:50,920 --> 01:11:53,800
Things take time.
1177
01:11:53,880 --> 01:11:54,840
[Dave] So it's your whisky.
1178
01:11:54,920 --> 01:11:56,760
-You're making it to the style you want.
-Yeah, yeah. Yes.
1179
01:11:56,840 --> 01:11:59,200
[Dave] And it'll be ready
when you say it's ready.
1180
01:11:59,280 --> 01:12:00,120
-That's pretty much it.
-[Dave] Yeah.
1181
01:12:07,960 --> 01:12:10,200
The smell in here is absolutely amazing.
1182
01:12:10,280 --> 01:12:13,600
You know, you just open that door,
and this wonderful sweet waft of…
1183
01:12:13,680 --> 01:12:16,560
[Francis] Bit of wood
and damp earth and…
1184
01:12:17,760 --> 01:12:19,760
the magic that is a warehouse.
1185
01:12:20,960 --> 01:12:22,880
-[Dave] You never tire of this, do you?
-[Francis] No.
1186
01:12:22,960 --> 01:12:25,960
[Dave] When you're out in the field,
I mean, do you kind of--
1187
01:12:26,040 --> 01:12:29,240
Are you surrounded by different smells?
Are you consciously smelling things?
1188
01:12:29,320 --> 01:12:30,400
[Francis] Yeah, you know.
1189
01:12:30,480 --> 01:12:34,360
You know, like the harvest times,
straw has a wonderful smell,
1190
01:12:34,440 --> 01:12:36,760
and you sometimes pick that up
in a whisky.
1191
01:12:38,920 --> 01:12:40,080
You come around here and you think,
1192
01:12:40,160 --> 01:12:42,600
"Wow, this is an ancient
old traditional distillery",
1193
01:12:42,680 --> 01:12:45,840
but actually, what you're doing
is making it in a…
1194
01:12:46,600 --> 01:12:50,200
in a true traditional model,
but in a 21st century way.
1195
01:12:50,280 --> 01:12:51,640
Yeah. But it's the same.
1196
01:12:51,720 --> 01:12:53,240
[Francis]
If you want to go back to the past,
1197
01:12:53,320 --> 01:12:55,680
which bit of the past
do you want to go back to?
1198
01:12:55,760 --> 01:12:58,240
Because it always changed
back then as well.
1199
01:12:58,960 --> 01:13:00,440
Things have always changed, but…
1200
01:13:01,320 --> 01:13:03,880
sometimes things get better,
sometimes not.
1201
01:13:06,040 --> 01:13:09,040
The seasonal aspect of it
is… is very traditional.
1202
01:13:09,120 --> 01:13:13,640
You know, farm… farmers made whisky
when… when they weren't farming.
1203
01:13:13,720 --> 01:13:15,400
You know, distilling is like curling.
1204
01:13:15,480 --> 01:13:18,160
You know, it's a winter sport
best done by farmers.
1205
01:13:18,880 --> 01:13:21,520
So that aspect is… is very traditional,
1206
01:13:22,280 --> 01:13:25,400
but we're not afraid
to use an electric motor,
1207
01:13:25,480 --> 01:13:28,000
if it makes life easier for you.
1208
01:13:28,080 --> 01:13:31,080
You know, we're not--
It's not a working museum.
1209
01:13:33,960 --> 01:13:35,880
We try to make a whisky
1210
01:13:35,960 --> 01:13:40,400
that sort of represents the area
that we're making it in, you know.
1211
01:13:40,480 --> 01:13:43,640
We don't have big hills
1212
01:13:43,720 --> 01:13:46,120
or rugged coastline or what not.
1213
01:13:46,200 --> 01:13:48,720
You know, it's a soft and gentle
sort of landscape.
1214
01:13:48,800 --> 01:13:54,400
So, the whisky that we are making
kinda matches that, I think, anyway.
1215
01:13:55,040 --> 01:13:59,760
When you're trying to sell it
to someone else,
1216
01:13:59,840 --> 01:14:01,960
you know, it seems a bit
incongruous to say,
1217
01:14:02,040 --> 01:14:04,800
"This is a really wild whisky. Try this".
1218
01:14:04,880 --> 01:14:07,720
"Where are you from?"
"Oh, the Lowlands of Fife".
1219
01:14:23,360 --> 01:14:24,360
[Dave] I wanna talk more
about the East Neuk.
1220
01:14:24,440 --> 01:14:26,400
-It fascinates me.
-[Stephen] Yeah.
1221
01:14:26,480 --> 01:14:30,360
There seems to just be this incredible
community of like-minded people,
1222
01:14:30,960 --> 01:14:34,200
thrawn people, but creative people
who just seem to have congregated.
1223
01:14:34,280 --> 01:14:39,280
You get musicians and artists and…
1224
01:14:39,960 --> 01:14:41,440
dreamers, I guess.
1225
01:14:41,520 --> 01:14:44,320
-That's… That's…
-[Dave] Yeah, but why here?
1226
01:14:44,400 --> 01:14:50,000
Why can't dreamers exist
in the Borders or Edinburgh or wherever?
1227
01:14:50,080 --> 01:14:53,480
[Stephen] It's… It's that social thing
of the people being pushed to the…
1228
01:14:53,560 --> 01:14:56,440
the physical fringes of society anyway.
1229
01:14:56,520 --> 01:14:57,680
So you get, umm…
1230
01:14:59,240 --> 01:15:01,000
What happens… What always happens
1231
01:15:01,080 --> 01:15:03,640
in the history on the fringes
of the coast,
1232
01:15:04,320 --> 01:15:07,800
where there's less kind of--
there are fewer rules.
1233
01:15:08,760 --> 01:15:11,480
There isn't employment,
so people have to do their own thing.
1234
01:15:11,560 --> 01:15:14,440
And I think that probably lends itself
to creativity.
1235
01:15:14,520 --> 01:15:18,760
Do you know, the same thing's probably
happening in Spain and Greece just now.
1236
01:15:18,840 --> 01:15:21,400
Places that have gone
through really bad times.
1237
01:15:21,480 --> 01:15:24,960
And then, young people
start getting more creative
1238
01:15:25,040 --> 01:15:28,680
and start working out, "Okay,
we don't have a natural job to go into".
1239
01:15:29,280 --> 01:15:30,360
[Dave] You've gotta make stuff.
1240
01:15:30,440 --> 01:15:31,520
[Stephen] Yeah, you've got to make things.
1241
01:15:33,840 --> 01:15:36,880
[James] I don't consider what I do
to be traditional at all.
1242
01:15:36,960 --> 01:15:38,280
I mean, I do sing traditional songs
1243
01:15:38,360 --> 01:15:43,440
and I love a lot of traditional music,
as I've said, but I write songs.
1244
01:15:43,520 --> 01:15:45,920
You know,
I write songs about my belly button.
1245
01:15:46,000 --> 01:15:50,080
It's pop music. It's just not very
popular, what I do, you know.
1246
01:15:50,160 --> 01:15:53,200
♪ My hands around your waist ♪
1247
01:15:53,280 --> 01:15:59,040
♪ Ignoring the usual ♪
1248
01:15:59,120 --> 01:16:02,080
♪ Commotion of the touch ♪
1249
01:16:04,240 --> 01:16:10,520
♪ 'Cause you mean you've been feeling
At least a token of my offering ♪
1250
01:16:10,600 --> 01:16:16,600
♪ And the drink or whatever
May smooth us through the rest ♪
1251
01:16:17,600 --> 01:16:22,400
[James] As an artist, it's important
for me to totally disassociate myself
1252
01:16:22,480 --> 01:16:24,680
and not consider
what anyone else is doing,
1253
01:16:24,760 --> 01:16:27,800
and just concentrate on what's in my head
and getting that out.
1254
01:16:27,880 --> 01:16:29,200
And I think that is another…
1255
01:16:30,320 --> 01:16:31,600
Great thing that Cellardyke gives
1256
01:16:31,680 --> 01:16:33,800
is that there's hardly anything
going on here.
1257
01:16:33,880 --> 01:16:36,200
So, you know, I can't go and say,
1258
01:16:36,280 --> 01:16:39,800
"You know, when Kate Bush did her…
did her shows just a few years ago,
1259
01:16:39,880 --> 01:16:41,520
she didn't do any in Cellardyke".
1260
01:16:41,600 --> 01:16:43,080
-[Dave laughs]
-You know? [laughs]
1261
01:16:43,160 --> 01:16:47,440
[James] So that is another reason.
It takes you out of being…
1262
01:16:48,280 --> 01:16:52,520
a working professional musician,
1263
01:16:52,600 --> 01:16:57,000
which is obviously a valuable thing
to just being a musician, an artist,
1264
01:16:57,080 --> 01:16:59,840
somebody expressing themselves
through music.
1265
01:16:59,920 --> 01:17:01,320
And because the whole…
1266
01:17:03,640 --> 01:17:05,600
the whole city is so far away,
1267
01:17:05,680 --> 01:17:08,720
it is possible to divorce oneself
from that
1268
01:17:08,800 --> 01:17:12,600
and just get back to the…
the soul of it.
1269
01:17:15,520 --> 01:17:20,760
♪ We talk about the night
And the company we came ♪
1270
01:17:23,080 --> 01:17:29,760
♪ We hear the advice of our conscience
And our morals ♪
1271
01:17:29,840 --> 01:17:32,840
[James] In the old days, I used to get
asked, I mean, I still get asked,
1272
01:17:32,920 --> 01:17:36,080
"Do you think where you're from
affects the sound of your music?"
1273
01:17:36,160 --> 01:17:38,280
And I used to say no. But I think…
1274
01:17:38,360 --> 01:17:43,200
I think it has to affect anyone creative
doing creative things.
1275
01:17:43,280 --> 01:17:45,920
Their area has to affect them, you know.
1276
01:17:46,000 --> 01:17:50,840
♪ At this time tomorrow ♪
1277
01:18:02,600 --> 01:18:07,360
[Stephen] I don't view booze as being any
different from any of the other arts or--
1278
01:18:07,440 --> 01:18:10,960
You know, booze, music, painting,
1279
01:18:11,040 --> 01:18:14,280
it's all just one creative thing.
1280
01:18:14,360 --> 01:18:17,000
The majority of folk who do stuff…
1281
01:18:17,080 --> 01:18:22,440
So the majority of people
who work in whisky or do the art
1282
01:18:22,520 --> 01:18:26,280
or make the music they are making,
1283
01:18:26,360 --> 01:18:31,240
they're constricted--
you're constricted by either a company
1284
01:18:31,320 --> 01:18:33,080
and a company's budgets or shareholders,
1285
01:18:33,160 --> 01:18:38,880
or you're constricted by a record label
and their… their commercial demands,
1286
01:18:38,960 --> 01:18:41,000
or you're constricted
by a publishing company
1287
01:18:41,080 --> 01:18:44,600
and what they want to make sure
is commercially relevant.
1288
01:18:45,480 --> 01:18:47,120
And I think that's 90 percent
of the people.
1289
01:18:47,200 --> 01:18:48,920
And I think the… the…
1290
01:18:49,000 --> 01:18:54,080
What they do, from a creative level,
is slightly curbed.
1291
01:18:54,160 --> 01:18:57,480
So they do… they can do an amazing job,
but it's slightly curbed,
1292
01:18:57,560 --> 01:18:59,880
and so they don't fully get
to where they need to be.
1293
01:19:00,880 --> 01:19:04,960
I think there's then maybe, like,
say, ten percent. I don't know.
1294
01:19:05,040 --> 01:19:08,520
Five percent, one percent,
a small percentage of people,
1295
01:19:09,080 --> 01:19:13,040
who are-- have a kind of
different approach to it,
1296
01:19:13,120 --> 01:19:16,440
where they collect things,
1297
01:19:16,520 --> 01:19:21,400
or they collect knowledge or instruments
1298
01:19:21,480 --> 01:19:23,200
or ideas,
1299
01:19:24,240 --> 01:19:26,000
and they know what to do
with those things,
1300
01:19:26,080 --> 01:19:27,760
they know how they fit together properly.
1301
01:19:27,840 --> 01:19:31,320
And great… great blenders do that,
and great artists do that.
1302
01:19:31,400 --> 01:19:34,000
And then from that,
they create something special.
1303
01:19:34,080 --> 01:19:36,280
[acoustic music playing]
1304
01:19:39,360 --> 01:19:41,880
[James] One of the biggest moments for me
was finding a CD
1305
01:19:41,960 --> 01:19:44,320
-by a lady called Anne Briggs.
-[Dave] Mm-hmm.
1306
01:19:44,400 --> 01:19:47,000
And she looked so bonnie on the cover
and I thought, I'll get that.
1307
01:19:47,080 --> 01:19:49,200
And just falling in love with it.
1308
01:19:49,280 --> 01:19:51,400
Absolutely falling in love with this…
1309
01:19:52,440 --> 01:19:54,960
the lyric, and the voice, and the…
1310
01:19:55,040 --> 01:19:58,360
and the way she put things over,
and the kind of…
1311
01:19:59,920 --> 01:20:02,600
despair in her… in her sound.
1312
01:20:02,680 --> 01:20:04,280
[James]
So Anne Briggs would tell the story,
1313
01:20:04,360 --> 01:20:06,720
and then the gap would just be right,
it was just…
1314
01:20:07,240 --> 01:20:09,920
It was perfect, it was serene.
It was just beautiful.
1315
01:20:10,000 --> 01:20:13,640
And the way she sang the stories,
it was just so…
1316
01:20:15,680 --> 01:20:19,800
There was just sort of… love to them,
1317
01:20:19,880 --> 01:20:23,600
but not over-emotive, not over-pretty,
1318
01:20:23,680 --> 01:20:26,280
and just gorgeous.
1319
01:20:26,360 --> 01:20:30,840
♪ And the river is all the music ♪
1320
01:20:30,920 --> 01:20:34,760
♪ I would ever have ♪
1321
01:20:34,840 --> 01:20:40,040
♪ A long, long day since… ♪
1322
01:20:40,120 --> 01:20:41,760
[Dave] Anne Briggs is amazing.
1323
01:20:41,840 --> 01:20:44,160
I first came across her
1324
01:20:44,240 --> 01:20:48,040
and Scottish singers
like Dick Gaughan in the 1980s.
1325
01:20:48,120 --> 01:20:49,720
This wasn'tThe White Heather Club
1326
01:20:49,800 --> 01:20:52,360
and all those couthy wee songs
we were brought up with.
1327
01:20:52,440 --> 01:20:56,720
It wasn't what we were used to thinking
traditional Scottish music was about.
1328
01:20:57,440 --> 01:21:01,240
And at the same time, writers like
Alasdair Gray, James Kelman and others
1329
01:21:01,320 --> 01:21:05,280
were starting to write about our Scotland
and using our language.
1330
01:21:06,520 --> 01:21:08,440
These singers and writers
were incredibly important
1331
01:21:08,520 --> 01:21:11,760
because they gave my generation
and the generation after it
1332
01:21:11,840 --> 01:21:14,560
encouragement to do things
on their own terms.
1333
01:21:14,640 --> 01:21:17,920
We began to look to Scotland
and not London as a point of reference.
1334
01:21:18,800 --> 01:21:21,400
And as a result,
a new creative movement was born.
1335
01:21:22,560 --> 01:21:25,160
The one thing that was missing from it
was whisky.
1336
01:21:25,240 --> 01:21:27,040
[acoustic music playing]
1337
01:21:52,200 --> 01:21:53,440
♪ Whisky ♪
1338
01:21:54,840 --> 01:21:56,960
♪ Whisky is my name ♪
1339
01:22:00,040 --> 01:22:04,720
♪ Rollin', rollin' around ♪
1340
01:22:04,800 --> 01:22:06,720
[Stephen]
The Scots Cellaris a great book.
1341
01:22:06,800 --> 01:22:08,560
[Dave] Yeah, I love that. I love that…
1342
01:22:08,640 --> 01:22:10,480
The reason… One reason I love that is
1343
01:22:10,560 --> 01:22:16,080
it tells the truth about whisky
in terms of how it was being prepared.
1344
01:22:16,160 --> 01:22:18,000
Yeah, I thought-- I'm sure I've got it.
1345
01:22:18,080 --> 01:22:21,080
You know, you think, oh, whisky cocktails
was a new thing, and look…
1346
01:22:22,440 --> 01:22:24,080
These are old, old recipes.
1347
01:22:24,160 --> 01:22:25,400
♪ No more air ♪
1348
01:22:27,520 --> 01:22:30,160
Do you want to try this one?
You have to neck that.
1349
01:22:30,240 --> 01:22:32,680
♪ Whisky, I love you ♪
1350
01:22:32,760 --> 01:22:35,920
And what's this one here
with all the dials in it?
1351
01:22:36,000 --> 01:22:40,040
Yeah, that was a prototype,
which was conductive ink.
1352
01:22:40,120 --> 01:22:42,560
So you touched the label,
1353
01:22:43,200 --> 01:22:46,240
and then you heard a story,
and it's sat on a plinth,
1354
01:22:46,320 --> 01:22:49,040
and as the… the whisky went down,
1355
01:22:49,120 --> 01:22:52,360
the stories got a little bit more bawdy.
1356
01:22:52,440 --> 01:22:54,080
-[Dave chuckles]
-Is that the right word? Drunk.
1357
01:22:54,160 --> 01:22:56,360
[laughs]
1358
01:22:56,440 --> 01:22:58,320
♪ You knew now… ♪
1359
01:22:58,400 --> 01:22:59,560
[Stephen] Floyd on Hangovers.
1360
01:23:00,160 --> 01:23:01,760
-[chuckles]
-It's a great book.
1361
01:23:04,280 --> 01:23:06,160
This was a project about…
1362
01:23:07,800 --> 01:23:09,120
[sighs] It was really…
1363
01:23:09,200 --> 01:23:13,000
Like, it was about a band
that played on its own.
1364
01:23:13,080 --> 01:23:16,280
So, you know,
and was influenced by different things.
1365
01:23:16,360 --> 01:23:21,000
So it was influenced by…
by how popular it was,
1366
01:23:21,080 --> 01:23:24,360
and it was about kind of
the ego of the band.
1367
01:23:24,440 --> 01:23:28,800
So we created a whisky
that you could drink with it.
1368
01:23:28,880 --> 01:23:32,040
You know, as a whisky company,
the one thing you can do is kind of…
1369
01:23:32,120 --> 01:23:36,440
you can try and stimulate artists
to create things.
1370
01:23:36,520 --> 01:23:40,880
And you can make a whisky that can
go with it or that can go alongside it.
1371
01:23:40,960 --> 01:23:44,840
You can't-- There's a certain bit
where you can't really get any further.
1372
01:23:44,920 --> 01:23:49,520
As a whisky company, you can't make art
or you can't make music,
1373
01:23:49,600 --> 01:23:53,720
but you can encourage the artists
and musicians to do it.
1374
01:23:53,800 --> 01:23:56,840
But I still don't quite understand
how it worked, though.
1375
01:23:56,920 --> 01:23:58,400
-No, neither do I.
-All right.
1376
01:23:58,480 --> 01:24:00,480
-[Dave and Stephen laugh]
-[Dave speaking in Irish]
1377
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[pensive music playing]
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[film camera rolling]
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[Dave] Whisky was big brands,
you know, and it was old men,
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and this real, kind of hardcore
puritanical view of what whisky was.
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Undiluted, strong male drink.
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And I think what happens
in the 1990s onwards,
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when single malt begins
to really build itself,
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and people begin to talk about flavour
rather than brand,
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talk about place rather than advertising,
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you begin to see
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a new generation
beginning to become interested in it.
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The links between it and us
in our daily lives
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suddenly become more obvious.
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Links that had, I think, really been lost
for… for generations,
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for a long, long time, are suddenly
beginning to be re-established.
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And as a result of this,
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so you then have a new generation
of bartenders,
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you have a new generation
of distillers as well,
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who begin to look at whisky
in a different way.
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Let… Let's mix with it,
let's drink it in different ways,
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let's find these links which exist.
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It can actually be exciting
and innovative once again.
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[indistinct chatter]
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[Ryan] So, I'm Ryan Chetiyawardana,
or Mr Lyan,
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and I'm a bartender based in London.
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[Dave]
But at heart, you're a Scot somehow.
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Yeah, adopted Scot. I think
there's always that connection with it,
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and it still feels like home,
coming back to Edinburgh.
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[Dave] You're noted and highly-praised,
and justifiably highly-praised,
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for being one of the most innovative
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and forward-thinking bartenders
on the planet.
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[Ryan] We don't drink the same way
that our ancestors did.
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You know, not everybody is gonna be able
to pick up a neat whisky
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and dissect the flavours
and be able to approach that.
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Really, it's not that accessible
to a lot of people.
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So it's trying to find new ways
of connecting people,
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but it's also about representing
modern Scotland.
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You can travel through the Highlands
and it…
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it does echo those wonderful pictures
of the past,
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but there is also a very different side
of the country that,
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you know, is about the new culture of it.
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The music, the people, the art,
and that's being reflected in the spirit.
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You know, it's a spirit of the people.
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I think what I'm most interested in,
from your perspective,
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is how do we move things forward?
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To innovate,
you don't need to forget the past.
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You just need to be able
to continue to evolve
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and keep some of those things
that are still relevant,
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and… and preserve that stuff as well.
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And I think
that's where you start to understand
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not everything then
will become etched in history.
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You know,
some of the new innovations will die,
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but, you know, some of them
will also become
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part of the kind of
next generation's tradition.
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[Dave] So that kind of cultural aspect
of Scotch, that cultural terroir…
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-Yeah.
-…is real and valid?
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I'm desperate for someone to say yes,
otherwise I've wasted the entire film.
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-It's--
-[Ryan and Dave laughing]
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No, it's… It is.
It's the cultural terroir of it.
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Any artistic endeavour is a communication.
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It's trying to find a way
of connecting with people.
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And… And whisky is one of those things.
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And I think it's… it's been very scared
of losing its crown
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and kind of opening up
some of those new conversations
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and trying to find new ways
to connect with people.
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And all those other things have moved on,
you know. [stammers]
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All of the other creative
endeavours have--
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You know, Scotland's a hotbed for it.
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It's incredible to see
all those things happening here.
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And they have a real, direct,
honest connection
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with people around the world,
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yet it's still trying to kind of falsify
this old image,
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whereas that old image
can remain part of it,
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it just needs to also represent
the modern way with it as well.
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[bar music playing]
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[indistinct chatter]
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[Dave] Over the years,
I've come to believe
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that whisky is a cultural product.
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It doesn't sit apart from people's lives.
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It's part and parcel of who we are.
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You know, Scotland's conditions,
its geology, its terroir, its weather,
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dictate that barley grows here,
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and that's why we make whisky
to begin with.
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And the reason--
And because we make whisky here,
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and because of the way
it's been drunk and sung about
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and talked about and written about
over the years,
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it's become part and parcel of who we are.
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We've been making whisky for a long time,
and we make great whisky.
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And… And over the next year, I think
there's liable to be 140 distilleries
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operational in Scotland.
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So, great, boom times for scotch.
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And that's good. That's a great challenge.
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And I think what we have to do,
and I don't wish to preach here,
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but I think what we have to do
collectively,
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as people who love whisky,
is not just talk about product,
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not just talk about our heads
and be analytical about it,
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but actually start talking about whisky
from our hearts.
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Because it is part of who we are.
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And it's been part of who we are as Scots
for hundreds and hundreds of years.
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It's what music's been about
and it's what art has been about.
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And that interface,
that linking together of everything,
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is vitally important
to moving whisky forward.
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♪ Well, oot o' the East
There cam a hard man ♪
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♪ Oh-ho, a' the way frae Brigton ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ He went intae a pub
And he cam oot paralytic ♪
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♪ Oh-ho, VP and cider ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, what a hell of a mixture ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ Does this bus go
Tae the Dennistoun Palais? ♪
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♪ Oh-ho, I'm lookin' fur a lumber ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ In the dancin', he met Hairy Mary ♪
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♪ Oh-ho, the flooer o' the Gorbals ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ He says, "Hey, Mary, are you dancing?" ♪
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♪ "And oh, no
It's just the way I'm staunin'" ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ He says, "Hey, Mary
You're one in a million, oh-ho" ♪
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♪ "So's yer fucking chances" ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ He says,
"Hey, Mary, can I run ye hame?" ♪
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♪ Oh-ho, I've got a pair of sandshoes ♪
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♪ "Ah, ha-ha, ye're hell of a funny" ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ Well, doon through the back-close
An' intae the dunny ♪
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♪ Oh-ho, it wasnae fur the first time ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ And then came her mammy
Goin' tae the cludgie ♪
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♪ Oh-ho, I buggered off sharpish ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ Hairy Mary's lookin' for her hard man ♪
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01:32:40,080 --> 01:32:43,840
♪ Oh-ho, he's jined the Foreign Legion ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, Sahara unner ra camels ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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01:32:51,800 --> 01:32:55,920
♪ Then Hairy Mary's had a little baby ♪
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01:32:56,000 --> 01:32:59,560
♪ Oh-ho, her faither's in the army ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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♪ From oot o' the East
Over came a hard man ♪
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♪ Oh-ho, a' the way frae Brigton ♪
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♪ Ah-ha, glory hallelujah ♪
1526
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♪ Cod liver oil and the orange juice ♪
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[crowd cheering, applauding]
127953
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