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Ewan Morgan - Collecting Whiskey & Tasting $50k Scotch with Diageo's Luxury Ambassador
920 Plays5 months ago
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Ewan Morgan, Head of Whiskey Outreach and National Luxury Ambassador for Diageo who owns some of the largest liquor brands in the world, from Tanqueray & Casamigos, to Guiness and Non-Alcoholic brand Seedlip. But what most may not know, is that Diageo also owns a fair share of high end labels too, like Lagavulin and Mortlach. And after four decades of closure, the iconic Port Ellen distillery in the Island of Islay is reopening with Diageo in a historic moment for the Scotch industry. Ewan and I chat about the Scotch Whiskey collecting market, growing up in a family who lives and breathes the spirit, and he even takes me through a tasting of the new Port Ellen Gemini release, retailing for fifty thousand dollars. And to top it all off, we recorded at an amazing ten million dollar apartment on One Wall Street thanks to our friends at Optimist. Ewan is truly an expert which is why he’s worked his way up to have what most would consider one of the greatest jobs in the world. So without further adieu, this is Ewan Morgan, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Diageo - https://www.diageo.com/
One Wall Street - https://onewallstreet.com/
Optimist - https://www.optimistconsulting.com/
Ewan Morgan - https://www.instagram.com/ewanmorgan/?hl=en
Port Ellen - https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/stories/2024/port-ellen-reborn-the-reopening-of-islay-s-legendary-ghost-distillery
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Transcript
The Phenomenon of Port Ellen Whisky
00:00:00
Speaker
When we first started selling Port Ellen as part of the special releases, it was under £200. By the time it had ended, it was way over 2,000 times. And then they'd just go up and up and up. So for whisky collectors, it's kind of like the holy grail of whisky, Scotch whisky. And people just obsess over it.
Introduction to Collector's Gene Radio
00:00:23
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? And welcome to Collectors Gene Radio. This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the collector's gene. If you have the time, please subscribe and leave a review. It truly helps. Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's guest on collector's gene radio.
00:00:47
Speaker
I
Conversation with Ewan Morgan on Diageo and Port Ellen
00:00:48
Speaker
recently had the pleasure of sitting down with you and Morgan, head of Whiskey Outreach and the National Luxury Ambassador for Diageo. Diageo owns some of the largest liquor brands in the world, from Tangerine Casamigos to Guinness and non-alcoholic brand Sealip. But what most may not know is that Diageo also owns a fair share of high-end labels too, like Lagavulin and Mortlock. And after four decades of closure, the iconic Port Ellen distillery in the island of Islay is reopening with Diageo in a historic moment for the Scotch industry. Ewan and an I chat about the Scotch whiskey collecting market and growing up in a family who lives and breathes this spirit. And he even takes me through a tasting of the new Port Ellen Gemini release, which retails for $50,000. And to top it all off, we recorded at an amazing $10 million dollars apartment on one Wall Street, thanks to our friends at Optimist. Ewan is truly an expert, which is why he's worked his way up to have what most would consider one of the greatest jobs in the world. So without further ado, this is Ewan Morgan for Collectors Gene Radio.
00:01:45
Speaker
You and Morgan, National Luxury Ambassador and Head of Whiskey Outreach for Diageo. Thank you for joining me on Collectors Zoom Radio. Thank you for having me here, Cameron. I really appreciate it. My pleasure. We're at this unbelievable unit in 1 Wall Street here. It's pretty impressive. Yeah, it doesn't suck. It doesn't suck.
Ewan's Whisky Heritage and Career Journey
00:02:02
Speaker
And I think it's a testament to all the things that you work on and all the brands that you work with and Diageo, and you don't have to incriminate yourself here, but at what point in your life did you get interested in Scotch and whiskey? ah I was born into Scotch, so I grew up on a distillery in Speyside, and I'm third-generation whiskey, so my dad made whiskey, and my grandfather made whiskey. All of my uncles make whiskey. Guess what all my cousins do?
00:02:32
Speaker
They make whiskey. Amazing. And my son, he's fortunate I should, he also works in whiskey. He moved back to Scotland to do that. So I was born born into it. Okay, you had no choice. I didn't have a choice. But like this apartment, it doesn't suck. Yeah, that's for sure. And you've held a ton of different positions in this industry. I mean, ranging from everything from ground floor to where you're at now. So can you tell everyone how you got to where you are today? Yeah, so I i left school at the age of 16 on a Friday, and on the Monday morning I started working in production, making whisky. Me and a team of ah five other guys shovelled 44 tonnes of malt every morning.
00:03:11
Speaker
which is kind of back-breaking work. But it was it was my introduction into the world of Scotch whisky. And I'm so glad I did it. So I have that production background. A lot of people who do what I do don't have a production background. yeah So I have a really good understanding of how Scotch is made because I've made it. and And now, you know, to your point, I've had many, many different titles and I've worked in the UK and I've worked in France and Middle East. And now i I live here in the United States and cover the whole country evangelizing about who it's converting. Yeah, converting, yeah, that's that's actually, fun fun fact, that's my favorite part of the job, is when people come in and say, I hate whiskey, I hate Scotch whiskey, it all tastes like Band-Aid, and then I show them how to appreciate it, how to nose, how to taste, and then they have this kind of light bulb moment, and they're like, actually, I like this, or I find elements of this interesting. And that, I really love. Yeah, for sure. Out of all the positions that you've had, besides the one you have now, was there one that was your favorite?
00:04:16
Speaker
um No, my current role. yeah yeah It took me a long time to get here and I love it. I love everything about it. I love the fact I get to travel because I love travel. I get to eat very nice restaurants and I love food. ah I get to meet fascinating human beings. And I just love everything about it. I have a good amount of autonomy to create my own events. I have access to some of the rarest, most delicious whiskies on the planet. I can't think of anything that I don't like about it. I travel 85%. And for a lot of people, they're like, oh, that sounds like a lot. And it is.
00:04:53
Speaker
But I wouldn't have it any other way. I really love it.
Ewan's 25-Year Whisky Collection Journey
00:04:56
Speaker
Yeah. I want to talk about collecting for a minute because I don't think that you probably could have gotten to where you are today if you weren't a collector and you didn't have that collector's mindset. How long have you been collecting this stuff? I've been collecting Scotch whiskey for about 25 years. Wow. And it just happened. So ah being part of the industry, you just kind of acquire bottles. People gift them to you, or you have access to them and you buy them, or you meet collectors and you swap, and then you just kind of start to assimilate all of these bottles to the point where I now have... three different collections. So two in Scotland. I say I have four. Two in Scotland, one in my house, and the value of Scotch in my house is worth more than my house. And I have a storage unit as well. Amazing. yeah So I have a lot of whiskey.
The Emotional Value of Collectibles
00:05:48
Speaker
Now, I think we're in a time where collectibles and and assets and all these things are growing like crazy. But I think that what's interesting is that in this market,
00:05:59
Speaker
It's also growing very rapidly, but it's one of those things that people enjoy, right? What is the ideation and the juxtaposition of a collector that collects scotch and whiskey and scotch whiskey to take out a rare bottle and crack it open? Is it one of those like oof moments, or is it an exciting moment? or That's a fascinating question, and and it's not as binary as you may think. there There are collectors who collect purely for financial gain, so they buy something because they're going to see an appreciation.
00:06:33
Speaker
or they are they're forecasting an appreciation. Or you have collectors who are completionists. So for example, they may collect Port Ellen, or they may collect Lagavulin, or they may collect Mortlich. And that's kind of what they hone in on. In fact, I had two collectors at my dinner that I did last night. One of them primarily just focuses on Lagavulin, and he has hundreds and hundreds of balls. And he's never been to the distillery. He's going next year
Ceremonial Significance of Opening Rare Whiskies
00:06:59
Speaker
and I was talking to him last night. Do you think you'll cry when you walk through the gates? He's like, I know I'm going to cry. I'm getting emotional thinking about it. So you have these people have this really nice connection to a distillery, even if they haven't been there. Then you have people who love the whiskey to drink. I have ah i have a customer in a
00:07:20
Speaker
Long Beach. Actually, Orange County. She has two houses. And ah she buys whiskey. She bought a $55,000 bottle of whiskey in 1966, Tufton. And then she went home and she drank it with her dinner. And then she bought another one the next day. That's kind of the epitome of the place we're sitting right now. Yeah, she she's a very fascinating lady, owns real estate, started from nothing. Started off buying you know small kind of flipper houses, worked her way up, and now she has lots of like office spaces and she just sells real estate and drinks really expensive whiskey. What do you think it is about
00:08:01
Speaker
the ceremonious aspect of opening a bottle of, whether it's rare or not, right? Because collectors collect within every type of budget and what makes the most sense to them, right? So I might not be buying a $50,000 bottle, but for me... Oh, you're not? Well... I'll probably convince me but you know even for me opening up something that is 100 to 200 dollars is really special right and for me I do that on a special occasion but what do you think it is about that ceremonious aspect of opening a bottle of something rare that tastes so good and whether you know a lot about it or not there is that celebration of
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah, I would say it doesn't have to be expensive for it to be special. right that's That's something that I talk about quite a lot. So long as it's special to you, and it could be a whisky from like your birth year, or it could be a whisky that somebody gifted to you, whether you graduated or got married or whatever. So long as there's is this emotional attachment to it, then it it's special. So it doesn't have to be like $50,000 or even $200. So long as it's special to you. But going back to like the whole ceremony of it, you know there there is this just wonderful sense of satisfaction. like When you have the bottle in front of you, you know you're going to enjoy it. You're sharing it with friends, or you may be just savoring it on your own. And and like you pull away the foil, and then you pull off the cork, and it makes this incredible noise. And then you take your first smell, and it's quite this kind of ethereal moment.
00:09:30
Speaker
And then you just spend time just tipping it, savoring it, enjoying it. And if you're with friends, you know, getting feedback from them on what they really like about it. Or if there's a story behind it, you know, recounting that tale to the to the person who's with you. So there's lots of different wonderful aspects to it. And it doesn't have to be, it could be wine, it could be cognac. I just focus on on whiskey. But it's a beautiful thing. It sure is. Yeah. When you started collecting, how would you say that it's evolved from then on to
Legacy and Revival of Closed Distilleries
00:10:02
Speaker
the moment? Oh my goodness. So I was talking about this last night. I used to work for Suntory, a Japanese company, and we used to get all of these lightballs of Yamazaki or whatever, and we would buy them in our staff shop, and they would be cheap, like 25 pounds.
00:10:21
Speaker
and they now go for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. So I have legacy whiskeys back then and a that are now worth a ah lot of money. But when I bought them, they weren't particularly expensive. So for me to see that appreciation over time, and i don't I'll probably never sell them, I'll just keep them. My son collects whiskey, so he'll probably eventually get everything. I hope he's not watching in this. but ah we could cut it out when he But it's a really nice legacy thing to like pass on to people as well. And and they typically they never depreciate. they They always continue to go up in value. But it's not really so much about the value. It's about the emotional connection to them because they all have a story behind them. As it is with a lot of collectibles, right? i mean Anything that you collect is all about the story. and yeah if you're I think if you're a real collector, you care more about the story than you care about the value of something. and yeah
00:11:13
Speaker
Is there anything specific that you have that you are really excited to pass down one day? I have a lot of whiskey. That's right, you said you have water. So I have the full collection of Portland from the special releases, so I have all of those. I have a lot of Brora as well, so two distilleries that both closed in 1983 and coincidentally two distilleries that Diageo have brought back, so reopened. Brora a couple of years ago in Port Ellen just a few weeks ago, I was over there for the opening of that, which is a very emotional experience for me because they also brought a lot of people who worked at the distillery in 1983 when it closed.
00:11:51
Speaker
And they thought that that was it forever because they actually demolished most of it. And they watched the first barrels being filled and there was people crying and things like that. So that wonderful moment where you're seeing whiskey history being made and something coming back, kind of this Lazarus moment for a distillery, which is wonderful. But the yeah, so i have I have those, I have a lot of Japanese whiskies that are worth a lot of money. yeah ah Not not that the financial things that are important, but they are worth yeah a lot of money. So those those are the ones that kind of pop into my head.
00:12:30
Speaker
You said that you trade between different collectors and I'm sure different people in your industry. How about the auction space for buying rare whiskeys? So personally, I never buy auction because I don't need to. but And I'm not boasting here, but that that's I kind of just acquire things along the way and I know a lot of of yeah i know a lot of collectors. and I actually used to trade a lot of whisky with ah a guy called Harvey Fry who worked at Jack Rose in DC. He had a huge collection. In fact, this whole house was full of whisky. He sadly passed away a few years ago. I went to visit him one day to swap some whisky.
00:13:10
Speaker
And I went into his bedroom and his bedroom was like a fort. It was just cases of whiskey up to the roof and then a mattress in the middle of the roof. I was like, what would happen if these if there was an earthquake and these fell over? And he's just like, oh, I would die happy. I don't know about that. yeah But yes, so typically I'll swap and I'll trade and and and no money changes hands and it's just a nice thing. And there's a really good community of people like whiskey collectors, spirit collectors are are an interesting bunch. They've all got really fascinating stories. And now you get access to very old, very rare whiskeys. And so long as you have something of of comparable value to them, either emotionally or or fiscally, then you know it's great. you know and the And the banter is always great. I would have to imagine the the dinner table or the bar chairs. Yeah, yeah yeah they're they're an interesting bunch. Some of them are somewhat odd, but yeah. Well, everyone's got to have a little bit. Yeah, they all have their kind of weird idiosyncrasies, which is great. All those collectors have something odd about us. Yeah.
00:14:12
Speaker
Yeah, from watch collectors. and We were talking about watches earlier on. Watch collectors are a special breed. For sure. Spirits collectors are a special breed. Car collectors. Forget it. Yeah, they're fascinating human beings. What kind of whiskeys are you hunting for now for your personal collecting? All right, I have a unicorn whiskey. It's not Diageo whiskey, though. It's a 1973 Springbank rum cask. It's in a green label. And I've been looking for a long time. Somebody offered me one a few years ago for an inordinate amount of money. And I was just like, you know what, I can't justify that. That's like the cost of a car. So I didn't. And I kind of regret it.
00:14:54
Speaker
A little bit. It's in Singapore right now. I know exactly where it is and who has it, but it's a very rare whiskey.
Port Ellen's Reopening and Traditional-Modern Techniques
00:15:00
Speaker
and The new Port Ellen gem and I, ah I've been lucky enough to taste it a few times and it looks spectacular. I would love to have one of those, but that's a $50,000 investment. Unbelievable. I want to go back to talking about Port Ellen because it did just reopen and I think it'd be important to tell all the listeners why it closed down, why it reopened, and why it's so important to not only Diageo, but why it's important to the collector community and the Scotch community. for Poor Alan is an interesting case study. That distillery closed in 1983, along with many others in that year, and it was one of the darkest eras of Scotch whisky. And the reason why it happened was there was an overproduction of Scotch, so there was what they called the whisky loch.
00:15:48
Speaker
And there was too much of it being made. So there was a surplus. And then Vodka started to overtake Brown Spirits. And there was a lot of investment in advertising that went behind Vodka. And so Scotch started to do this, and Vodka started to do this. And then a lot of companies were just like, you know, we need to reconsolidate. Otherwise, we're going to go under. So they decided to close a number of distilleries, Port Ellen being one of them, Brora being another. and And then they just, well, they closed in 1983, and then over time, they just became kind of whiskey lore, a lot of collectors.
00:16:28
Speaker
latched in on the fact that it was never going to make whisky again. It was a finite resource. Because it was a finite resource, it became rarer and rarer, and then the value goes up and up and up. When we first started selling poor Ellen as part of the special leases, it was under 200 pounds. By the time it had ended, it was way over 2,000. times, and then they just go up and up and up. So for whisky collectors, it's kind of like the Holy Grail of whisky, Scotch whisky, and people just obsess over it. And then the fact that we've just reopened it again, you know you've got these people who have got this new fascination with the distillery, but we're not going to see any liquid in a bottle from that distillery for over a decade. wow
00:17:13
Speaker
So yeah, I'll be i'll be over 60 by the time we see anything from that distillery. Wow. Crazy. And how important do you think it is the the collector market to have this back? Very. it shows It shows a number of things. It shows that we're willing to invest in this distillery in the long term, so we're not we're not going to see anything coming back from it financially. And we're a PLC, so this is a rare thing to do an investment where you're not going to see anything coming back for over 10 years.
00:17:47
Speaker
So the long-term investment in it, also the fact that people can now go and visit the distillery and there's a wonderful luxury experience when you visit it, so it's something you can actually take a pilgrimage to and visit. And also the fact that people who have been collecting Port Ellen are now are now seeing much more general interest, whereas it was fairly kind of like a cult thing before, you know, it was like one of these distilleries like Springbank I was talking about, like Klein-Leish, these very collectible kind of niche distilleries. And now you we're seeing articles in general media that are out there. And again, we've we've done this wonderful algorithm where we looked at the two different liquids that have come through from this poor Ellen Gemini. And one is in an original cask, finished an original cask, and one is in what's called a remnant cask.
00:18:38
Speaker
But they all came from the same three barrels from 1978 and then we split them into two. And then we're seeing the difference between those. And this algorithm is basically analyzing what our blending teams or our chemists would look at. So all of these like fancy names like syringylaldehyde or cis-oak-lactone and things like that. And it's like, what do those actually mean? So this algorithm will actually put flavors next to it and say, coconut, earthy, smoky. So at a glance, you see this animation of the two different whiskies, and you will see the difference in variances between them and what you would expect to see. So one one of these whiskies is way more so ah vanilla-led, has more like apple-y notes to it, quite fruity, redberry vibrancy. And the other one is is definitely more, I'd say, stoic.
00:19:27
Speaker
It's like what an old whiskey would typically taste like, so it has these wonderful like old stewed fruits in it. There's an element of smoke in there. So two very different whiskeys that came from the same three barrels that have been finished. so And people people are fascinated by that, you know injecting that new style of technology, this algorithm into something that's old. and has been made the same way for hundreds and hundreds of years, but we've never fully analyzed it in that way. Wow. Yeah. Really special. Where's a really good place for collectors to start collecting in this space?
Tips for New Whisky Collectors
00:20:04
Speaker
Other than my house. Yeah, I'm not going to give them your advice.
00:20:09
Speaker
and there There are a number of really good resources. So I would say, try before you buy. And there's ah there's an amazing whisky bars here. I talked about Jack Rose earlier on in DC, but then you go to Portland, you've got Multinoma Whisky Library here in the US. Here in New York, sorry, you've got Brandy Library, Copper and Oak. You've also got Hawksmore as well, and they have wonderful collections of whisky, old vintage whiskies as well, and you can go and try them. and then understand of whether or not you like that flavor profile or not. Because sometimes people say, you know, I i really love lagovel and I like the idea of lagovel and then they taste it and it's like, oh, I didn't realise it was that smoky. And it's like, well, you should have really tasted it first. So go go and talk to these people.
00:20:56
Speaker
Taste these whiskies. And then if you're if you're interested in and purchasing these old vintage bottles, I mean, there's many, many auction sites out there. There's also you know really great resources. If you go on the internet, you'll find these collector groups. ah The Reddit wormhole, if you want to go in there. There's a lot of people in there who collect and they will also give great advice as well. Well, usually great advice. Be careful. who you get it from yeah So find someone who you trust or find someone who already collects or reach out to them as well because they're all very friendly and they they love nothing more than teaching people about what they're obsessed with, which is collecting whiskey. They'll talk to you all day. i'm sure yeah ah So yeah, there's some really wonderful resources out
Ewan's Industry Recognition and Tasting Guide
00:21:44
Speaker
there.
00:21:44
Speaker
great In 2014, you received an award, which is becoming the keeper of the quake. There you go. Did I get that? Yeah, we practiced earlier. earlier um Which is as high of an honor as you could really get in this industry. And so obviously a late congratulations because we're just getting together for the first time. But can you tell everyone what that is about and why you were given that? so So the Keepers of the Critic is ah a worldwide society based in Scotland at a castle called Blair Castle. And every year, twice a year, they they induct nominees. And so your name will be passed on to a committee. And then the committee will look at you know what you've done to push Scotch, be it through education or sales or or whatever. there's There's a number of criteria.
00:22:42
Speaker
And then they they basically decide whether or not you get in or not. And then if you get in, you get invited to this. I can't really talk too much about it. You get invited to this fancy ceremony. There's a private army and you get guided in. And then once you're in the doors, I can't tell you what happens, but you get inducted into this. This society called the keepers of the quake and there's a US chapters. they're They're all over the place in fact there's one coming up in inmate in DC or the British Embassy and hundreds of people turn up and a good time is had by all but yeah 2014 I was inducted into that and It's a great. It's a great honor amazing. Yeah. Well, cheers to you. Thank you I know you brought some stuff for us to try and we're a little bit of a tasting. So yeah, we'll cut to that and I think
00:23:26
Speaker
I think I'll save the collector's dream rundown for our conversation there. All right, cheers. all right cheers Thanks. Thanks.
00:23:38
Speaker
twin set of whiskey so this is poor ellen gemini
00:23:44
Speaker
the Montscotch on the Distillery, Culquard L and on the Islay which closed in 1983 just reopened a couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be there for the reopening of it and this is now available here in the United States and I know you're
00:24:02
Speaker
the bar high. This set retails for $50,000. I'm honored. But I'm going to walk you through these two, but let me explain what we have in front of us. So we have a 1978 vintage. These came from three different sherry barrels that sat in the warehouse. And then what we did was we split those liquids into two. One went into what we call an original cask, which is the one on the left. And that would have had sherry in it before. So that's called a punch in cask. Then the other one was finished in what's called a remnant cask. A remnant cask is a barrel that sits in what we call filling storage where we fill our barrels after we make our our spirit. And that would have had liquid in it from 1963 through to 1983.
00:24:51
Speaker
coming from this wonderful distillery So two very different styles of whiskey that came from three sister cast. So they are they are twins but they're not identical twins. And I'm going to show you how to notice and how to taste the way I wish to learn how to do it a long long time ago. So we'll start off with the one on the left. This is the original cask and what we do with any whisky is we analyze it and so we're going to look at the colour, we're going to look at its viscosity and then we're going to nose and then we're going to taste. So in order to look at the viscosity, these are called mini glenker glasses and they're perfect because they have this really nice kind of tulip bulb in them and then they flume up to the top
00:25:35
Speaker
So we're going to concentrate a room at the top of the glass. First thing we do is we tilt it to the side and then using your other hand, just slowly rotate it two or three times so you coat the inside of the bowl and then put it upright. And then watch how slowly the liquid goes down the inside. It's like fast or slow. It's pretty slow. Very slow. yeah Unctuous is a word I would use. And that's going to tell us the viscosity of of the whiskey which is important because if it's slow what we're going to see is a
00:26:16
Speaker
quite quickly but because this is going to coat our palate it's going to carry flavour for a long time so all of the colour that you see comes from the barrel as well so when whisky is first made it's completely clear i so all of this colour and a good amount of the aroma a good amount of flavour is all coming from the barrels that we use to mature the whisky. The next thing we do is we nose and if you imagine that your glass is a clock face Keep your mouth slightly open so you can circulate air. Start your nose here above the 12 o'clock position and then gently move your nose down to below the 6 o'clock position. okay So let's do that together.
00:26:59
Speaker
And what you will see as you're traveling now is those lighter fruity notes from up here. So this this comportured fruit like red apple skin are all sitting up here. As you get further down though, you're going to see more density. So those heavier, sugary, sweet characteristics, the smoke is going to sit down here, that creme brulee like heavy vanilla notice is also down here. And the reason why that happens and you're seeing that variance is because alcohol is going to propel what we call congeners. And congeners are the impurities in whiskey that may be whiskey, whiskey. If they weren't there, it would be unusual spirit of Ivanka, right? And I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you.
00:27:42
Speaker
So the lighter ones, they're called esters, they flume up the way because they have a light molecular weight. So you're going to smell them up here and then the heavier ones are going to fall off like an invisible waterfall. So you're going to smell everything from here all the way down to here. And if you saw this as kind of a vapor thing on a fancy camera that we don't have today, you would actually see the effect happening here. It's fascinating. so we've done that and then you will also see if you go on if you want to do youtubes or the internet you will see like whiskey experts say no ragnos in there like truffle pig and starting healing wildly don't do that because you will go nose blind you have to think up your nose called your olfactory bulb or olfactory epithelium
00:28:29
Speaker
It's very sensitive and if you're hoovering up high strength alcohol, you can go nose blind and you don't want that to happen. If it does happen, you can smell the crook of your arm or your wrist and you will reset your nose. So if it does happen, do that.
00:28:52
Speaker
So we've got a look at the viscosity, the colour, the nose and then finally we're going to taste and there's a process to this as well. So if this is your tongue, I want you to take a small sip and hold it here in the middle of your tongue and then I will tell you what to do.
00:29:11
Speaker
Alright, now, gently tilt your head from side to side. Wash the spirit off both sides of your palate and then gently move your head forward so it runs down underneath your tongue. Also get in front of your teeth and then spend some time on the front palate. It's going to give you a whole forward mouthfeel of this whiskey and then slowly swallow. and this is the most important part, gently draw air in over your tongue and mouth and breathe out through both nostrils for as long as you can. Wow. Right, did you see the difference? Yes. So that's a process, it's called retronasal olfaction, it's just a very fancy way of saying you're circulating air on your through your nostrils, orthonasals and retronasal. And why is that important? You're spending the maximum amount of time with the spirit on your palate and your nose is a very, very important part of this tools kit as well because it is hard work straight into your brain. There's no filter there. It just goes straight in and it will fire signals. I'd say this reminds me of baked apple vanilla or remind me of the time I had, you know, an apple strudel in Austria, which is what this one reminds me of.
00:30:22
Speaker
that last night so it should be an evocative his experience drinking spirits yeah that was and was special Yeah, so this is poor Ellen at Remnant Castle, very vibrant, very alive for such an old whiskey, 44 years old. You have a huge amount of these kind of young, bright flavors coming through from it. Conversely, when we look at the next whiskey, which is the Remnant Castle, you're going to smell more like old whiskey smells like, so it's more subdued. I said stoic last night, I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's definitely, this is the
00:30:57
Speaker
kind of controlled style of spirit that you would normally see. And there's a color difference that you can see. Yeah, so you will see this one is much darker. Yeah, sure. So that heavily charged remnant cast that we're using here is going to give you more of that depth of color. So looking again at her viscosity on here, again, it's slow. It's almost like molasses slow going down the inside of the glass. And then on the nose, you'll see it's very different.
00:31:29
Speaker
And this one here, you know, I've got this kind of nice brown sugar now in here. There's a little bit of cereal characteristic going on in here. You've got this kind of old stewed fruit. And like I say, this reminded me of the first time I ever went to Austria when my parents was a kid.
00:31:48
Speaker
And it reminds me of that. That's how I feel about just tasting. You tasted that and you were screwed when you had that. People have tasted this. You're starting off with like that. One of the rarest whiskies in the world and I'll say it's a fairly expensive proposition as well. So let's have a look at the taste on this one. Cheers. Cheers.
00:32:25
Speaker
So excuse me. apple, berry, this has got clove in it, there's some spice in here, like baking spice in here, you've got that caramelised brown sugar in here, and just all of this, there's a really nice kind of spicy peppery note that goes on in here as well, whereas this one is more like a dessert whisky, and then this one's more like an old style of single malt whisky. And I'm going to show you a trick, it's a very expensive trick to show you, but
00:32:57
Speaker
if you ever want to know what your spirit is made from you can cheat all right so if you're ever doing a spirit exam like wsct or whatever and you just have to pour a tiny tiny amount it's very expensive and then rub your hands together until you feel
00:33:21
Speaker
Oh wow.
Whisky as a Sensory Experience
00:33:23
Speaker
Right. So you can get that with any spirit. Interesting. Yeah. So you will know what this is made from just by doing that. And this was made from 100% multibarley. Multi at the distillery. It has its own multings.
00:33:37
Speaker
and it was first me visit interview about smoke what black of a one is amazing and remind me how long did these barrels sit their forty four years wow nineteen seventy eight yeah Not gonna lie, but people probably killed to try this stuff. Yeah, yeah, you're a very lucky boy. We're a very lucky boy. I feel it between being in this apartment today and trying a lot. life life doesn't suck we're ready we're very hashtag bla these wonderful sp well Thank you for allowing me to try these. I know it's not an easy thing to give up and let people taste, but I really do appreciate it. Absolutely. And I think while we have a little bit left, I'd love to jump into the collector's sheet rundown and kind of get to know your collecting side of things a little bit better. So you can answer these based on your personal collecting. You can answer them based on things you saw when you were a kid that your family was working on or things that you've seen working for Diageo. So first question is what's
00:34:37
Speaker
I did actually earlier. It's a 1973 Romcast bring back. All right. I'm still seeking that unicorn whiskey. So there's anyone out there. Hit me up. You'd be surprised at the things that we put into the ether on this podcast and let's go back. Well, I'm excited to see if anything anything does come back. The on deck circles. So what's next for you in collecting maybe something that is a little bit more reachable that you're search So I am an avid collector, hoarder, my wife might say, and I collect a lot of like alcohol stuff, like old advertising, posters, guitars, watches, albums, like vinyl, as well as
00:35:31
Speaker
and finding them. And one of the best things I ever found was on eBay, like many other people, like Troll, eBay all the time. And there's an old book from the 1920s that was written by the sales team for Johnny Walker. They had a global sales team that were based out of London and they traveled the globe and they created a travel book. And I found one on eBay for 20 bucks. And our archive has one, and my one's in better condition than mine. I love that. It has a wonderful fold-out map, and it's like, where to eat, what to do, your time off. I'll send you some pictures of it. it's It's an incredible book. Yeah, are there any more of those on the market that pop up? I've never seen one since. And it was just by chance, it's just, you know what, I'm gonna have a little look.
00:36:18
Speaker
And I found something the other day, so here's another funny story. I was in Dallas last week and I was working in Dallas with LinkedIn for Christie's. So I had a bunch of collectors there and I met this bartender and her grandfather was an animator for Disney.
00:36:38
Speaker
was responsible for lots of things including that one and the chipmunks and I went on eBay and I found a drawing that he had done of Mickey from Fantasia with the wand and it was signed by him so I got it and she doesn't know that she's getting it here but we're gonna get it framed. So even seeing things like that you know collecting you can have these wonderful moments of like altruism where you get someone and they don't expect that they're gonna get something you get themselves give things my favorite yeah
00:37:14
Speaker
in this yeah The page one rewrite so if you could collect anything money no object besides scotch whiskey, what would it be watches? 100
Ewan's Passion for Watches
00:37:25
Speaker
% is there a brand that resonates with you? because we get watch people here I like I like Rolex. I like vintage Rolex and
00:37:35
Speaker
ah long um but yeah i just really like didp the these bowls. I love your watch as well. But yeah, during during Covid I taught myself how to repair and make watches. So I bought a lot of broken watches, like large railway watches and then learned how to say take them apart, put them back together again, clean them, service them and and then I started buying broken relaxes fold omega and fixing them either gifting them or
00:38:06
Speaker
ah send them along I love everything about it. I love the mechanics of them. I love looking at the mechanics, how they work. And you know, Rolex are one of the easier watches to take apart. They're so well-made. They're over engineered. So they're very easy to take apart. Relatively easy to take apart and put back together again. So I can serve as watches and I'm just fascinated by it. So Ed asked you two questions, watches. hundred percent easy yeah be unattainable so this is something that is in private collection or or a museum or something you know that's just completely unattainable. You couldn't even get it if you wanted to. That's a fascinating question. So again, I'm going to tell you a story. I did an event at the Morgan Library recently and we had the curator of books doing a talk before I did my warm whiskey tasting for collectors
00:39:03
Speaker
They actually have two and they showed it to us and they were like, we can turn the pages, we have to put the gloves on, get to turn the pages. So like old books with that level of history behind them, but I don't have a million to buy one of those books. And they have two. So maybe something like that. or like a vintage guitar. I saw, there was an auction, I came up, it was Light and Belly's guitar. And he used to live here in New York, actually, and so something like that, like a game, something with real history behind it. And I love Light and Belly, so, you know, something like that. So maybe the guitar. I became more used to the guitar than I would an old Bible.
00:39:50
Speaker
Did you know that J.B. Morgan obviously was a massive watch collector? and He had made a book of his whole collection, as almost like his own personal archive. And it's in the library. at the moment You can go and see it. And there's been a couple copies that have come up to auction, but that's that's high on my list. yeah But they're a fortune. Do you think about what you're spending for a book and you just could buy a watch? That library, and it folks have never been to the Morgan Library, I would highly encourage them to do so. The collection that they have, they're spectacular. yeah yeah yeah
00:40:20
Speaker
and they're the nicest people as well yeah they yeah super the goat so Who do you look up to in the collecting world? Who do you think is just a great, fantastic collector? There's a few. So I watch a lot of YouTube yeah and there's a lot of really good, like, guitar collectors out there, and watch collectors out there. And it's the ones who have, like, a story are the ones I kind of emote to. I watched, it was John Mayer and Ed Sheeran just talking about watches.
00:40:55
Speaker
And I thought that that was fascinating, like why they like them, like what are their who holy grail, they have a lot of money of a state, what their holy grail watches are. And it was just nice seeing two people so so passionate about something and just like chatting yeah about it. And they could have talked for hours and hours and hours. And it was so watchable. And they just came across as very nice people yeah who love watches. And I love watches as well. So so they thought, Although I wouldn't put them up in these pencils like collectors who I want to be but I just like watching people talk about things that they're passionate about and they were and they were very personable so I enjoyed it. happiness and joy. Yeah, you can tell that they genuinely like each other yeah as well. yeah And that always comes across. You know, if you know see two people and there's no chemistry there, it's hard it's hard to watch. sure But those two, you know you can tell they really like each other and they would have chatted all day about it. So I love stuff like that. I love storytelling as well. And people who can like weave a personal story into whatever, like collecting.
00:42:02
Speaker
It really humanizes it, and and that's a big part of what I do, storytelling, trying to humanize liquid. And then sometimes that's easy, and sometimes you know you have to go and do a lot of research to find something you love. Because if you don't love it, again, same thing goes with the chemistry thing. If you don't love it, then that comes across very, very, very quickly. yeah well i think the hard part for people is especially with something like this it you drink it and it's gone right you enjoyed it but i think they look past the idea
00:42:33
Speaker
you and i are sitting here and you're going to have this memory on have this memory of us enjoying this and you're goingnna think about how crazy it is that you let me try this $50,000 cent as my first legit tasting. you don't Not my first whiskey, but my first legit tasting. And we'll have this memory to so look back on. I think people skip over that part. Yeah. And you hit the nail on the head there. Although it's gone, you know that that memory is always going to be there. Sure. And that's the wonderful thing in about spirits, it's a very con convivial thing you do with friends or if you're at home and you're thinking about things and and those are all like logged, yeah you'd associate that with whisky. So if you're having a great time, we're having a great time right now, and you're never going to forget the fact that we sat in this very fancy apartment here on Wall Street and enjoyed this spectacular whisky with this phenomenal view that the girls can't see where we can.
The Joy of Collecting and Personal Connections
00:43:27
Speaker
you know it that what it makes life wonderful is these small little moments of joy i love enjoy to people best part of my job. For sure. Do you enjoy the hunt or the ownership mod? Hunt. 100%. If you ask any collector, it's about the hunt. and like the thrill of the chase or even the the portion when you come down to the negotiation and do they want to trade or or is it just like a financial transaction but finding it you know that that's that's fun no doubt yeah most importantly do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene 100% there's no question about it I'm always looking for something the next thing and then even if it's just a gift to someone like it was talking about earlier on
00:44:21
Speaker
ah just i just love i love collecting things all finding things a lot researching things and then and then you know you you just scour the internet or you tell it to people a lot the stuff that i' acquired is through personal contact It's not just buying on the internet. And then you meet these wonderful human beings, you know, and we were talking about this earlier, Rob, they all have their own weird idiosyncrasies. And again, it's just part of life. It's just enriching your life by meeting people. And you collect people at the same time as collecting, you know, whiskey or watches. And I love that. Amazing. Yvonne, thank you so much for joining our collector's game radio today.
00:45:01
Speaker
incredible from start to finish and this was obviously very special and congrats on everything that you guys are doing with Port Ellen and over at Diageo. I really appreciate it. Oh, thank you so much for that. I appreciate you having me. My pleasure. We'll do this again soon. Alright, cheers. Thank you. Thanks.
00:45:18
Speaker
Alright, that does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Gene Radio.
00:45:27
Speaker
Today's episode was filmed at the beautiful One Wall Street building and residences. Since it was inaugurated in 1931, One Wall Street has always been considered an art deco masterpiece. Today, this impeccably restored landmark structure has been reborn as the epitome of luxury living in downtown Manhattan. Also, special thanks to the team at Diageo NYC for arranging this interview. As always, please celebrate responsibly.