1 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,680 This is the story of whisky and I start it right here, 2 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:15,560 in the heart of Tokyo. 3 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:17,080 Around these streets are bars 4 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:20,280 crammed with people imbibing the amber liquid. 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,240 It'll be a fascinating journey, 6 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:27,160 so come with me as I tell the story of Scotland's gift to the world. 7 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,760 'I'm going on a pilgrimage to find out why such a simple drink 8 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:35,280 'has come to mean so much.' 9 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,000 Hi, my name's Jim, I'm from Scotland. 10 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:40,840 'From the makers to the marketeers, 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,360 'and the chemists to the cocktail makers 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,160 'and from the Highlands to Hobart in Tasmania. 13 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:51,920 'I'll be meeting the people and travelling to the places 14 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,320 'immersed in Scottish whisky's world story. 15 00:00:55,320 --> 00:01:01,000 'This is the tale of an ancient craft that became a global colossus. 16 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,640 'It is the tale of Scotch.' 17 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,080 Isn't it grand that this stuff's made in Scotland? 18 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:09,880 Aye, but that's gey true. 19 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,520 I can't shake the feeling that so much of what makes this drink 20 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,080 is what surrounds us here in Scotland. 21 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,680 There is something about the landscape, about the air itself, 22 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:36,400 some unquantifiable atmosphere that adds its personality to our whisky. 23 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:40,360 Now, it might sound overly romantic, but if the idea of terroir - 24 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,440 the effect on a product of its place of origin - 25 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,960 can be applied to wine, then why not to Scotch? 26 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:51,840 Some places in Scotland feel, to me, like the living embodiment of this. 27 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:00,280 What a majestic welcome this epic sweep of landscapes offers. 28 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:07,240 Over here, we have rugged, vast Jura, with its distinctive Paps. 29 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:13,080 And over here, we have bountiful Islay - the Queen of the Hebrides. 30 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,360 Below us, the waters swirling and birling like a witch's cauldron. 31 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:26,240 Islay casts a spell on you, and perhaps that sorcery imbues whisky. 32 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:05,160 I love the place names on Islay. They are all rooted in fact. 33 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:09,960 You know, you're looking at the sea, the land, nature, topography, 34 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,640 and all of these names that are derived from Norse, from Gaelic, 35 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:16,800 from Islay's history, really. 36 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,160 Bunnahabhain is "at the foot of the river". 37 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:23,320 Bunnahabhain. Um, Port Askaig is "ash tree bay". 38 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:28,880 "Ask-vik" in Norse was, um... means ash, ash tree, 39 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:30,760 and, remember, the Lords of the Isles, 40 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,520 in the 12th, 13th century, would come in, sail into Port Askaig 41 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:40,000 and use the ash for repairs, which is lovely, a lovely part of history. 42 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,520 Um, Ardbeg in Gaelic means "small headland". 43 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:49,680 Islay means "island bent like a bow", so wonderful words and names 44 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,400 that are so evocative of the land and the island of Islay, really. 45 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,400 150 years ago on Islay, there were 23 licensed distilleries. 46 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,200 A couple of hundred years ago, 47 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,240 there were many, many more illicit distilleries and, you know, 48 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:07,080 the people who made whisky at that time were using the landscape, 49 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:11,040 they were using nature, the topography, hiding in caves, 50 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,040 they were very cunning about where they would actually make 51 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,240 their whisky, so the sense of that in Islay's landscape 52 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,120 absolutely prevails, for sure - we feel it on a daily basis. 53 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,320 In many ways, this is seen as the home of whisky. 54 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,320 It's the Whisky Island, isn't it? 55 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:30,680 Do you have a sense of community? Yes, of course, absolutely. 56 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:35,520 You know, there are so many people who work at distilleries, but people 57 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,280 who have lived at distilleries, generations and generations, 58 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:43,920 so that sense of history within a distillery is very, very strong and, 59 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,280 sometimes, when we talk about it, you know, the distilleries are here, 60 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:51,040 but the villages and communities almost pre-date the distilleries, 61 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:56,080 so, when people now come back to Ardbeg or Lagavulin or Laphroaig, 62 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:58,000 you know, they talk about the... 63 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,080 They talk about the community that they lived in, the school, 64 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,560 the shop, the post office. It's not just talking about the distillery. 65 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:06,640 The distillery was part of it, 66 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,280 but you have a much broader sense of community. 67 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:13,720 If you stepped back today and looked at a map of Scotland and said, 68 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:19,160 "Right, we'll ostensibly build 120 factories to make a spirit, 69 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,040 "um, economically, what's the most sensible thing to do? 70 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,040 "Where will we build them? How big will they be? 71 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:25,720 "How much will we produce?", 72 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,760 you wouldn't end up with a map of what you have today. 73 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,720 You know, these distilleries are far-flung, they're difficult 74 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:38,520 to travel to, you're reliant on a rural population of staffing. 75 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,200 There's lots of things that, economically, 76 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:43,920 wouldn't be the thing that would necessarily be 77 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,920 a suitable and significant driver for investment, 78 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,560 but the history of how they've developed, 79 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,600 and the fact that you have this really fantastic rural diaspora, 80 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,760 is not only great for Scotch whisky, but is obviously, 81 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,200 you know, great for making it intrinsically part of the country. 82 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:00,840 This is a cultural product. 83 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:04,120 You know, this comes from us. It comes from Scotland. 84 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,800 It's part of our psyche. It's part of our history. 85 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:13,120 And once you begin to factor that in, the importance of whisky 86 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,000 to a community, whether you go up to the Highlands, to Islay 87 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,600 or whatever, the importance of whisky to families, 88 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,240 to communities, to farming communities, 89 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:25,440 to ancillary industries, to transport, farmers, etc, etc, 90 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,760 suddenly, it becomes more than just a product. 91 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:33,560 As soon as whisky becomes a product, or a brand, it loses... 92 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:38,040 It's not magic, cos magic is kind of ephemeral, magic is kind of made up. 93 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:42,280 It's a real link to place and a real link to culture. 94 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:47,000 The whisky industry is strong, it's forceful and it's built 95 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,760 an economy on Islay in this landscape in the 21st century, 96 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,120 which is so important for islanders and for locals. 97 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,760 Then, it is said, the secret is in the water. 98 00:06:57,760 --> 00:06:59,800 And there's plenty of it about in Scotland. 99 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,000 Little springs that become clear, clean streams. 100 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:17,360 This island has to be visited to be understood or even believed. 101 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,880 The land gives itself to the whisky, 102 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,200 and the whisky keeps Islay alive and vibrant. 103 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:25,960 It produces joyous, ebullient characters 104 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:28,480 who know they have something special going. 105 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:38,120 'Jim McEwan is one Scotland's great distillers and an old pal of mine.' 106 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,960 You live in paradise, Jim. Thank you. 107 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,440 I realise that. I know you do. 108 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:45,840 But listen, all these years I've known you, right, 109 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,920 and I've interviewed you, there's one question I've never asked you. 110 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:51,920 That's the source of your nickname 111 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:55,240 within the world of whisky - The Cask Whisperer. 112 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,360 Now, how did that come about? HE SIGHS: I think... 113 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:04,280 I used to talk to casks. 114 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:09,280 That might sound kind of bizarre, but when I was sampling casks, 115 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,880 I would, um, put a little bit of whisky in the glass 116 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:17,400 and I'd look at it and evaluate the colour and the nose and think... 117 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,080 "..You're just not ready yet. I'll see you in three months' time." 118 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,880 And back to the cask and you'd try another one 119 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,320 and you'd say, "Oh, my God! 120 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:32,080 "You are ready to go! You're ready! You can fly!" 121 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,160 So, once or twice, people are going past me in the warehouse 122 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,160 and said, "That guy is drunk! He's talking to himself!" 123 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:40,920 "He's talking to the casks!" I was actually talking to the casks. 124 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:43,560 Well, each of these barrels is one of your children... Yeah? 125 00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:45,800 ..cos you created it. Not myself, personally, 126 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,360 but myself with a team, you understand? Yes. It's not me. 127 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,600 But you've created many, many fine whiskies. I know. 128 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,200 But I mean, there's a whole bunch of us - the mashman, stillman, 129 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,400 all that, these sort of guys - so it's a team effort, but you... 130 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,200 David, let me tell you something. 131 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,960 It's really, really very simple. 132 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:09,480 If the spirit is the child, then the cask is the mother. 133 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:14,240 If the child, when born, goes into a good cask, you're guaranteed 134 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,360 to have a good whisky at the end of it, or a good adult. 135 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,880 I think it is ultimately, um, 136 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,560 a combination of nature and nurture. 137 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:32,720 The nature of our landscape, er, the atmosphere, the humidity, 138 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:39,960 um, the environment and the nurture, which is in people's minds. 139 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,880 At all three of our distilleries now, we produce a peated style. 140 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:46,200 A limited volume, but a peated style. 141 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,960 And if you compare our peated style with Islay, 142 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:50,800 they are actually totally different. 143 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,480 The Islay one is drier and saltier, whereas the one in the mainland, 144 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,440 up at BenRiach, and at Glendronach and Glenglassaugh, 145 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,560 they're actually quite sweet peat. 146 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:02,560 So, you know, the land does play a part. 147 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:04,560 Where the peat comes from plays a part. 148 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:06,120 The environment plays a part. 149 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,480 Glenglassaugh's on the coast. It'll have a... 150 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:12,200 It'll have a much different microclimate in the warehouse 151 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,920 than at, say, in the valley at Glendronach, 152 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:17,760 or indeed near Elgin, at BenRiach. 153 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:22,520 If landscape does indeed influence taste, then Islay's has been 154 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:26,160 tinting its whisky for longer than is the case elsewhere. 155 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,240 It is here, go legends, 156 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,840 that some of Scotland's earliest "water of life" was made. 157 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,160 Here we are at the rather elegant tip of Islay. 158 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:39,760 Sail that way through the mist and you reach Ireland. 159 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,760 In the most romantic telling of how whisky came to Scotland, 160 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,800 this whole stretch of coastline was a portal through which 161 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,520 the instant Celts arrived to preach the art of distilling. 162 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:54,560 Now, depending on who you ask, we have the Irish, the Romans, 163 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:58,320 the Persians and even the Chinese to thank for its invention. 164 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,520 Whisky's origins are as complex as a fine blend. 165 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,320 This is Finlaggan, in the centre of Islay, 166 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,000 once home to the MacDonald Clan, Lords of the Isles, 167 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:14,320 and to what is the most likely truth of how distilling reached Scotland. 168 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:16,520 When Angus MacDonald married 169 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:20,360 Princess Aine O Cathain of Ulster, in 1300, 170 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:24,240 Aine's entourage brought the art of distilling from Ireland with them. 171 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:28,040 We don't know exactly where or when, but soon, 172 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:30,760 these distilling techniques were being employed to make 173 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:35,040 a raw form of whisky here in Scotland for the very first time. 174 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:38,600 DOG BARKS 175 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:47,520 Then, in the 15th century, a first recorded mention of whisky emerged. 176 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,440 The art of distilling first made it into print in Britain 177 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,640 in The Canterbury Tales. 178 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:11,000 A century later, in 1494, came Scotland's first recorded mention 179 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,960 and, in it, Friar John Cor, a Fife monk, 180 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:19,240 is listed in King James IV's Exchequer Rolls as having received 181 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:22,720 "eight balls of malt for aqua vita". 182 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,160 Now, that's enough barley to make over 1,000 bottles of whisky! 183 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,080 But it's unlikely that Friar John 184 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,880 was either Scotland's first or only whisky producer. 185 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:36,920 Whisky was now trickling its way across Scotland and into the 186 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:39,400 country's customs and identity. 187 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:46,080 The first real record I think you get of whisky becoming Scottish, 188 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,720 and kind of part of a Scottish psyche, 189 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:50,520 the first record of that is 190 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:53,800 Martin Martin's account of whisky drinking on the Isle of Lewis, 191 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,360 at the beginning of the 18th century, where he says - 192 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,640 and I'll paraphrase here - but he says something along the lines of... 193 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:05,160 when the community, that their manner of drinking was called 194 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,040 "a streah" or "a round", because they would sit in a circle 195 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,600 and the cup would be passed from one to the other 196 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,320 and all would drink until it all became drunk. 197 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:15,120 Now, there's kind of two ways to look at that. 198 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:18,320 You know, one is, that's just people sitting around in a circle 199 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,400 in a big ceilidh and getting drunk, but I think the... 200 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,040 When you begin to look deeply into that, you see here is whisky 201 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:31,200 being used as a social lubricant, or as a way for a community to cohere, 202 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:35,480 er, and here is whisky being used to sort out, 203 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,600 to loosen people's tongues, for a community to come together, 204 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:40,560 to say, "Right, who's getting married? 205 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:43,000 "Who's going to be ploughing that particular field?" 206 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:44,600 "Who's going to go fishing?" 207 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,440 And, suddenly, I think, from that record, you say that whisky 208 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,720 isn't just this alien spirit that's used in certain occasions, 209 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,840 whisky's now part of us, it's now part of a Scottish culture. 210 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:57,880 From fuzzy origins, 211 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,440 this simple drink seeped its way into everyday life. 212 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,520 Nowhere came to embody the spread of whisky into an area's soul more 213 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:07,960 than Speyside or, to some of us, 214 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,600 Strathspey in north-eastern Scotland. 215 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,920 The peaty water of life. 216 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,200 This is Speyside, the capital of whisky. 217 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:25,120 It's a place of wonder and pilgrimage, 218 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:29,840 a secret zone where the sweet smell of malt seems to hang in the air. 219 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,560 And it's almost as if, every corner you turn, there's a distillery, 220 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:35,440 and in every nook and cranny, 221 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,400 you'll find evidence of the making and the worship of whisky. 222 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:43,640 You know, within a 20-mile radius of where I'm standing now, 223 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:45,480 there are about 60 distilleries. 224 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,000 I mean, that's almost half the total number in Scotland! 225 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,040 But you see, it's more than a whisky region. It's a whisky republic! 226 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:56,080 And I think they should rename it the Amber Republic! 227 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:58,560 It is truly a place of wonder! 228 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,320 If you talk about The Glenlivet to the average Scotsman 229 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,520 or the man on the street, his mind goes straight to the Highlands 230 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:17,120 and he thinks of an old distillery producing the finest whisky 231 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:19,920 distilled in the Highlands - The Glenlivet. 232 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,000 Glenlivet is a Speyside whisky, 233 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,800 with a foot in both the past and the present. 234 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:33,160 Two centuries ago, one of countless illicit distilleries on Speyside, 235 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,680 it now produces the highest-selling 236 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:37,400 single malt in the world. 237 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:39,520 Master distiller Alan Winchester 238 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:41,600 took me for a walk in the hills 239 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,000 overlooking this amber realm. 240 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,520 What would this place be like without...? You've got - what? - 241 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:52,200 something like 50-60 distilleries round here? Well, absolutely, um... 242 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:55,600 I mean, it's the heart and soul of this country, isn't it? Yes. 243 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:59,480 Er, it's been very important. It's very important. 244 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,120 It goes along with all the traditional... 245 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:07,200 You can see it. ..farming, forestry, landed estates, 246 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,240 where you can go fishing and shooting. The whisky distillation 247 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:15,520 really took off here after the 1824 Distilleries Act, 248 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,120 getting the push with the railways. 249 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:20,800 It's got all the things correct here. 250 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,160 It's got bags of peat, if you want to make peaty whisky. 251 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,480 Lots of water, a fairly dry climate at the coast, 252 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:29,960 which is ideal for growing barley, 253 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:32,880 so all the... all the magic comes together 254 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,040 and then, as Sir Walter Scott said, 255 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,680 the cunning alchemists were based at Glenlivet. 256 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,120 DAVID LAUGHS And that's an important part 257 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,000 in making whisky as well. Cunning alchemists? Yes. 258 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,120 Aha! I like that title. 259 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,240 If you travel round the world, you find local spirits 260 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,360 and you'll say, "Why's that spirit not bigger in the world?" 261 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,320 You go to Calvados, you get that apple brandy. Mm-hm. 262 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:57,200 You do see it round about. 263 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:02,160 Whisky was this local drink, it was used by my great-grandfathers 264 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,720 and that to turn a little barley into a bit of cash, you know, 265 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,880 add value to it and it would keep better. 266 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:13,320 It was one of the few agricultural products that improves with keeping, 267 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:15,760 with age, you can't keep milk for years. 268 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,040 You make cheese to preserve your milk, etc. 269 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:23,040 So it was part of that, and then it was very much woven into the fabric 270 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,600 of the country from the early days of distillation. 271 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:28,880 One of the founders of Cragganmore distillery speaks 272 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:31,080 about 200 illicit stills here. 273 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,520 Now, that seems a lot of little stills working away, 274 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,360 so there was crofts all around here, er... 275 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:41,000 Small production, so, to fill a few ankers, 276 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,080 you needed a few of these working. 277 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:46,040 So, all these communities were working their little stills, 278 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,760 very remote, and also, some of the estates 279 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:53,160 would take whisky as the rent. It would be part of that cash trade. 280 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:56,160 Just for consumption? For their own personal consumption? 281 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:57,920 Personal or sell on. 282 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,920 Because many of the local distillers here were the distillers and 283 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,560 then they handed it onto the smuggler, the other... 284 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,400 A distiller was called a smuggler, 285 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,800 but the smuggler was the guy that took it to the market, and they were 286 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,960 the hard men that would take on the Customs and Excise, etc. 287 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:17,400 A lot of the ladies did the distilling in the area round here, 288 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:19,440 in these 200 illicit stills. 289 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,040 When they smuggled them on land, were they actually carrying casks? 290 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,840 They would strap the casks to the ponies. 291 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:31,400 Two ankers onto the side of a Highland pony and away they went. 292 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:33,760 It was maturing all the way to the market. 293 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:35,000 THEY LAUGH 294 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,040 The smuggling of whisky was a way of life. 295 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,960 Scallywag, brazen stories are still proudly told on Speyside. 296 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,600 One of my favourite spots here is 297 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,520 the Fiddichside Inn, in Craigellachie. 298 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,760 Joe Brandie married into a family that had been running the pub 299 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:59,200 since 1919 and were shifting whisky less legitimately before that. 300 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,280 Joe, there's a wonderful photograph up there 301 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:03,240 of an interesting character. Who's he? 302 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:08,600 That was my wife's grandfather and he was a gamekeeper over in Glass, 303 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:12,160 you know, between Dufftown and Huntly... Uh-huh. 304 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,040 ..er, in a very remote croft there. 305 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:20,960 And he used to make his own whisky and the Customs and Excise 306 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,120 used to go and try to catch him. 307 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:28,880 They would go dressed as tramps and knock at the door and 308 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,320 he would say, "Oh, come on in!" 309 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:34,320 and they thought, "Oh, well, this is it now." 310 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:38,040 They were asking for something to warm them up and they thought he'd 311 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:42,360 produce the whisky, but he didn't, he gave them a bowl of soup instead. 312 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:46,240 THEY LAUGH But he was finally caught. 313 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:50,200 His boss was the laird over at where he worked. 314 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:54,640 It was in a dinner down in London and, unknown to him, 315 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:59,960 sitting next to him was the head of Customs and Excise and, er, 316 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:04,440 he said to the head of Customs - he didn't know that was him - 317 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,880 he said, "I would get a better dram from a gamekeeper." 318 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:14,520 So they came up and caught him and confiscated some of his gear 319 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,600 and he was fined £10. 320 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:21,680 Just because of an overheard conversation in London? Yes. 321 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,520 Dear me, oh, that's a shame that he was caught out. 322 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,560 Yeah, he was caught out. 323 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,560 So, Joe, when you were a boy, 324 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,200 you must have been aware of illegal stills all round this area? 325 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,760 Oh, there was a lot, but I don't remember much about them at all. 326 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:39,880 But I know there was a lot, 327 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:41,880 there was a lot in Glenlivet 328 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,120 and they used go to Inverness with the whisky, 329 00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:49,360 but they got word that they were going to be waylaid 330 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:51,880 on the way by the Customs and Excise, 331 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:56,040 so they hired a hearse - and it was horse in these days - 332 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,680 put a coffin in it and put all the whisky into the coffin 333 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:01,360 and when they passed, 334 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:04,640 the Customs and Excise, they took off their bonnets 335 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,160 and let them go through. 336 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,600 And you can get a hell of a lot of whisky into a coffin, couldn't you? 337 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,480 A good lot, yeah. 338 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:16,920 In this region, it feels like whisky is in the soil. 339 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,800 While history's more clandestine traditions are gone, 340 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,200 some roots remain firm. 341 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,320 There are entire whisky generations here, 342 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,920 some connected by association, and some by family. 343 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:32,800 Glenfarclas, one of the many distilleries 344 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,040 scattered throughout Speyside. 345 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,760 Like many places, this seems to inspire an old-fashioned 346 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,480 devotion and dedication from the workforce. 347 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:44,840 I've found that's true right across the whisky industry in Scotland. 348 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:48,440 Because everyone I talk to seems to have a passion 349 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,400 and a commitment to their work and the craft, 350 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:55,120 and in a cynical 21st century, that's pretty rare. 351 00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:59,640 But I guess it helps that very often the distilleries are family owned, 352 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,000 and none more so than this one, because this is owned by one of 353 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,600 the first great whisky families, the Grants, 354 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:09,000 who are now in their sixth generation of custody. 355 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,080 George, Glenfarclas is a family affair. 356 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:14,400 It is indeed. Is that important to you? 357 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:16,480 It's the most important thing that we have. 358 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,080 It gives us our most exclusive selling point, 359 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:23,360 our most exclusive, advantageous... over other brands. 360 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:25,040 In the world today, 361 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,040 so many brands are being overtaken by big conglomerates. 362 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,480 We're still family owned, still family run, 363 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:32,120 still very much family hands on. 364 00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:34,760 And you're determined to keep it that way. Very much so. 365 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,360 Very much so. So, you must be the sixth generation. 366 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:41,400 I'm the sixth generation of my family to work here. 367 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,720 And you can trace them all back to the very origins. 368 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,000 We do, so it was my great-great-great-grandfather 369 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,640 that bought Glenfarclas in 1865 370 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,920 for the princely sum of £511 19s. 371 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:56,720 Away you go! 372 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,400 So we hope it's worth a little bit more now. I bet it is. 373 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,480 I mean, I'm able to drink whisky, taste whisky, 374 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,520 sell whisky that was made by my grandfather, 375 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:09,080 made by my father, you know, it gives you so much passion to it. 376 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,640 And it's not even just the fact that we're family owned, family ran, 377 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:14,480 so many people that have worked here 378 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,600 have worked here for generations as well. 379 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,920 So it really is a totally family affair. 380 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,720 But also that means the whisky you're producing today will be 381 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,920 enjoyed by your children or your grandchildren in years to come. 382 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:26,800 That's the beauty of it. 383 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:30,640 So any mistakes I make, nobody will find out for a few generations. 384 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,800 You'll be well gone. That's very good. 385 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,880 That's what you call passing the buck. That's it. 386 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:41,320 How many people do you employ here? We've got about 35, 36 people here. 387 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,480 Some of them have been here for a very long time. 388 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,400 We have a gentleman in the still house who's been here 389 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,320 for over 42 years. 390 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,840 42 years? Yes, he's been here for a while. 391 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,960 So will he get a special bottle or a cask when he retires? 392 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,200 Well, he's one of these people that I don't think ever will retire. 393 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,200 But for his 40th anniversary, 394 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,880 we gave him a gallon bottle of 40-year-old... 395 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,560 Ohh! ..which apparently didn't last very long. 396 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,120 THEY LAUGH 397 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:15,520 It wasn't always as easy to move whisky around as it is now 398 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:19,400 for Glenfarclas and Speyside's many other distilleries. 399 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,680 The coming of the railways was momentous for this area. 400 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:28,680 I'm about to jump aboard the Whisky Train. I can't wait. 401 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,440 TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS 402 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:44,800 I love train journeys, 403 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,200 but this has got to be the slowest train journey I've never taken. 404 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,240 Good afternoon, sir. Can I interest you in a wee dram? 405 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:56,840 Peter, what are you offering me? 406 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,600 I'm offering you Chivas Regal 18-year-old. 407 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,240 I think that'll do me very nicely, thank you. 408 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,640 OK? Slainte! Thank you. Your very good health. 409 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,440 This railway shunts along as a tourist attraction. 410 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,120 It takes day-trippers from Dufftown to Keith... 411 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:20,840 through beautiful Speyside. 412 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,120 But it also has a deep meaning to the whisky industry 413 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:28,320 and the flowering of this area as the centre of whisky, 414 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,080 because, historically, it was very difficult to get anything in or out 415 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,160 of this remote pocket of Scotland. 416 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,240 And then suddenly, at the tail end of the 19th century, 417 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:41,120 they opened the railway and it became much, much easier 418 00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:45,920 to get coal into the area and the best of Strathspey out to the world. 419 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,720 And just as Islay and Campbeltown had used water as their motorway 420 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,000 to create their own eras as being the centre of 421 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,640 whisky excellence, the railway shifted it here, 422 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,640 so these very tracks helped change this area 423 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,240 and this industry for ever. 424 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,000 Here's to the Whisky Railway. 425 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:13,120 TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS 426 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,800 Tourism founded upon history and a vibrant, modern whisky industry 427 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,240 brings thousands of people to Speyside 428 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,320 from every corner of the globe. 429 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,120 Some of them never leave. 430 00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:27,880 Like Tatsuya Minagawa, 431 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,000 owner of the Highlander Inn in Craigellachie. 432 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:35,560 How long have you been here? 17, 18 years. 17, 18 years. 433 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:37,240 Stopped counting. 434 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,800 Wow! So what was your passion? Did you come because of the whisky? 435 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:41,880 Purely, yeah. 436 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,600 So initially it was the whisky, then you fell in love with 437 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:46,640 the country and the people and you decided to stay. 438 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,000 Absolutely, yes, it's not only whisky, 439 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:50,720 I'm living totally your life - 440 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,360 whisky, scenery and the people, all mixed together. 441 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:57,000 You're in the heart of Scotch whisky country... Mm-hm. 442 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,720 ..and you're selling Japanese whisky. Yes. 443 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:01,600 Do many people buy it? 444 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:03,600 Surprisingly yes. Really? 445 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,240 It's not cheap stuff, it's quite pricey, some of them, 446 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,400 but ten years ago, people say, 447 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:13,440 "Oh, Japanese whisky, rubbish!" I'm not doing Scotch. 448 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:17,360 But nowadays, people come here only for Japanese whisky, some people. 449 00:27:17,360 --> 00:27:19,440 Do you appreciate the differences 450 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,200 between Japanese whisky and Scotch whisky? 451 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,120 Japanese whisky industry inspired by Scottish whisky industry. 452 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:29,440 Basically, we learn how to make whisky from this country. 453 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,680 So, ingredients we use and the method - 454 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,040 exactly this same as the Scottish way. 455 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,840 So I'm always telling people, you know, 456 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:42,640 Champagne comes from France, you know, Cava from Spain. 457 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,640 All the same ingredients, same principle, right? 458 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:48,640 Both good product. 459 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,520 So Japanese whisky and whisky from Scotland, pretty much like that. 460 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,200 You're in a very unique position. 461 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,040 You're a man from Japan, from the other side of the world, 462 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:03,080 you grew up in whisky, you come here and you're surrounded by whisky 463 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:04,760 at the heart of whisky country, 464 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,520 so you see it from an outsider's perspective. 465 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,800 Do we do enough, do we appreciate our own whisky enough? 466 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:14,880 Or does it take someone like you to come from another culture, 467 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:16,840 another language, to come and say to us, 468 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,040 "Hey, look what you have on your doorstep"? 469 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:21,280 I think the same happens back home, you know? 470 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:24,800 Young people don't drink sake, you know, drink beer, 471 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,080 wine or a cocktail, it's exactly the same as here. 472 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,800 Say some weekend a number of young people, 473 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,880 they pretty much drink vodka and... 474 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:39,000 ..Jack Daniel's or maybe a pint of lager, 475 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,000 so whisky is, I don't know... 476 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,520 You have to be like some sort of a certain age to appreciate... Mm-hm. 477 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,640 Yeah. So, I don't know, those young people when they grow up, 478 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,200 a little older, maybe they will start drinking whisky. 479 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,440 When they reach the age of wisdom... Oh, that's a good one, aye, yeah. 480 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,160 ..they will start to drink whisky. Yeah. Yes. 481 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,640 There remains a Speyside institution built upon such wisdom of age, 482 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,840 a Victorian grocer, blender of whisky and curator of fine malts 483 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:13,760 that continues to thrive. 484 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,200 In 1895, a family opened a grocery store here 485 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:21,320 on a street corner in the heart of Elgin... 486 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:23,160 It was Gordon & MacPhail's, 487 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,960 and like the other great whisky families, like the Buchanans and 488 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,720 the Walkers, they created a great whisky brand from a corner shop, 489 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:32,160 and as the whisky side of the business expanded, 490 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,200 they had the foresight to do deals with the Spanish for their oak, 491 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:37,680 and with fellow Scots for their best whisky. 492 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,520 So, Gordon & MacPhail soon became a byword for quality whisky. 493 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,560 It's a business rooted in the family and it still is. 494 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,000 SHOP BELL JINGLES 495 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,520 Stephen, this shrine to whisky started off as a wee grocer's shop 496 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:55,960 on a street corner in the heart of Elgin, didn't it? 497 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,800 Yes, back in 1895, David. Yeah, so a long... 498 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:02,040 Just coming up to our 121st birthday, in fact. 499 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,600 It was James Gordon and John MacPhail who started the business 500 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,160 with a young apprentice by the name of John Urquhart, 501 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:10,960 and John, who was my great-grandfather, 502 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,600 worked his way up through the business very quickly 503 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:17,560 to become a partner by 1911 504 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,360 and in 1915 he was sole owner. 505 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:22,960 So, the Urquharts have been involved since day one. 506 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,840 We've passed the knowledge of whisky down through, now, 507 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:27,240 four generations. 508 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:31,000 Gordon & MacPhail was built on two strands of whisky selling - 509 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,960 they made blended whiskies, as befitted a grocery store, 510 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,280 and bought casks to be matured in their own warehouses, 511 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:40,520 then bottled and sold on. 512 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,280 That second strand thrives today. 513 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:46,840 LIGHT SWITCHES CLICK 514 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:49,760 Wow! 515 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:52,160 Look at this! 516 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:55,720 It's a liquid museum of whisky. 517 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,840 It's owned by Gordon & MacPhail. 518 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:05,120 There are over 7,000 oak casks here, slowly maturing the whisky inside, 519 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:09,120 and each barrel is stamped with the name of a different distillery, 520 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,880 and the idea is that they're brought here for further maturation, 521 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,320 so that the aspects of climate and place 522 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,920 can add unique flavours to the whisky. 523 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,040 Gordon & MacPhail's believe it's the wood that makes the whisky 524 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,840 and I think I tend to agree with them 525 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:31,200 cos, you see, these casks are a portal into another world. 526 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,520 It's quite something to imagine that, once bottled or blended, 527 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,600 so much of the liquid gold here 528 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:44,000 will reach markets way beyond these shores. 529 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,920 Over 90% of Scotland's whisky is sold outside of the United Kingdom. 530 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,480 When Scotland sells its whisky, it sells casks, 531 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,640 but also places like Speyside... 532 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:03,160 The marketing of Scotch 533 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,120 has long promoted an image of Scotland to the world 534 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,320 with triumphant success, 535 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:11,960 no matter how far from reality that image stretches. 536 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:13,840 BAGPIPES PLAY 537 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:15,480 A land of beauty and poetry... 538 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,160 A land of violence and colour... 539 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,680 A part of the world unlike any other in its people, 540 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,120 its exciting history and even its products... 541 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,880 ..probably the most famous of which is...Scotch. 542 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:34,600 Fusing a sense of the romantic with arresting visuals and novel methods, 543 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,080 advertising put this product on the path 544 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,400 to global success. 545 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:41,920 In 1898, Dewar's produced 546 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,840 the world's earliest filmed advertisement for any product. 547 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,560 It was the first major strike by an industry 548 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:52,240 which knew that sales rested on image and communication. 549 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:58,400 The story of Johnnie Walker represents Scotland's success 550 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:02,960 in marrying tradition and innovation to take a drink to the world. 551 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:07,240 This is the life-sized figure of the very handsome Striding Man... 552 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,360 Johnnie Walker's Red Label, 553 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:13,120 which is the largest-selling Scotch whisky in the world, 554 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,400 and it's owned by Diageo. 555 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:19,360 Now, Diageo have enough resources to employee six archivists, 556 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,080 which is extraordinary in itself, 557 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,480 and they take great pride in being custodians of the history 558 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,720 of some of the major whisky brands over the last 100 years, 559 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:31,960 but more than that, they also contain the image of Scotland 560 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,360 as it has changed throughout the world over those hundreds of years. 561 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:47,640 Oh, these wonderful old tomes, look at the size of them, great ledgers! 562 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:49,600 All written by hand. 563 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,000 'The Diageo Archive also includes a temple of bottles.' 564 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,080 Cor, wow! 565 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:58,160 Christine, this is amazing. 566 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,920 We use this space to show the evolution of our brands from 567 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,200 the very earliest bottle, and also to look at brands that have come 568 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:07,640 and gone over the years. 569 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,120 This is actually our oldest bottle of Johnnie Walker. 570 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,120 It dates from the 1880s. 571 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:14,560 We don't really know why it has a snake in it... 572 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,680 Um, we think it left Scotland without a snake 573 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:19,720 and probably went somewhere in the Far East, 574 00:34:19,720 --> 00:34:22,440 but it's not unusual for things that end up in whisky bottles. 575 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,200 That is truly bizarre! 576 00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:26,360 We're not sure how it ended up back in Scotland, 577 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:28,120 but we actually found it 578 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,720 when we were clearing out a space at one of our packaging plants 579 00:34:30,720 --> 00:34:32,720 about 12, 13 years ago. 580 00:34:32,720 --> 00:34:35,800 So it's amazing what you can still find around in the industry 581 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,640 and in the business. 582 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,960 So, we're always adding to the archive with historical items, 583 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,480 but actually, we always collect everything that we create today 584 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,800 to build the archive of the future. So what I love... 585 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:48,800 One of the things that I love about our archive, 586 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,240 it's never going to be complete cos we're always going to be 587 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:53,000 adding to it and always telling the story. 588 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,000 Yeah, it's a living, working, growing archive. Absolutely, yeah. 589 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:00,040 So, this side really shows some of our Johnnie Walker collection, 590 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,800 our Gold Label, Blue Label and Green Label, but actually, 591 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,760 around the other side we have Red Label and Black Label, 592 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:11,680 and they were introduced in 1909 and the display really shows 593 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,000 the evolution from our earliest right through to present day. 594 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,720 Christine, one of the most famous logos and brand marks 595 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:22,040 in the world of whisky is the Johnnie Walker walking man. 596 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:24,320 Yeah, the Striding Man, yeah, yeah. The Striding Man. 597 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:26,040 Yep. So, yeah, he's really famous, 598 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,080 so wherever you travel around the world, everybody recognises 599 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:32,200 the Striding Man and associates it with Johnnie Walker. 600 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,400 Um, we've got some bottles where you can see how the Striding Man 601 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,040 first appears... 602 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:42,000 So, he was actually drawn in 1908 and... 1908?! 603 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:47,000 Yeah, so the story goes that we... The Walkers invited Tom Browne, 604 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,680 who was the cartoonist for Punch magazine to lunch 605 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:52,320 and he drew the figure on the back of a menu card. 606 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:54,280 But even though it was drawn in 1908, 607 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,520 it didn't actually appear on the pack until the 1950s. 608 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:01,400 So, here we can see how the Striding Man looked in the 1950s. 609 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:04,320 Did he change over the years? He has evolved. 610 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:08,600 Yeah, so right from when Tom drew him in 1908, through to the '50s, 611 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,520 individual artists drew the figure, 612 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:15,280 and then, in more recent times, they've actually modified him, 613 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,560 made him a bit more contemporary, and in 1999 we switched 614 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:22,280 the direction in which he was walking. Why did you do that? 615 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,760 That coincided with the launch of our Keep Walking campaign, 616 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:29,080 which was the first truly global advertising campaign for 617 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:32,080 Johnnie Walker, but it was also the advent of the Millennium, 618 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,320 so it was all about the brand moving into the next century. 619 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:40,720 'In 2009, Diageo and London agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty produced 620 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:43,920 'this enchanting commercial in which Robert Carlyle delivers 621 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,040 'the history of Johnnie Walker blended whisky 622 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:48,600 'in just six minutes.' 623 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:51,840 John actually grew up on a farm on the west coast of Scotland 624 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:55,520 and when he was 14 years old, in 1819, his father died 625 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,840 and the decision was taken to sell the farm 626 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,560 and the money that they raised, they used to buy a grocery shop 627 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:02,120 and that's where he started selling 628 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,080 and eventually blending his own whiskies. 629 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,440 But young John was smart enough to be lucky. 630 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:08,920 His father's farm, where he was born and raised, 631 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:12,720 was sold and the proceeds used to open a grocer's... 632 00:37:12,720 --> 00:37:16,320 'The Johnnie Walker described so vividly by Carlyle 633 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:20,080 'was just one of many individual entrepreneurial whisky blenders 634 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:22,240 'whose names became brands.' 635 00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:25,120 And they bought this lovely grocery shop. 636 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,520 You know, in the early days, in John's time, 637 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:29,240 it would have sold household products, 638 00:37:29,240 --> 00:37:31,280 but also wines and spirits, 639 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:34,600 and we are lucky enough to have this inventory from 1825, 640 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:36,760 which actually tells us what John was selling 641 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:38,120 in the shop at that time. 642 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:42,080 Back then, all grocers stocked a range of local single malts, 643 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:43,640 but they could be... 644 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,000 ..a wee bit inconsistent. 645 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,280 For John, that wasn't good enough. 646 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,840 He began blending different malts together 647 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:56,040 as a way of offering his customers a consistent, unique product. 648 00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:57,680 So, if we think about it, in John's time, 649 00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,000 he didn't have a brand, 650 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,240 so customers would just come into the shop and say, 651 00:38:01,240 --> 00:38:03,560 "I like this type of whisky," or, "This type of flavour," 652 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,560 and he would make something to suit them, and that's how the whisky... 653 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:09,000 Wow, like bespoke whisky, really. Yeah, that's how... 654 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,800 They're tailor-made for the individual. 655 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:13,880 ..Walker's whiskies started and it was his son, Alexander, 656 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:16,280 that created the first brand. 657 00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:19,920 Young Alexander wasn't content with being Scotland's biggest blender, 658 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,080 not ambitious enough for him, no, no. 659 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:25,920 He convinced the ships' captains of Glasgow to act as agents for him 660 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,480 and drove the whisky bearing his father's name across the globe. 661 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:34,000 By 1860, he had developed the square bottle. 662 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,360 They started exporting their whisky overseas, and it was all about 663 00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:41,560 getting more in a crate, less damages, ease of transportation. 664 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:42,880 200 years later... 665 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:46,520 'Striding among the midges of Loch Doine in the Scottish Highlands, 666 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:51,880 'Carlyle nailed this one-take wonder at 8pm on the last day of filming.' 667 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:56,160 So, how long did the company stay in the family's hands? Um, so... 668 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:57,520 Until when? 669 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:01,560 John Walker & Sons became part of the Distillers Company in the 1920s. 670 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:04,840 Johnnie Walker and other blending companies like Buchanan's and 671 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:06,320 White Horse all became part 672 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,480 of the Distillers Company around the same time. 673 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:10,280 But they kept their autonomy, didn't they? 674 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:13,000 They certainly did and at that time we had moved on to the third 675 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,400 generation of Walker's and they still ran the company, even though 676 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,640 it was part of this bigger parent company, I guess. 677 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:22,320 One of the things that I love about the archive is we actually 678 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,320 have advertising and photographs from most of those export markets, 679 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:27,280 so we can not only tell, you know, 680 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:29,200 the great back story for Johnnie Walker, 681 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:33,680 but we then can show how it appears, you know, in Latin America and Asia 682 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:38,160 and out there in the world, and what a huge global success it's become. 683 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,600 From modern-era films to ornate printed sketches of old, 684 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:46,280 advertising has been crucial to the expansion of Scotch, 685 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:49,280 whether aficionados like it or not. 686 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,640 The malt whisky snobs seem to see marketing somehow 687 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:54,760 as the demon in the world of whisky. 688 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,200 Well, frankly, again, reality check - 689 00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,400 no marketing, no Scotch whisky industry. 690 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:03,960 And in the late 19th and early 20th century, 691 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:08,360 the big blending houses pioneered marketing and they brought in 692 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:12,640 expertise from America in terms of this new science of advertising, 693 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:17,320 they used the very best copywriters, they used the very best artists 694 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:20,800 and if you visit our archive and look at some of that material - 695 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,360 you really need to look at it hard and think about it 696 00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:26,560 to understand how brilliantly executed it is - 697 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:29,320 and I think people who do whisky marketing today 698 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:33,080 have a lot to learn from the way it was done 100 years ago, you know. 699 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,320 I mean, if you just think, you know, 700 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:42,680 of the number of bottles of Johnnie Walker that are sold 701 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:44,280 around the world and they've got... 702 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:47,080 on the bottom of each bottle, it's got "product of Scotland". 703 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:50,640 It's in houses almost everywhere in the world, you know, 704 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:54,480 and that's what people are going to think - Scotland, Scotch. 705 00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:58,480 During the bad days of the '70s, '80s, into the 1990s, 706 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:01,400 marketing was running whisky rather than production, 707 00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,680 and marketing and production did not talk to each other. 708 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,400 So, if you think, like, back in the 1980s, 709 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:10,560 where, you know, sales are going like that, 710 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,520 but if you are a marketing director, are you going to turn around to your 711 00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:16,840 boss and say, "You know, next year, boss, I'm going to be selling less"? 712 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:18,480 You'd be out the door. 713 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,760 So everybody was saying, "Oh, no, we're going to sell more, things will turn round." 714 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,400 So you suddenly get production going like that and sales going 715 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,680 like that, which you end up with Whisky Loch as a result of that. 716 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:29,600 Marketing is a very easy thing to have a, 717 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:32,680 "Ooh, it's bad, they're doing evil things..." 718 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:37,560 My job is to get really nice, amazing whiskies out there 719 00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:41,560 for people to drink, so I don't think that's a bad thing. 720 00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:48,160 Graphic designer Jules Akel 721 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:52,480 relocated to Dalwhinnie in the north of Scotland from London. 722 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:55,640 He became captivated by the influence of marketing 723 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:59,120 upon Scotch whisky and turned his fascination 724 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:02,640 into a number of beautifully crafted distillery books. 725 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:08,440 In it is to be found the sunshine and shadow 726 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:11,200 that chased each other over the billowy cornfield, 727 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,560 the hum of the bee, the hope of spring, 728 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,360 the breath of May, the carol of the lark, 729 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,040 the distant purple heather in the mountain mist 730 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:21,640 and the wealth of autumn's rich content, 731 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:24,760 all golden with imprisoned light. 732 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,440 Absolutely beautiful, Jules, isn't it? 733 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:29,400 It is. And that was Tommy Dewar. 734 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,600 Can you imagine drinking the whisky after reading that? DAVID CHUCKLES 735 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:36,720 But that really creates an impression about a place 736 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:39,600 and the story of a... 737 00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:40,840 whisky... 738 00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:45,520 ..is not sold without those stories, 739 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:49,160 those fantastically evocative purple pastures of prose, aren't they? 740 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:50,240 Mm-hm. 741 00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:53,680 Cos if we just drink whisky from a label-less bottle, 742 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:56,240 without a brand, it's going to be nice, 743 00:42:56,240 --> 00:42:59,760 but if you know the story behind it, the characters who built 744 00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:03,720 the distillery and the brand and its location 745 00:43:03,720 --> 00:43:06,040 on top of a moor or somewhere, 746 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:08,240 then you go back to the spirit, don't you? 747 00:43:08,240 --> 00:43:10,560 You do, and it's a much richer experience, yeah. 748 00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:12,720 Yeah, and you enjoy it so much more. 749 00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:17,080 Great brands will have a people story, a place story 750 00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:22,120 and a production story and Scotch is the best in the world at doing that. 751 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:24,600 So you'll always have either... 752 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:28,000 you know, a distillery founder, do you know what I mean? 753 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:29,840 There's always... So you can think of it, 754 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,000 you can name every Scotch brand and you can tell me 755 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:34,600 there's distillery founders or there's, you know, 756 00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:38,200 blender founders, there's a place, there's a... 757 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:41,920 this beautiful iconic distillery or this area of Scotland 758 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:47,440 full of glens and nooks and crannies and smugglers and harlots, 759 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:51,800 and you'll have a production story and everybody will say, "Well... 760 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:57,480 "There's up to 40 different whiskies in this blend!" Or... 761 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:02,200 "Well, we make it with the widest copper pot stills in the world." 762 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:04,560 You know, so there's always those things. 763 00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:07,480 Those are the bits that actually make it really interesting, 764 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:09,640 because every brand I've ever worked on, 765 00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:12,440 once you find those stories, you love it. 766 00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:14,800 Sometimes you'll see the message 767 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,040 being very much about heritage, 768 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:18,920 about the Auld Alliance, 769 00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:20,920 about the clans, about the piper, 770 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:22,360 about whatever it is, 771 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,240 and sometimes you'll purely see it as the brand, 772 00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:29,800 and the brand values and what they stand for in terms of character, 773 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,120 and the kind of markets they go to 774 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,480 and how they're served as long drinks, 775 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:37,880 and you're a million miles away from tartan and heather 776 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,560 and pipes and bagpipes, and sometimes it's not even 777 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:42,720 necessarily known as being Scotch whisky. 778 00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:44,240 It's known as being "that brand". 779 00:44:44,240 --> 00:44:46,360 Brands are personalities, 780 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:50,880 so if you're a pretentious person, you might like a pretentious brand. 781 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,600 We feel affinities to certain brands 782 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,200 because they work with us as persons, don't we? Yes, true. 783 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:03,480 So here we are in Dalwhinnie, 784 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:07,200 and the whisky has a very appealing story. 785 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:09,800 We're right up in the heather moors, 786 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:12,680 top of the Grampian mountains, 787 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:16,520 with all those glorious peaks of snowy tops, 788 00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:20,200 but if you stop and think about the Dalwhinnie distillery 789 00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:25,400 and its product, how much of it actually is of Dalwhinnie? 790 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,720 It gets the water from down the burn, 791 00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:32,640 the grain is grown miles away, it's malted miles away, 792 00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:36,840 the wood that the cask... the whisky's put in the cask, 793 00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:44,680 But it's manufactured here, put in the casks and then, 794 00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:50,400 well, many of those casks are left down in the Central Belt, 795 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:53,960 so what is it of Dalwhinnie, you see? It's interesting, isn't it? 796 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,760 Mm-hm. But the story is very powerful and very romantic. It is. 797 00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:00,960 You compare that to, say, a chateau 798 00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:05,120 which makes glorious wine and cognacs, 799 00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:08,560 they'll have their own land, their vineyards 800 00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:11,400 and they'll make the wines there in the chateau, 801 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:15,200 and then they'll put it in the casks in their cellars, 802 00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:18,200 and then they'll bottle it there in the chateau, 803 00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:22,320 so it's much more of a provenance story, isn't it? 804 00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:26,400 But here, it's more like an assemblage, isn't it? 805 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:28,080 Mm-hm. It's interesting, isn't it? 806 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:30,480 It's a really interesting way of looking at it, yes. 807 00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:33,360 So... But it's been a very successful campaign, 808 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:36,000 the branding with Dalwhinnie. Yes. Extremely successful. 809 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,960 Well, that's where design comes along, you see, 810 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:44,160 and creates this story out of what it's got and makes it so appealing, 811 00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:46,120 and gives it a provenance. 812 00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:49,640 Scotland is... It's a tiny, tiny place. 813 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,760 To have such presence from something 814 00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:55,840 that we produce is just phenomenal, 815 00:46:55,840 --> 00:47:00,120 so I think it's grown beyond being just a drink. 816 00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:03,520 It is something that is about passion, about love, 817 00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:05,320 about friendship, about family 818 00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:07,440 and everything else that encompasses that. 819 00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:12,000 Like any image, it's rooted in some sort of a reality, 820 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:13,520 but of course it ignores 821 00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:15,400 some of the industrialisation 822 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:17,680 that's necessary to the industry. 823 00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:21,240 It ignores some of the scale, and the picture-postcard image 824 00:47:21,240 --> 00:47:25,040 that we might have of the little distillery nestled in the glens 825 00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:26,920 doesn't necessarily accord with 826 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:30,120 the reality of a mega warehouse somewhere in the Lowlands, 827 00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:32,840 but there's enough there for us to hang onto and believe in. 828 00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:35,560 My marketing director came in and said, 829 00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:38,120 "I'd like to replace the capsule... 830 00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:40,520 "I'd like to replace the ROPP... 831 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:46,040 "..with a cork and capsule." ROPP is a screw-top. 832 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:49,240 "I'd like to replace that with a cork and capsule." 833 00:47:49,240 --> 00:47:50,520 And I said, "Why?" 834 00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:54,640 He said, "Because it just... It's not classy the way it is." 835 00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:58,600 And I had a phone call from my brother, and he said, 836 00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:06,160 "Why on earth did you change the screw-top to a cork and capsule?" 837 00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:10,520 And I thought, "Oh, my..." All my fears are coming. 838 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:12,840 I said, "Why? What's wrong?" 839 00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:15,920 He said, "Well, when it was a screw-top, 840 00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:22,240 "I could open one at night, pour myself a dram before I went to bed. 841 00:48:22,240 --> 00:48:24,840 "Now, when I pull the cork, it goes..." 842 00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:27,120 HE IMITATES A CORK COMING OUT 843 00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:31,680 And my wife says, "Jack! Is that you at the Macallan again?" 844 00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:35,320 As advertisers know, whisky creates desire. 845 00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:38,640 One modern expression of this is the exponential growth 846 00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:41,880 in people buying Scotch for collection and investment. 847 00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:45,160 This is McTear's Auction House in Glasgow 848 00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:48,040 and I've come to bid for a piece of the action 849 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:51,440 with two men who make a living from doing just that. 850 00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:56,080 So, Andy, what is this? Apart from a display case of gorgeous whiskies. 851 00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:58,680 Well, what we've got here is some of the... 852 00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:01,200 I guess the oldest and rarest in the auction, 853 00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:03,840 so there's some absolutely fantastic... 854 00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:06,120 what we call the three types of whisky, 855 00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:08,320 so the drinker, the collector and the investor, 856 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:11,160 so I'm a drinker, a collector and investor, but as a collector, 857 00:49:11,160 --> 00:49:13,680 I'll buy kind of weird old stuff that I just think is cool, 858 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:16,040 that I just have never seen or the label's a bit odd. 859 00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:19,040 It might cost £20 at auction. I know it's never going to go up in value. 860 00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:20,280 I might drink it one day 861 00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:23,320 but it's a collectable, so it's just a kind of different, weird thing. 862 00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:26,400 What makes a difference? Is it the rarity of a whisky 863 00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:29,440 or is it the taste that gives it its premium value? 864 00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:31,880 So, quality is paramount. Rarity, scarcity, 865 00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:34,960 we're looking for all these things. Let's take this, age and vintage, 866 00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:36,560 so we're looking at this Macallan 867 00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:38,840 and I'm going to pick this one out specifically. 868 00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:41,560 My colleague to my left here, David, actually was responsible 869 00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,160 for the liquid and the bottling of this specific bottle, 870 00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:46,480 so David's signature is on every single one 871 00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:48,120 of just over 3,000 bottles. 872 00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:49,960 But, David, you weren't alive in 1946! 873 00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:52,840 I obviously didn't distil the whisky but I was lucky enough 874 00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:54,960 to work at Macallan during the 1990s 875 00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:58,080 and I was given the kind of task, I suppose, to select the barrels 876 00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:01,680 that went into the 1946 vintage, which was a terrific responsibility, 877 00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:03,560 great, great fun doing it, 878 00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:07,680 but the one downside was having to sign 3,036 certificates. 879 00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:09,560 It took me a whole week to sign... 880 00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:11,720 to sign all the certificates for these bottles, 881 00:50:11,720 --> 00:50:14,400 but it's a wonderful old smoky style of Macallan, very unusual... 882 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:16,920 Because Macallan's not a smoky whisky. 883 00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:19,080 It typically is not, but when you look at Macallan 884 00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:22,040 pre and post the Second World War, it actually was a smoky whisky 885 00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:23,280 when coal was in short supply 886 00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:26,000 and they used peat to actually dry the malted barley back then. 887 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:29,200 So why did they change? Why did they stop using the peat? 888 00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:32,200 Coal became available again after the Second World War, 889 00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:35,040 so they went back to something that was much more fuel efficient. 890 00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:37,320 Interesting. So what would that be worth now? 891 00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:40,920 Anything, £7,000, maybe even £8,000 a bottle. When it first came out... 892 00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:43,360 You're joking! ..in 1998, 893 00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:46,680 I think it was retailing for about £1,575 a bottle. 894 00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:49,320 Shall we head off and spend some money? Let's do that. 895 00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:51,440 As long as it's yours. No way, Andy. 896 00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:53,960 That lot is going now, are you all done at 80? 897 00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:56,960 At £80 on that lot there, £80 and it's away to... 898 00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:58,920 Buyer number for that is 656. 899 00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:05,520 280, 300 bid. (Is it just one bottle?) Any advance at £300? 900 00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:08,880 320 at the back there. Any advance on that 320, can I see 40? 901 00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:10,280 We're at 320 standing. 902 00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:12,600 Any advance at 320? 340 seated. 903 00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,040 360 bid, any advance at 360? 904 00:51:15,040 --> 00:51:17,200 380? 360 here standing. 905 00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:19,080 Any advance at 360 again? 906 00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:22,360 Are you all done at 360? Last chance at 360... 907 00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:24,680 GAVEL STRIKES 360, that is 36606. 908 00:51:24,680 --> 00:51:26,840 Thank you. That's away at 360... 909 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:28,800 So will you drink that or hold on to it? 910 00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:31,040 I don't know. Let's find out afterwards. 911 00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:32,560 Depends how thirsty we get. 912 00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:35,640 We open at 100... 913 00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:38,720 'After Andy's success, it was my turn to bid. 914 00:51:38,720 --> 00:51:41,680 'Competition comes not just from those in the room, but 915 00:51:41,680 --> 00:51:45,120 'from remote online and telephone bidders across the planet.' 916 00:51:45,120 --> 00:51:48,960 Can I see 90 again? We're at £80 in the book here. Any advance at 80? 917 00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:51,640 Are you all done now? Any advance at £80 on that lot there? 918 00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:54,240 90 with you, sir. Any advance at 90 way at the back? 919 00:51:54,240 --> 00:51:55,880 Any advance at 90? Are you all done? 920 00:51:55,880 --> 00:51:59,240 At £90 for that lot, that is going at 90. Are you all done at 90? 921 00:51:59,240 --> 00:52:02,080 GAVEL STRIKES £90, thank you. Yay! 922 00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:05,800 Result. Well done. 923 00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:12,000 After a morning's hard bidding, 924 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,600 Andy, David and I went for lunch to discuss the finer details of 925 00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:19,480 whisky valuation, collection and investment. 926 00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:22,840 Now, do you buy and sell these whiskies for yourselves 927 00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:26,160 or for other people? Well, we act as the catalyst in the middle, 928 00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:28,880 so we've got a number of buyers that are looking for specific 929 00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:32,240 bottles or collections, and we have a number of sellers at any one time, 930 00:52:32,240 --> 00:52:35,280 so we're really just a matchmaker, so we bring the two parties together 931 00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:38,560 so certain people might be looking for a collection of rare Macallan 932 00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:41,200 or a collection of the rare malts from Diageo, 933 00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:43,640 or maybe they're peat freaks and they love Ardbeg 934 00:52:43,640 --> 00:52:46,000 and want every single bottle of Ardbeg on the planet, 935 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:49,160 so we help kind of plug those gaps that they might have in their own collection, 936 00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:51,960 and sometimes, which is really interesting from our point of view, 937 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:55,480 in recent times, people have come to us as professional investors 938 00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:57,840 rather than just kind of amateur collectors, 939 00:52:57,840 --> 00:52:59,960 and that something that's really changed, 940 00:52:59,960 --> 00:53:02,520 probably in the last two, three, four years maximum, 941 00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:04,240 where people can see value, 942 00:53:04,240 --> 00:53:07,000 they've maybe done a little bit of tracking of their own 943 00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:10,960 and they understand that we've got this incredible database, 146... 944 00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:14,840 Thousand. ..pieces of data now, covering 22,000 different bottles, 945 00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:17,600 that give us a really powerful... That's phenomenal. 946 00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:21,200 ..piece of insight that obviously people use for a number of different reasons. 947 00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:23,680 Now, David, who are these individuals that you work 948 00:53:23,680 --> 00:53:26,680 on behalf of? I know that you can't be indiscreet... Of course. 949 00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:28,920 But obviously, A - they have money. Yes. 950 00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:30,920 They have money to spend and money to burn. 951 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:34,160 Yes, and most people might expect that it's all Asian money or 952 00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:36,240 Chinese money. That's not the case. 953 00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:38,640 We've got clients from North America, from Canada, 954 00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:41,120 from Europe, from the UK, Hong Kong, 955 00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:44,560 Taiwan, Singapore, I mean, it really is quite global 956 00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:48,400 and we're kind of surprised at where we get calls from. 957 00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:52,120 What percentage of your clients buy whisky purely for investment 958 00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:55,320 and which of them buy it purely because they just love whisky? 959 00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,520 The vast majority of the... 960 00:53:57,520 --> 00:54:01,280 kind of the big old bottles that we are moving at the moment 961 00:54:01,280 --> 00:54:03,600 are for collecting and investing. 962 00:54:03,600 --> 00:54:07,480 However, we recently sold a collection for 963 00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:09,760 just under half a million pounds 964 00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:12,520 to somebody who opened it 965 00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:16,640 and is probably drinking it as we are sat here now. 966 00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:19,600 They opened and are drinking a half-million-pound collection 967 00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:22,760 of whisky? Absolutely. How many bottles would be involved? 50, 50... 968 00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:25,440 50 bottles exactly. Now, this is the interesting thing. 969 00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:29,240 We did this, we did a similar collection or the same collection 970 00:54:29,240 --> 00:54:32,440 three or four years ago to a different buyer 971 00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:36,160 and we sold it for slightly less than that, 972 00:54:36,160 --> 00:54:39,560 and this buyer again opened this collection of 50 bottles 973 00:54:39,560 --> 00:54:42,680 and drank it with his mates playing snooker, 974 00:54:42,680 --> 00:54:47,680 so the answer to the question, does everybody buy for collecting and investing? Absolutely not. 975 00:54:47,680 --> 00:54:49,800 That is really good news, gents, 976 00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:52,640 because I think whisky is for drinking and for enjoying. 977 00:54:52,640 --> 00:54:55,640 We couldn't agree more. It's one of the most delicious nectars available 978 00:54:55,640 --> 00:54:58,160 in the history of humankind. Couldn't agree with you more. 979 00:54:58,160 --> 00:55:00,680 And to buy a bottle, or a collection of bottles, 980 00:55:00,680 --> 00:55:03,400 purely for investment purposes, to me, is immoral. 981 00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:06,040 Yeah, do you know what... I know it must be, you know... 982 00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:09,720 You're both on a cleft stick because you make a living from it. Indeed. 983 00:55:09,720 --> 00:55:12,760 Yeah. It's kind of half-and-half, and we've grown up, both of us, 984 00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,040 drinking whisky as well as both of us collect whisky, and both 985 00:55:16,040 --> 00:55:19,640 of us invest in whisky at the same time, so three distinct areas 986 00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:23,000 that we focus on, which is drinking, collecting and investing. 987 00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:40,360 The one thing that I guess worries me particularly is this idea 988 00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:43,520 that's taken hold recently that you can "invest" in whisky, 989 00:55:43,520 --> 00:55:45,360 that whisky is some kind of 990 00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:47,680 an alternative to the stock market, 991 00:55:47,680 --> 00:55:49,480 some kind of an alternative 992 00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:52,280 to pork belly futures or whatever it might be. 993 00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:54,680 Now, I have a very firm view on this. 994 00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:58,440 Whisky was made to be drunk and to be enjoyed. 995 00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:03,640 Whisky has no meaning until the moment of its consumption. 996 00:56:03,640 --> 00:56:10,440 It is just a glass bottle of cold tea until its destruction, 997 00:56:10,440 --> 00:56:15,880 and only in its consumption does it achieve meaning and worth and value. 998 00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:23,760 So, chaps, this is the bottle of Rosebank 12-year-old 999 00:56:23,760 --> 00:56:27,440 that I bid so successfully for. Well done. Congratulations. 1000 00:56:27,440 --> 00:56:30,480 But, Andy, you've got a treat for me in that glass, haven't you? 1001 00:56:30,480 --> 00:56:33,560 Oh, this is... Because you've popped your cherry at auction, 1002 00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:35,120 at a whisky auction, 1003 00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:37,680 we thought we'd celebrate with something special, 1004 00:56:37,680 --> 00:56:40,680 so we brought you some Mortlach from 1936... Mortlach! 1005 00:56:40,680 --> 00:56:43,880 ..to celebrate with. Please accept that on Davy and I. 1006 00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:48,560 Oh, it's got a wonderful nose! 1007 00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:51,840 Slainte. Slainte mhath. 1008 00:56:51,840 --> 00:56:54,920 'The pursuit of Scotch is full of surprises. 1009 00:56:54,920 --> 00:57:00,320 'I never expected to be drinking a 1936 Mortlach in a Glasgow car park.' 1010 00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:02,200 How much would this cost a bottle? 1011 00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:04,920 £3,500 at the moment if you buy it retail. 1012 00:57:04,920 --> 00:57:07,160 Three-and-a-half grand? Yeah, yeah. 1013 00:57:07,160 --> 00:57:09,720 You haven't poured me a big enough dram. 1014 00:57:09,720 --> 00:57:11,000 THEY LAUGH 1015 00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:13,280 You've got the last. That's it. Run out! 1016 00:57:18,440 --> 00:57:22,440 The first whisky experience that I - vaguely - remember 1017 00:57:22,440 --> 00:57:27,000 was in Studland Beach in England. 1018 00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:29,880 I was over working in a pub for the summer 1019 00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:33,320 and I decided to join some of my new friends for a night out. 1020 00:57:33,320 --> 00:57:35,240 I was about 18 and let's just say 1021 00:57:35,240 --> 00:57:39,240 I decided after that night that I would never drink whisky again. 1022 00:57:39,240 --> 00:57:42,240 I remember the first one that I tasted and hated 1023 00:57:42,240 --> 00:57:45,080 when I was very young was on a camping trip with my dad. 1024 00:57:45,080 --> 00:57:48,080 I think we were in Jedburgh and he had brought a hip flask of 1025 00:57:48,080 --> 00:57:51,360 Highland Park, which is one of his favourite whiskies, along with him, 1026 00:57:51,360 --> 00:57:53,920 and I took a sip of it and just thought it was disgusting. 1027 00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:56,600 It was a Lagavulin 1028 00:57:56,600 --> 00:58:01,280 and I assumed that all whisky was really smoky and peaty, 1029 00:58:01,280 --> 00:58:04,720 and I absolutely loved it. I completely fell in love with it. 1030 00:58:04,720 --> 00:58:07,560 It was actually the point that changed my life. 1031 00:58:12,440 --> 00:58:16,160 Next time, I'll be visiting a spellbinding whisky collection, 1032 00:58:16,160 --> 00:58:19,000 then assessing the rise of craft distilleries 1033 00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:22,240 and the future of Scotch, but most importantly, 1034 00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:25,640 I'm heading to Norfolk, Sweden, Japan and Australia 1035 00:58:25,640 --> 00:58:27,480 to meet our whisky rivals.