All language subtitles for Scotch The Story of Whisky BBC 3of3 1080p_ENG_Subtitles01

This is the story of whisky

and I start it right here
in the heart of Tokyo.

Around these streets
are bars crammed with people

imbibing the amber liquid.

It will be a fascinating journey,

so come with me as I tell the story
of Scotland's gift to the world.

I'm going on a pilgrimage to find
out why such a simple drink

has come to mean so much.

Hi. My name's Jim.
I'm from Scotland.

From the makers, to the marketeers,

and the chemists
to the cocktail makers,

and from the Highlands,
to Hobart in Tasmania...

..I'll be meeting the people and
travelling to the places

immersed in Scottish whisky's
world story.

This is the tale of an ancient craft
that became a global colossus.

It is the tale of Scotch.

Isn't it grand that this
stuff's made in Scotland?

Aye, true.

Today, we treat Scotch whisky
with reverence.

Yet, as recently as the late 1970s,

it was viewed
altogether differently.

When people thought of Scotch,

they thought of old-fashioned,
untrendy, blended whiskies.

It was something of a safe,
boring choice.

Here - what your granda
drank at Hogmanay,

and abroad - ignored in favour
of domestic spirits.

By the early 1980s, too much was
being made for not enough drinkers,

creating a whisky loch
of untouched liquid.

Many distilleries closed.

Then the industry recovered
on the back of an unlikely source -

single malts.

Marketing was once more
at the forefront

via a bottle label vision of
Scotland sold to the world.

Now malts are booming,
desirable and collectable,

and provoke global interest
in Scotland.

On Edinburgh's Royal Mile stands the
building symbolic of this intrigue.

The Scotch Whisky Experience

is funded by
a cluster of drinks companies.

Among its greatest attractions
is a breathtaking hoard of bottles.

This marble and glass shrine
to whisky

contains 3,348 bottles,

and it is
a magnificent collection.

It was collected by one man -

Claive Vidiz, a Brazilian
from Sao Paulo.

It took him 35 years to collect,

and then he came to a financial
arrangement with Diageo,

and Diageo brought the collection
here to Scotland.

And as Mr Vidiz himself says...

"We have an expression in Brazil -

"a good son returns home,
and, in my view,

"the collection is back
with its family now."

And here is Mr Vidiz.

This is where it all began.

He was well-known as being
a real lover of Scotch whisky.

And business associates would always

pick up a bottle in duty-free
for him.

But finally a business associate
went to visit him from Scotland,

and said, "This is real stuff.

"This is the stuff
you'll never have heard of.

"It's called single malt
Scotch whisky.

"And this is the stuff
to keep and enjoy

"with only your very best friends."

What date was this?
So this was in the 1970s.

And really only
blended Scotch whisky

was exported at the time.

It was very, very hard
to find anything else.

So these six bottles here
were given to Claive then,

and, rather than sharing them
with his very best friends,

he was so overwhelmed and so
passionate about them

that he never opened them.

And this began the
Scotch Whisky collection.

Now, people come from all over
the world to view this, don't they?

That's right.

About 80% of the visitors
that come here are from overseas.

So it just reflects the
huge pull that Scotch whisky has,

and the kudos that it has
from an international point of view.

So they come because they
love whisky in the first place?

Well... They don't just pop in
on a rainy day and think,

"Where should we go in Edinburgh?"
Well, you know,

they don't come because they
already know and love Scotch whisky.

Most of our visitors
are from overseas,

have heard of Scotch whisky,
know what it is,

but aren't already
Scotch whisky drinkers.

So a small proportion of them
love it, are enthusiasts,

and know about this collection
and have made a bit of a pilgrimage,

but the majority of them
have come to Scotland,

and there is no way that they could
visit Scotland

without finding out
more about Scotch whisky

because the two are
so intrinsically linked.

You've got a Black Bowmore
from 1964.

What on earth is that worth?

You've focused in on one of those
bottles that is completely unique,

really rare...

Only sold at auction.

But, equally, we have
the opposite end of the spectrum.

We even have whisky
and cola in a can.

So there's nothing
too precious about this.

It's a snapshot of every single
bottle of whisky that was different,

that was individual,
that was unique,

and that was collected
over that period.

So, if you were to put a figure on
the Black Bowmore, what would it be?

Tens of thousands now.

Seriously? Yeah. Yeah.

One of those ones
that goes very well at auction.

The Scotch Whisky experience is,
in itself,

a giant display cabinet for an
industry and, in turn, a country.

Yet the rise of Scotch as
a tourist magnet

is a recent phenomenon.

In the 1980s, there were very few
distillery visitor centres,

and now there's
round about 50 distilleries

that you can visit as a tourist
to Scotland.

That has been a huge change
in the whisky landscape.

It is reckoned that, in 2015 alone,

1.5 million people
visited Scotland's distilleries,

spending £50 million.

It is not only large established
distilleries that they visit...

Places that have been making
whisky for centuries

now face a challenge from
dynamic small-scale upstarts

like Strathearn Distillery
in Perthshire.

Over the last few years,
there's been a quiet revolution

happening in the whisky industry
in Scotland.

And that is the fact
that we currently have

about 20 small craft distilleries,

with another 10 waiting
to be operational.

They make whisky in the old style,

when whisky was made
in a small room,

or a little but and ben, a croft,

or a barn somewhere
in a Highland glen.

And it's a bit like
the craft beer revolution

that's really exploded over
the United Kingdom

in the last few years,

and it's really going to
make a radical difference

to whisky and our choices.

I'm standing in front

of what is probably the smallest
craft distillery in Scotland.

Welcome, David, to the smallest
distillery in Scotland.

This is a dinky little thing, Tony.

It's a miniature whisky distillery.

It's also a bit like
an adult's Meccano kit.

This is a prime example of
a small craft distillery, isn't it?

There's currently 16 producing.

We were the first.

We had a meeting here because

so many people
were asking me questions,

and I said,
"Well, let's get together."

And we had 50 people turn up.

And it's not just whisky.

There's whisky, there's gin,
there's vodka,

there is a rum distillery
in the heart of Speyside.

LAUGHING: I love it!

Just because a distillery is small,

it doesn't necessarily
make it well crafted.

But some of the small distillers

are producing products
of astonishing interest,

astonishing versatility.

Not all will survive. There will be
a shake-out of that sector.

But craft is certainly
adding a lot of interest,

it's adding a lot of vivacity,

and it's adding a lot of choice
for the consumer,

so, on balance, it can only be good.

Craft is a tricky word.

What is craft?

Is it doing 20,000 litres a year

and not more than that?

Is it using old equipment?

Old methods?

It's a tricky definition,

but if we're talking about the kind
of impact they can have

on the industry then
I think the biggest impact

doesn't come from volumes,
obviously, because they are small.

I think it comes from
the way they try to innovate.

I love that because some of
the big companies are too busy,

too concerned
to produce large volumes

to keep their
stockholders satisfied.

I think that the emergence
of craft distilleries

has built this new layer into
the industry, which is great.

It's driving a lot of innovation.

Sometimes that can be at odds with
the tradition of Scotch, which is,

you know, rightly protected.

We've been making great whisky
here for hundreds of years.

We'll carry on making great whisky,

but if we can all operate
under one banner more,

if companies can work together more
from opposite ends of the spectrum,

then I think that can only be of
benefit to the rest of the industry.

Tony, are you a threat
to the big boys?

Not at all. You're creating very,
very special whisky.

Probably the best way to sum up
this distillery is...

if you drive up the A9, and
you overtake a single whisky tanker,

that's our year's production.

In one tanker.

What we do supply
to the big industry

is a comparable quality product,

and quality is the link
between both of us.

So the big distilleries
produce millions of litres a year,

but you couldn't lean against
the stills like this

and have a conversation.
No, you couldn't.

You couldn't turn the steam up
slightly while we're doing it.

People can come here and spend
a week making their own whisky.

They can come in
on the Monday morning,

and put the grist
into the grist hopper,

and, on the Friday,
after two distillations,

they can make their own whisky.

There is clearly excitement
about the craft movement,

and it bristles with possibility.

Whether, in the long term,

each new distillery
is financially viable, though,

remains open to debate.

You need to have very deep pockets,

and a very understanding
bank manager

if you want to open a distillery.

You know, it's got to be
three years old

before you can even call it whisky,

and, while people might want to buy

your whisky when
it's three years old,

because it's exciting and it's new,

when that whisky is seven years old,

people are going, "I've tried that.

"I'm going to wait
until it's better."

It might be perfectly good
at seven years old,

but, you know, received wisdom
is that it only really matures

when it's 10 or 12 years old.
But it's really, really tough.

The big multinationals

are going to watch the ones
that float to the top,

that are producing
very high quality product.

They might then suddenly
try and snap them up.

There might be some that are very
adamant and stick to their ways,

and say they'll be fiercely
independent until the day they die.

But then if somebody's offering you
a huge sum of money,

it's very hard for some people
to turn that down.

So I think that may be what happens.

Those producing very high quality
product will get snapped up.

Craft distilleries
are just one thread

among many to the traditional
and dominant Scotch whisky industry.

Whisky is now made
in almost 30 countries.

Old Scottish methods are making
for a vibrant scene

biting at the heels
of Scotch whisky.

Everywhere whisky's enjoyed,
it seems, it is now being made.

Despite the refined nature
of this exquisite drink,

Scotch is in a fierce global
competition for hearts and drams.

There are pretenders to Scotland's
throne across the world.

Even here.

Cheeky bastards.

Andrew Nelstrop comes from
a Norfolk farming dynasty

who have put their
abundant barley to good use.

Farming sets you up well
for having a distillery.

They are both long-term businesses.

Everything you do on the land,
if you like,

is designed for generations
in the future.

The same goes for whisky.

Do you know what the Greek
definition of wisdom is? Go on.

Wisdom is old men planting trees

under whose shade
they will never sit.

That's the same with whisky.

Beautiful. You're making whisky
that you'll probably never taste.

You don't have the hills,

you don't have the glens,

you don't have the peat,

you don't have
the wonderful soft rain

that comes off the Atlantic
and falls on Scotland,

and yet here we are,
in the heart of England,

and you're making bloody whisky!
Now that's a damn cheek.

But we do have...
Where do you get your...?

We have all the barley.

We have the largest peat digs
in the whole of the UK,

which is the Norfolk Broads.
Uh-huh. We've got the water.

We've got the cleanest, largest,
freshest source of water

underneath your feet. You don't
really need anything else, do we?

Apart from rain. We don't need rain.

You can have some of ours
if you want. Yeah.

We've got plenty of it!

My father had always
wanted to make whisky,

purely because of one conversation
he had back when he was a lad.

It was... My grandfather,
the story goes, said,

"It's such a shame.
We've got all this barley

"and it has to go to Scotland
to be turned into something useful."

And it just stuck.

You know, my father,
he farmed in Russia, Australia,

he went all over the place
doing different things.

But, every year, he went,
"I just need to build a distillery."

So it was his dream? Absolutely.

A lifelong dream.
So, when he turned 60,

and he was going, "Oh,
we need to build a distillery",

I think the rest of the family
just went, "Ugh, do what you like!"

THEY LAUGH

Upstarts like yourself,

do you think
you're any serious threat

to the Scotch whisky industry?

Are you nibbling away...?
I think it's going to be a while

before we buy Diageo! But...

THEY LAUGH

Another generation, maybe.

There's ambition for you!

I think, in terms of quality,
we can equal them.

I don't think that's an issue.
I think...

And I don't think that's me going,
"Our whisky can."

I think any nation's whisky
can equal anybody else's,

because each distillery is unique.

So, if the owners
want to do it properly,

they can make blooming good whisky.

In terms of volume,
we are never going to compete.

Andrew, every distillery I go to,

and certainly this is
much more true now

than it was
maybe 10, 15 years ago...

Every distillery
has a visitor centre,

and it seems to be an important
point of revenue for them.

Yes. It is.

It's not just spreading the word.

It's about bringing in
hard-earned cash. It is.

It's incredibly useful
in terms of spreading the word,

getting a loyal following...

"Come and see it. See
the distillery. Meet the people."

It's a great story.

For new distilleries opening,
like ourselves,

the gin boys and vodka boys
have got it easy.

You can make the stuff yesterday,
sell it today.

There's no cash flow issues there.

Whereas, the world of whisky -

make it today, sell it
in three, five, ten years' time.

There is a slight need
for another source of income,

which brings you down to
having a shop

and selling everything from
bottles of your own whisky,

to tea, coffee and cake.

And, yeah,
it's a good source of income

and I think it's a nice day out
for people.

Scotland's biggest whisky rival,
however, is much further east.

Over the last few years,
the world of whisky

has been rocked by a number of
Japanese whiskies

winning critical acclaim
and awards worldwide.

Whisky's story has taken us
halfway around the world.

I'm now in the far north of Japan.

If you fly that way, you hit Russia.

We're probably on the same latitude
as Vladivostok.

Now, it's been a lovely, sunny day,
but, from November till March,

this place is blanketed in snow
and well below freezing.

And, in the distance,

you can see the scarlet chimneys
that cap the Yoichi distillery,

the home of Nikka Whisky.

And it seems very remote from
a Highland glen, but this place -

the story of this place - is firmly
rooted in a true Scottish romance.

In 1918, 24-year-old
Masataka Taketsuru

left Japan for Scotland.

He was to study the chemistry
and production of Scotch whisky

with the aim
of replicating it in Japan.

Masataka served apprenticeships

at a number of
Scottish distilleries,

learning every craft of the trade.

He fell in love with whisky,

but also with a Scottish girl -
Rita Cowan from Kirkintilloch.

Rita and Masataka toured Scotland

picking up more secrets
of the Scotch trade.

When they arrived here
in Japan in 1920,

it was to set up home
as man and wife.

Together, in 1934,

they put their expertise
into practice

and founded this place,
Yoichi distillery,

choosing these surroundings

for their echoes
of the Scottish Highlands.

They were married for 41 years

until Rita's death in 1961.

Masataka was to become known
as the father of Japanese whisky.

'Author Dave Broom is here
at Yoichi

'researching a book
on Japanese whisky.'

Dave, how does Japanese whisky
differ from Scotch?

Well, it's made in exactly
the same way.

So, if you go round the distillery,

you'll see essentially
the same kit.

But there's a whole number
of different factors

that make it Japanese.

One of them is
to do with the production.

They run very clear wort,
rather than cloudy wort,

so they don't get any
cereal characters coming through.

So it's not as dry as Scotch whisky.

And there's more of a,
kind of, delicate intensity,

which seems paradoxical,
but there's...

I describe it as
a transparency of character.

If you think of a
Scotch single malt,

it's like a bit
of a Scottish burn.

You know, all the flavours are,
kind of, moving around.

It's hard to work out
exactly what's going on.

It's complex.
Whereas, with Japanese whisky,

it's like a clear pool.

You can see all the flavours.

Everything's just laid out
in a very stately and ordered way.

So it's got this...

That's very symptomatic
of Japanese culture.

I think that's the point.

From the word go, Japanese whisky
was made to go with Japanese food.

If you think of the way the
Japanese approach food,

it's all about texture,
and it's also delicacy.

If you're making a whisky
to go with that food,

you're almost automatically
going to be in that world.

And there's a real
cultural resonance

to Japanese whisky that ties in

with the approach to ceramics,
to artwork, or to papermaking.

I think it's all part
of this Japanese culture.

It's a very powerful
and very, very deep whisky.

And it's significantly different
to Scotch, you know?

If I gave you two glasses blind,

and gave you one of Scotch,
one of Japanese, you would say,

"Well, that's different."

So they make the best
Japanese whisky in the world.

My mother is in a walking group,
and I was listening

to this conversation
with one of the walkers.

And she was about 80 years old.

And she doesn't drink whisky.
She drinks gin.

And someone was telling her about
the fact that Japanese whisky

had just won a prize for being
the best whisky in the world,

and she was ABSOLUTELY outraged.

"How would they know
how to make whisky?

"How would they know
what they were doing?

"That's just ridiculous!

"I mean, they don't have the water!
How can they be making whisky?"

And I just thought, "But you don't
even drink whisky, Doreen!

"You drink gin.
You don't like whisky!"

But, for her,
it was like a personal insult

that the Japanese were making
what she thinks is her drink...

that she doesn't like.

Japanese public broadcaster HNK

recently broadcast
a 60-part drama

about Yoichi's founding sweethearts.

It has led to the distillery
becoming besieged by visitors.

This is a living link
between the two countries

and this drink.

You are the chief blender here.
Mm-hm.

How important is the
influence of Scotch whisky

and how it's made
to how you make whisky here?

The production of whisky may
be similar in Scotland and Japan,

but here it is enjoyed
rather differently.

The market went
into serious decline

and companies
were trying everything.

They were flavouring whiskies,
they were lightening them up,

they were doing this,
they were doing that,

and the young generation
just turned their back on it,

and, eventually, they went,

"Oh, hang on a minute,
there's this old drink

"called whisky soda."

Or the highball,
as it's known over here.

And they began promoting
the highball,

and, all of a sudden,
everybody began drinking it.

You can get it on tap.
I'm a big, big fan of the highball.

It's gone right back...
I think I will take some convincing.

Ach, well, you see,
it's going right back to the origins

of people drinking whisky
in the mass market.

The reason that
Scotch blends took off

at the end of the 19th century

was because people were
drinking them as whisky and soda.

You know? And the reason why
Japanese whisky took off

in the 1960s was because they
were drinking it diluted,

just whisky and water.

We're actually just going
right back to the beginning again.

Before leaving Sapporo,

I'm joining Dave Broom
on a pilgrimage to the shared grave

of Masataka Taketsuru
and Rita Cowan,

and leaving a traditional
liquid offering.

800 miles south in Tokyo, there is
another little corner of Scotland -

a wee backstreet bar
called the Helmsdale.

Masaki. Yes.

We are sitting here
in the most beautiful bar

I've ever been in in my life.

I think it is now my favourite bar.
And we're in the heart of Tokyo.

A Scotch whisky bar.

How did this happen?

But how did you meet
Scottish people?

How did you first drink whisky?

Now, your bar is called
the Helmsdale.

How did that happen? Why?

What are the most popular whiskies?

Very popular.

Do you think Scottish whisky, Scotch
whisky,

is under threat from Japanese
whisky,

Indian whisky, Tasmanian whisky?

We will never beat you, but we have
the same heart.

We will try our best, but, you
know....

we will keep trying.
A very poetic answer.

I love it.

Leaving Japan behind, I'm heading
south to another whisky hotbed.

Australia, and specifically,
Tasmania.

With sprawling hills, thick clouds
and crashing sea,

this could easily be Scotland.

Across the bay from me is the
charming city of Hobart,

nestling at the foot of
Mount Wellington.

And on this captivating island, it
cradles 14 distilleries,

with more on the way.

In fact, it's the heartbeat of the
Australian whisky industry.

A growing power to behold.

This is Lark Distillery.

The cherished creation of

Bill Lark, godfather of Australian
whisky.

Chris, in many ways, we couldn't be
further from Scotland.

We are at the other side of the
world, in the beautiful island of

Tasmania, and here, you have
something like

14 distilleries in production and

you're developing at least another
half dozen.

Are you the cheeky young upstarts of
the whisky industry?

I think you could call us a bit of
a larrikin bunch.

We love our whisky and we discovered

that Tasmania's a great place to
make

it and so we're doing our utmost to
produce a good drop for the world.

Well, you've been very successful.

A few of them have been winning
world awards, haven't they?

Yes. We've been very fortunate,

both in England and also in the US
we've won a number of awards.

And that's really encouraged us to

keep doing what we're doing and
focus

on the quality. We are trying to
make really quality whisky

and our volumes are not great, so
it's about quality, not quantity.

When Bill Lark wanted to start
a whisky distillery,

there'd been no commercial whisky
distillery in Australia

for 153 years.

Federal law had made it impossible
for small distilleries to operate.

So before he could even start,

he had to change government federal
law to get his licence and so we are

actually the first licensed
commercial distillery in Australia.

Lark operates on a far smaller scale
than most distilleries in Scotland.

It's so titchy in size.

If you compare this to something
like The Macallan.

I love the size, it's whisky in
miniature.

And they're taking over the world,
the bastards.

Craig, a Scotsman, and Chris, a
native, are distillers here.

I'll be honest, I got here 18 months
ago and I walked into the place and

I thought, "Where's the rest of the
distillery?"

It's tiny. The scale is crazy.

I mean, we talk about hand-crafted
back in Scotland,

and you're talking 250-300,000
litres.

Here, we make 120 litres a day,

so we can actually handcraft
everything at the distillery.

We ferment different to back in
Scotland,

we make all of our cuts here by how
the spirit tastes.

We've got a longer fermentation than
you have in most places back home.

We've got seven days.

But really, the big one for us is

coming to the end of the
fermentation.

Based on how it tastes, we'll
actually open the lid and let the

natural bacteria from the vineyard
up the road into the ferments and

that sours up the...

Of course, you have the bacteria in
the air already!

So... Because this is vineyard
country, isn't it?

Absolutely. So Frogmore, our pals up
the road,

make some of the best wine here.
Some of the best pinots in Tasmania.

And we get all the benefit from that

culture, from those yeasts and
bacteria.

So the whisky that you guys have
created,

when will it be ready for sale?

We are looking at about six to seven
year maturation in quarter cask.

So something Tasmania has,

we have this really unique climate
where we have a huge temperature

variation from 2-3 degrees to about
40 degrees.

What happens, that fluctuates every

day and the pressure fluctuates
every day.

That really drives the spirit
in and out of the wood and drives

that angel's share so

we've got a really quite high
angel's share here, seven degrees.

Our strength usually goes up, so we
might get a spirit coming...

So what percentage will you lose
every year?

About 7%. 7%? A year?

7%, every year.

Guys, I've said that Tasmanian
whisky...

You're winning the awards, the
whisky awards around the world,

you're the cheeky young upstarts.

How much debt do you owe to the
Scotch whisky industry?

So much, so much.

I don't think the industry here
would be...

..in any strength without the year
on year, on year, on year help from

the Scottish industry. We've been so
lucky with their generosity.

We talked before about that sense of
community.

It is not a community, in Tasmania,

or Hobart, or Australia, or
Scotland,

or Japan, it truly is this global,

global community and really you feel
that.

Like, you go to Scotland and you
ask a question and you get a

genuine, passionate answer.

Yeah, we are indebted to the
Scottish industry.

This place wouldn't be what it is
without Scotland.

We are essentially living in

the Australian version of what
Glenlivet was in 1850.

And I think if you said to any
distiller back in Scotland, you

know, if you could go back to 1850
and work in Glenlivet and see

how things started, would you take
that choice?

Every single one of them would.

We are still mashing by hand with a
paddle here.

We've essentially brought whisky
forward into the 1800s at Lark!

So to be in this position,
but then also to be able to call on

the history and the mistakes
that have been

made by the Japanese and the Scots
and the Americans in their

whisky-making process, puts us
in a unique position.

We've got hundreds of years of
experience to call upon and then we

can create our own story from that.

There are stories that people expect
to see when they buy

into a whisky.

So in Scotland,

we can sometimes be a little bit
trapped by that and that's how

people get to love this stuff.

On the other, you've got countries

in the rest of the world that are
now

making whiskies and can almost be a
bit more creative in how they come

about that and the sort of offering
they can present.

The competition element I think is
brilliant,

because any good athlete or
performer is going to say,

your best performances come when
you're under the most pressure.

So, you know, we are kept on our
toes by the growth around the world,

but I think that's a pretty good
thing.

We've talked for a long time about
what is whisky.

It's an experience. It only becomes
whisky once someone puts it in their

glass and they drink it, they
experience it with their mates.

It's on the most important days of
your life that you drink whisky.

Some people, it really is on the
most important days and they choose

to share that with you as
distillers.

It's people that get to be the
caretaker of a distillery or

process, and that's what it's about.

It's about understanding that if
you're not spot on your game every

day, then you're not doing justice
to that person that got that bottle

for their wedding, or maybe for
their divorce or to commiserate over

a loved one's death. That's what
drives

that get better, get better, get
better.

And that's what whisky's about,
you're right.

It's about people. It's always been
about people.

It's about community and people and
you can't help but love the spirit,

because the people are wonderful.

Wow, Chris! That's the most
beautiful,

poetic description I've
ever heard.

Sullivans Cove is another of
Tasmania's flourishing distilleries.

Its architecture and design is
somewhat more functional than that

of a Scottish distillery.

The idea of making whisky came
along, at first,

I thought it was a bit of a crazy
idea, to make whisky here in

Tasmania. Where did it come from?
Well, Bill Lark.

Bill and Lyn Lark, actually.

But I can remember him trying to
sell the idea to us up

at the pub one night.

And how him and his father had been
up in the lakes here fishing

and they were drinking a bottle of

whisky and wondering why we don't
make

whisky in Tasmania, we've got the
climate, we've got the water,

we've got the barley. Everything's
here.

You've got the peat. Got the peat.

We've got everything we need. Why
don't we do it?

And so he came, and one night up at
the pub he told us

this idea and what

a marvellous idea it was and I can
remember thinking, "No, Bill,

"this is not a good idea. This is
not one of your better ideas."

But I was wrong.

It's one of these things where,
to be honest,

we didn't know we'd ever survive or

even get our product out of
Tasmania.

It was a struggle for a long time to
get anybody here to even try it.

In the early days, you know, people
thought,

"Oh, look, isn't that a nice idea?
They're having a go,

"trying to make a bit of whisky."

But you've got to earn your stripes.

It's not a matter of just making a
product and everybody will buy

it just because you make it.

You have to prove that it's worth
buying in the first place, or in our

case, worth drinking. And it took us
a while to get it right and some of

the earlier whiskies that were made,
I have to say, weren't the best.

But once we got the theory right, we
got the practice right,

we started making good whisky.

We found that we could sell it.

But mostly overseas.

So it was France that first
took us on.

Once we'd won

the world's best single malt

whisky out at the UK, the
World Whiskies Awards,

everything changed. From that
morning on,

it hasn't stopped. I mean,

I can remember standing in our bond

store a few years ago and we had
over

1,000 barrels, thinking,
"What have we done?

"We've made too much whisky, we'll
never sell this.

"What are we going to do?"

And now, I look at our whisky and I
think,

"God, I wish we had ten times more."

The extent of the Tasmanian whisky
revolution is startling.

It is a surprise.

Yet, when you're here, it makes
perfect sense.

In some ways, this place is a mirror
image of Scotland.

Closer to home and yet aesthetically
different to Scotland,

there is another surprisingly
vibrant whisky country.

Sweden.

Ingvar Ronde from Malmo compiles
the Malt Whisky Yearbook,

seen by many as the bible of Scotch.

Ingvar is leading the way to the
small island of Hven,

visiting its distillery and spirit
laboratory.

I think the interest in whisky
started probably in the...

I would say '60s and '70s,

when we started to watch all of

these fantastic TV series from
England,

where every two minutes, they were
drinking whisky.

Coming home after work, they were
sipping a whisky.

And we always, in Sweden, and
in Scandinavia in particular,

have been influenced by
British culture.

So that's when I think we started to
embrace whisky.

Then it took off fantastically in
the '90s where it wasn't just about

drinking whisky, it was about going
to the distillery to see how it's

produced, about learning about
whisky.

I know some Scotch whisky brand

ambassadors who come to whisky
shows in

Sweden, they are absolutely amazed

about the knowledge that Swedish
whisky drinkers have.

Hven distillery was founded in 2007
and is one of eight in Sweden.

As well as making whisky,

it houses a state-of-the-art
laboratory,

providing services for drinks
companies across the world.

What we do here is, it is our
Swedish whisky, it's our whisky,

not definitely just Swedish or
Scottish.

Still, most of the Scottish people
are just Vikings

not travelling back,

so you have the heritage from
us anyway.

But at the end of the day,

there is so many different whiskies
and one doesn't kill off the others.

There's a whisky for all.

What we're doing here is, we're very
particular about our oak maturation,

but also how we create the cut.

Obviously, being small,

we need to have our unique selling
points and we need to make something

that really tastes, really scents.

Because volume can't be our sale
thing.

So we go into special varieties of
fermentation, special yeast strains,

special varieties of wood, for
example.

But also, with the laboratory,

where we have the unique possibility
of actually seeing what's happening

during maturation,

we do analyses for a wide variety of
distillers around the world.

Well, a lot of people say that now,

the Scotch whisky industry is in
big trouble,

because they are being chased by
so many

producers around the world.

Yes, there is more competition now,
but, at the same time,

we have at least 100 distilleries in
Scotland.

We have 400 or 500 years of
tradition in Scotland.

You can't just wipe that away just
because our new distilleries started

10, 15, 20 years ago producing in
Tasmania or Sweden.

They make beautiful whisky, but for
the next 20 or 30 years,

I don't see them as a huge
competitor to Scotch whisky.

Back on the mainland in Malmo
is The Bishops Arms,

a cosy British themed pub
specialising

in single malts and run by Croatian
whisky fanatic, Maja Kozul.

I'm very curious about everything,
to be honest,

and I think whisky is very good

to have, enjoy.

It's very much about people.

There is a difference between
driving a Ferrari and there is

difference between riding a bicycle.

And obviously if you compare a
whisky with something else.

Every Bishops Arms staff member is

trained to become a whisky
specialist and advocate.

Service is very important.

People come in our bar and they look
on the shelves and say,

what is all that? And you start
there.

And you start there and,
"Can I have a double whisky?"

And we start off often saying,

"Well, would you like to have
three smaller ones, same amount,

"same money and just discover
something new?"

So you kind of have to educate your

guests as you are educating your
staff at the same time.

The Bishops Arms has won two
prestigious awards.

Maja is spending the prize money on
a celebratory staff trip.

We are going to spend that money
with a trip to Scotland, of course!

We're visiting Glenkinchie
Distillery and we're just going to

have an inspiration trip with my
staff so we can keep it alive.

Glenkinchie is a Lowland distillery

outside of Edinburgh, founded in
1837.

That's a pleasant smell.

And you finish with the distilling?

By the old port of Leith, it's time
for a trip to Teuchters Landing,

a pub whose assets include a
high-stakes game of hoopla.

We were just checking if they
have any whisky we don't.

So we'll try that one.

It's very good to see how other
people work with the whisky,

not just us.

It's a living product, not just

something you pour into a bottle and
pour

colour into. It's a living product
that goes into casks and is made of

barley. It makes it a lot more real
to see a distillery and see why you

should appreciate whisky.

Our guide, Clive, was very good.

I thought he was really good.

He showed us a picture up from
about 100 years ago with

about 50 people who used to work

there and it was really interesting
just

seeing that that must have been the
whole village

worked at the distillery.

And now, you told us that it's two

people work 12 hours and two people
do the late

shift and the whole thing runs off
that and how the whisky making has

changed over 100 years, but they
can still get the same product.

I get a bucket of ice!

Shall we have a hoop? We should?

We should have a hoop. We'll have to
hide away all the single cask

Ardbeg though.

I'm not sure how that's going to
work out with the Swedish alcohol

law, because selling alcohol in
Sweden's not allowed to be fun.

It has to be quite straight and
direct.

There's no such thing as happy hour
in Sweden.

Spending time with this impassioned,
knowledgeable Bishops Arms team,

I wonder whether we in Scotland
train our own

bar staff enough and even if we
take Scotch for granted?

Very often, you can walk into a bar
in Scotland, anywhere, and say,

"Oh, can I have an Islay whisky,
please?"

"Oh, I don't know, you'll need to

"come behind the bar
and have a look."

15 years ago, if somebody came to
our bar and said,

"Could you tell me a good whisky?"

Then they came straight to me,

because the lassie didn't have a
clue behind the bar, so we thought,

right, we'll sort this out. So we'll
get some of the distilleries in,

we'll get some proper staff
training.

Because there's no point having the
stuff if you can't sell it.

So the guys all came in and we'd go
up to the Whisky Experience.

No, so it's good. We kept meeting

people who worked in bars and
sometimes,

they worked in the very best hotel

bars in Edinburgh,

where we knew all the international
visitors were coming,

some really high-end visitors
were coming and staying,

in those beautiful five-star hotels
that we have and at that time,

they weren't necessarily getting
great information

about Scotch whisky,

and I have to say, that's changed
massively in the last 15 years.

Both in terms of the number of

whiskies available, the number of

specialist whisky bars that
there are.

But there's still much, much more to
do and I would

completely agree that across a very
broad portfolio in Edinburgh,

if you look at lots of places
that you can taste whisky,

you aren't necessarily going to find

everybody serving you that really
knows

about Scotch whisky and is
passionate about it.

If you talk to whisky drinkers
around the world,

"How did you find out about Scotch
whisky?"

They were introduced to it by a

bartender, by a brand ambassador.

They came on holiday to Scotland,

they visited a distillery.

And it's so important.

So, even it goes back to the
starting of whisky and you know,

what happened there, the
introduction.

The personal contact remains
absolutely key.

This is the great city of London.

A city that has quaffed whisky for
hundreds of years.

It's also a city that has begun to
distil its own whisky yet again.

And it's also the city that has
stoked a debate about how exactly

this drink should best be devoured,

and that includes - and this is
heretical -

a mutiny against tradition for
some, including myself,

drinking whisky in cocktails.

Now, I'm about to go into this hotel
to talk to the

2015 World Barman of the Year

and if he mixes me a cocktail, he's
going straight to the Tower.

Ryan, on a daily basis, you commit
sacrilege in this bar.

Because you take some really,

really decent whiskies that take
years to mature

into all the richness of

flavours, and then you throw in all

sorts of other liquids and you
throw in

strawberry crushes and botanicals
and you make dreadful cocktails out

of them. I'm guilty of that.

Why? To me, it's been the beauty of
whisky.

It does have big, bold flavours,

it's got all of these interesting
characteristics and to me,

a cocktail is just a new way of
experiencing that.

To me, it's not about masking any of
the flavours and hiding it away as a

bland alcohol, the beauty of using
Scotch in these things is it has all

these characteristics. Whisky should
be drunk any way you want it to be.

I am a big fan of not being
prescriptive about drinking whisky

and I think we are seeing that more
and more nowadays.

I love whisky cocktails, whisky
highballs, whisky neat,

whisky on the rocks... In a nosing
glass, being more professional,

or literally out of a flask when I'm
walking up a big hill and it's

freezing cold. I think the industry

need to find a way of keeping their
older

consumer happy, by doing what they
love and what

they're going to keep buying,

but also not being scared to
innovate and

not being scared to talk about

putting in mixers and talk about
putting in ice and water and getting

more people to experiment with it
and find out what they like,

rather than using the old method,

where it was preached and you were
told you must drink it neat,

you mustn't do this, you mustn't do

that, and that image has
turned a lot of people off.

So, however you
want to drink your Scotch,

you drink your Scotch however you
like it.

And don't let anybody tell you
you can't.

But, there are limits.

So, I got my father for one
Christmas

a really expensive bottle of
Highland Park.

Highland Park is a
beautiful Scotch,

and I took it around and we were
celebrating Christmas and the first

thing he did was he opened it,

and there was a bottle of dry ginger
at one side and this really amazing

bottle of Highland Park at the
other.

And they both went in the same
glass.

So that is where you draw the limit.

If you want to get somebody to
experience a new spirit,

something different, a new flavour,

it can be a bit much just giving
them a neat dram,

especially when you've got something
cask strength or smoky and all of a

sudden they are put off by it.
Everybody's got that story of

drinking whisky, stealing it from
their dad's cabinet and going,

"I don't like the stuff," and they
stick with that idea.

Whereas, whisky runs this amazing
gauntlet of flavour and you've got

light, delicate, Lowland drams,
through to big, smoky, rich Islays.

And you want people to go,
"Right, actually,

"there's a new way of
experiencing this."

And using a cocktail, if you do it
delicately,

is a way of introducing new flavours
to them.

Actually, this drink's been on our
menu since the beginning.

And I've always tried to involve
whisky cocktails.

It's my favourite spirit. It's one I
have loved.

I lived in Scotland for a long time.
It's very close to my heart.

So, this is essentially a twist on a
whisky sour.

But it is a bit of an unusual one.

So, I'm going to warn you of that
before I get started.

If people want to enjoy their
whisky with a lot

of nosing and sniffing and looking
at the colour, well good for them.

It's their whisky, they've bought
it.

If they want to slam a glass full of
ice and stick a branded cola on top

of it, well, I might wince.

It might not be for me, but it's
their whisky.

It's a free world.

On they should go. As long as they
enjoy it.

This idea that,
"Thou shalt not touch,"

really only is about 30 years old.

And I think it's done irreparable

damage to the Scotch whisky industry

because people...
It's a strong drink.

And people take a sip of it because
you're not allowed to add water to

it and it's... Come on.

It's about pleasure, guys. It's not
about pain.

So, you know, I would add anything
you want to Scotch whisky.

Just enjoy it because it might be a
great, complex drink,

but it's just a drink.

Ryan, the more I explore whisky,

the more I realise it is a form of
alchemy.

Mm-hmm.

And you're taking it a stage
further, aren't you?

Well, to me, you know, your whisky
blenders, be that blended whisky,

be that single malts, they are
essentially making cocktails.

They're bringing all these different
elements together.

Creating a harmony that tastes
greater than the sum of its parts.

Hopefully, this is going to be a new
side of this whisky that you won't

have tried.
This will be a first time for me.

OK. I'm hoping this works.

Slainte.

That's surprisingly refreshing.

Dare I admit it.

THEY LAUGH

I'll probably lose half my friends.

So, what does the future hold in
store for Scotch?

Not only is there an explosion of
small-scale craft distilleries,

some of the older, established
producers

are investing big money, too.

This is Strathspey in the north-east
of Scotland.

It's an area that contains the

greatest density of whisky
distilleries

anywhere in the world.

It is also home to The Macallan,

one of the best loved and most
revered whiskies in the world.

Macallan have been here for over
200 years.

But currently, the demand for
Macallan is outstripping supply.

So, the company are investing the

small sum of £100 million in
creating a

cathedral of whisky, due to open in
2017.

This beautiful new distillery on the
Island of Harris is proof, too,

that there is confidence in the
future of Scotch.

It's a very exciting time, I think,
for distilling.

Especially here in Scotland,

we've got a lot of new distilleries
appearing.

There's a lot of gin distilleries
which are going to be leading into

making whisky. But the same thing's

happening all across mainland
Europe, all throughout Asia.

And there's a
lot of new distilleries appearing.

But I think it's very important that
Scotland doesn't lose focus,

so that they keep creating very high
quality spirit.

But I think that we're lucky in a

way because we have the heritage
that

all of these mainland European
distilleries and Asian distilleries

will never have the same heritage
as Scotland has.

The big challenge in whisky is
trying to balance innovation and

tradition. I think it's very
possible to do that.

And to produce something amazing.

I don't know if it's going to turn
out just as fine as everyone in the

industry thinks and hopes and
believes.

And there are going to be some
casualties along the way.

Maybe some of those small craft
distilleries

are going to fall by the wayside

in a kind of creative destruction of
the marketplace.

But overall, I think we probably
will take the right turn.

I think we will go on to the sunlit

uplands and I think there is a
bonnie future for Scotch.

We've made Scotch whisky
for hundreds of years.

It has proved the test of time.

It is revered as the pinnacle of the
distiller's art worldwide

because of its character,
its quality,

its soul.
And it will continue to do well.

I see it actually as a
moment of opportunity for Scotch

whisky because the more the

Scotch whisky industry is looking
over

its shoulder, sort of going, "Oh,
well, bourbon's becoming popular.

"Maybe we should be like bourbon.

"Or Japanese is becoming popular.

"Can we be like Japanese?"

Then you've lost it. You've lost the
battle completely.

But not everyone is as confident
about the future.

I actually think that if you look at
whisky, the historic whisky graph,

it goes up and down. If you remember

in the '80s with the whisky lake
and

shut half of Scotland's
distilleries. It's coming.

What have Scotland done? Doubled
production in the last four years.

The moment that whisky is live and
ready for sale...

..we haven't suddenly got twice as
many whisky drinkers in the world.

Therefore, this is just going to...

There has to be a mountain of
whisky building.

And at some point, it will all go
down and we'll all have a bit of a

downturn. And then we'll...

Yeah. So, what do you...?

What's your opinion on say the

Macallan spending 100 million on
this new facility?

Brilliant. Really cool.

But you know, they've doubled
production.

Do they think they can sell twice as
much whisky?

If they can, brilliant.

But that means someone else isn't
selling any.

We haven't suddenly got everybody
buying twice as many bottles.

So, the industry has to do a bit of
a dip.

And those that have got their

houses in order will be fine and
those that have borrowed to the hilt

and are expecting it to continue
willy-nilly probably

will wake up with a headache.

But we'll see. That's the joy of
whisky.

I mean, you design a business to
work over generations,

not over a decade cycle.

As I have seen, Scotch whisky
sprung from Caledonian terrain and

bewitched the world.

Its ascendancy has been driven by

pioneers, from early innovators and

the entrepreneurs who first exported
our wares, to today's scientists,

blenders and craft distillers.

Yet what strikes me most is, despite
all that, the drink itself remains

a charming enigma.

The causes of its sumptuous taste,

impossible to agree upon and even
opaque and mysterious.

There will be peaks and troughs and
pretenders to the throne.

But because of that sorcery,

Scotland's tipple of genius will
always prevail.

The future's bright.
The future's amber.

We're getting very near last orders,
folks.

And the end of my journey.

A wonderful journey through the
magical world of whisky.

I hope you've enjoyed it.

From Highland crofter to Hobart
visionary,

there's an amber thread that
embroiders the globe.

When a cunning alchemist distils
a spirit,

a liquid drops forth into a cask and
there something truly,

truly colossal happens.

Scotch whisky affects history and
defines identity.

It embraces science and big business
and the land, and yet...

And yet, at its heart, this mixture
of water,

barley and yeast is just a simple,

beautiful taste of
heaven in a glass.

Slainte.