This week, we're in Fredericton, New Brunswick for the 24th annual New Brunswick Spirits Festival! We'll talk with one of the leading lights in Canadian Whisky, Canadian Club's Tish Harcus, on WhiskyCast In-Depth. She's in her 32nd year at Canadian Club, and plays multiple roles for the brand from serving as its global ambassador to maintaining 161 years of CC archives and helping lead new product development. For instance, the new Chronicles 42-year-old whisky and the entire Chronicles series came from her insistence on finding a special home for some vintage barrels instead of just blending them away. She's also one of the founders of Women Who Whiskey, and has been a role model and mentor for many of her colleagues industry-wide. In the news, a short-term spending agreement in Washington this week headed off a government shutdown that could have caused problems for whisky makers, while there's still no progress on extending a federal excise tax break for small-scale distillers that expires at midnight on New Year's Eve. We'll have details on the week's new whisky releases, and on Behind the Label, we'll find out how a small-town whisky bar went high-tech to help its customers pick their whiskies.

Scotch whisky history was built on the backs of farmers who worked their fields three seasons of the year and spent the winters turning their grain into whisky. While distilling is a full-time job today for most distillers, Francis Cuthbert does things the old way at Daftmill Distillery in Fife. He and his brother Ian opened the distillery at the family's Daftmill Farm in December of 2005, but Francis is a full-time farmer and only makes whisky when time allows. They waited 12 years before giving the world a taste of the single malt whisky distilled from their own farm's barley, and have received rave reviews so far. Now, Daftmill's single malt is coming to the U.S., and we'll talk with Francis Cuthbert on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also have details on a lawsuit over the word "Magnus," the week's tasting notes, and on Behind the Label, the back story behind an antique still at George Washington's Distillery that dates back to Washington's time!

15 years ago, two Indian entrepreneurs took a few bottles of their single malt whisky to Glasgow, just to see if it would stand up to blind tastings by Scotch Whisky lovers. Rick Jagdale and Ashok Chokalingam survived those initial taste tests, and today, Amrut single malt whiskies can be found all over the world. Now, they're in charge of Amrut's future...Rick Jagdale as managing director and Ashok Chokalingam as the distillery manager. We'll talk with Ashok on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth, and we'll also have highlights from this weekend's George Washington Whisky Festival at Virginia's Mount Vernon - where most of this episode was recorded. In the news, whisky and politics are still intertwined as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pleaded with U.S. President Donald Trump to remove the new 25% import tariff on single malt whiskies from Scotland and Northern Ireland. We're also celebrating WhiskyCast's 14th anniversary this week as Mark gets the tables turned on him!

Want to start an argument among whisky lovers? Just ask whether there's "terroir" in whisky. Terroir is the French term for a "sense of place" where the local environment plays a role in developing specific flavors. It's a well-known concept among farmers, and winemakers have been claiming a place for terroir for years. However, terroir is still a point of contention among whisky makers, with critics making the argument that grain suppliers use so many different farms that there's no way to have terroir in whisky - short of isolating the grain from individual farms as Waterford, Kilchoman, and Bruichladdich have done. During the Julio's Liquors Whisk(e)y Road Show this weekend in Westborough, Massachusetts, the topic of terroir came up during a panel of American Single Malt distillers. You'll hear their debate on WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also announce November's Whisky Club of the Month, hear from some of you on the single malt whisky tariff, and dig deeply into Tennessee's Lincoln County Process on Behind the Label.