It’s time for our annual trip to the New Brunswick Spirits Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick. This year, the legendary Scottish bard Robin Laing was on hand, and we’ll catch up with him on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. We’ll also talk with festival founder and chairman Frank Scott, longtime master distiller Alan Winchester, and have more highlights from the week in Fredericton. In the news, Suntory Global Spirits is moving its Irish Whiskey bottling operations out of Ireland, while Diageo has called time on a Crown Royal distillery project in Canada. 

Many craft distilleries that came to life in the early 2010’s are marking their 10th anniversaries, and this weekend, the folks at Ironroot Republic Distilling in Denison, Texas celebrated their anniversary. The Likarish family founded Ironroot Republic after Robert Likarish decided that he didn’t want to practice law in his final year of law school, and his brother Jonathan gave up a career designing medical equipment to become Ironroot Republic’s head distiller and blender. We’ll talk with Jonathan Likarish on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Diageo opens a distillery in China, while an Indian distiller plans to open a distillery in Scotland. 

While politicians in Scotland debate a potential ban on the harvesting of peat, author Mike Billett writes of the undeniable ties between peat and whisky. In his new book “Peat and Whisky: The Unbreakable Bond,” the peatland scientist explores Scotland’s peat bogs, healthy and not so healthy, and how whisky companies are helping to restore damaged peatlands back to health. Mike Billett joins us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, whisky industry leaders are worried about the results of Tuesday’s U.S. election and the potential for new tariffs in a second Trump Administration. 

This week, Ardbeg and Glenmorangie’s Dr. Bill Lumsden joins us to answer your questions posed in the WhiskyCast Community app. The questions ranged from why the new Ardbeg 17 is chill-filtered and bottled at 40% ABV to what it was like working with Beyoncé on her new SirDavis Whisky. We’ll have Bill’s answers on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Scotch Whisky industry leaders are calling this week’s UK excise tax hike a “betrayal” and a “kick in the teeth” — and we’ll hear from Scotch Whisky Association CEO Mark Kent, who’s also worried about the potential impacts of this week’s US presidential election on tariffs. We’ll also have the rest of the week’s news, tasting notes, and much more.