Whiskey Wonders: California’s 10th St Distillery tour & Dr. Rachel Barrie’s Coastal Elixirs (S4 E1)

# Swell AI Transcript: S4 E1 - please forgive any typos

Kerry:
It is five o'clock somewhere, and you've tuned in to the season four premiere of BRC. For those of you who'd like to watch this episode, I highly recommend it. You can view season four on our website, YouTube, Spotify, whiskynetwork.net, and Zencaster. I'm Keri Moynihan, and in today's Tales from the Still, I take a trip to my hometown of San Jose, California, for a tour of 10th Street Distillery, with founders Barag Saxena and Vishal Gari. Then later in the show, Dr. Rachel Berry joins me at the Mermaid Bar in downtown LA for Tavern Talk. So kick off your shoes, pour yourself a dram, and join me for this episode of Barrel Room Chronicles.

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Kerry:
So I finally made it here to 10th Street Distillery, which is actually on 4th Street now. But I am here for the tour by none other than Virag. So Virag, tell me what we are looking at right now.

Virag:
So right now you're standing in Rick House, if I might say. And again, our distillery is, think of it as a studio apartment. So we're in one space, you have everything. So this is not a separate warehouse, but it's part of, as we'll see, right next to where my mashing happens and my fermentation happens. And here you see rows upon rows of white oak barrels. American White Oak, French White Oak, a little bit of Hungarian White Oak too. Most of the barrels, as you see over here, are used bourbon casks, singly used bourbon casks. But I also have, besides that, if you look up over there, slightly larger wine casks, which we are using for finishing. I have some port casks being used for finished. And then a little bit on this side, you'll see a little bit of darker ones, which are rum casks, which actually started their life as bourbon casks, then went to Jamaica for aging rum. And now I'm back here while we are finishing some of our whiskeys in that.

Kerry:
That's crazy. If these barrels had a story to tell, I mean, could you imagine being a little piece of wood saying, let me tell you my story? So how old are those rum casks, do you think?

Virag:
Typically about 15 to 20 years for the rum. And before that, must have been about 8 to 10 years for the bourbon on that.

Kerry:
OK, so probably around 20-ish?

Virag:
Yeah, I'd say at least 20 years. OK.

Kerry:
All right, well, we're going to take a little walk down this beautiful rickhouse here. And on the other side, we will see the rest of the distillery.

Virag:
See right there. Now, if you notice over here, it's a little hot and a little dry. Very different from Scotland, right? So Scotland, you lose about two to 3% a year as the angels share. Out here when it gets hot, it gets dry. My angels get thirsty and they get greedy. I lose 10 to 15% a year. So when people ask me if I'll ever have a 10-year-old whiskey, I'm like, there won't be anything left. So here you can see whiskey, which has kind of come out through the thing. And you can smell it. And you can taste it. And this is what you call whiskey candy.

Kerry:
I love that.

Virag:
So right here, you can see some of the beautiful wine casks, right? Right here, this is a wine cask from Los Gatos. We typically like getting a wine cask from local wineries. And the reason for that is when you dump a wine, Within a day, different things start happening, and it starts turning acidic. So if I get a barrel from somewhere else, there are changes which would have gone on in that barrel by then. By getting a barrel locally, I pick up the barrel the day it's dumped.

Kerry:
So you get wet barrels.

Virag:
I get wet barrel. I get extremely fresh wet barrels, clean barrels, and put whiskey in them. So those are my, you can see a couple of wine casts sitting out there, right?

Kerry:
And then what are these down here?

Virag:
Those are back to your normal used bourbon casks. So that's the used bourbon cask over here. That's the used bourbon cask over here. And both of them. And is this one over here the rum cask you were telling me about? And then right here are these rum casks, right? And you can see much darker color because these are much older. Because the used bourbon casks are typically about 10 years old. These ones are at least 20 years old. So four of these are basically what were rum casks which now have whiskey in them. They create amazing beautiful whisky which is, the nose has got lots of tropical fruits in it and nice soft lingering finish. This reminds you of being somewhere in Caribbean. So right here we have a grain crusher. This is where we'll crush our malted barley and adjust the crush so we can get a nice crisp. We don't want a fine flour. We want a mixture of a little bit of fine flour, but not much, but then mostly think of grits. So you crush the grain to grits, and then you have the husks, which we don't want broken, because if those are broken, you're going to get harsh tannins, which are going to come into your whiskey and make the whiskey brown. You can make whiskey actually by grinding the malt to a fine powder along with the husk. Then you're going to get a really bitter whiskey. We want a nice, soft, smooth whiskey. And so we create a grist with grits with the husk still mostly intact. And then that goes into the mash tun right here. And this is where the magic happens. Basically what happens is your yeast cannot convert starch to alcohol. And that's just like your body, your cells in your body need simple sugars to convert those to energy, right? And the yeast is like the same thing. And so when you're making wine, you have simple sugars with the fruit juice, but when you're making whiskeys, you're using cereal grains. So those starches need to be converted to simple sugars. And how does our body convert starches to simple sugars? Your saliva has an enzyme called amylase.

Kerry:
Oh, I did not know that.

Virag:
Yeah, and so when you chew the food, that converts this. In fact, if you take bread and you chew it and don't swallow it, it'll turn sweet in your mouth. It'll have to keep in your mouth for about 20 minutes.

Kerry:
Oh, I'll have to try that then.

Virag:
And so now, if I'm using a normal grain for making beer, guess what I have to do? I have to chew it and spit it out. In fact, there is a tourist trap village near Machu Picchu where they actually do the same thing and they make beer for the tourists doing that. And that's how early humans made beer. But then what they figured out was, luckily for us, is that when you actually germinate the grain, which is what malting is, you germinate the grain. That little shoot creates the same enzyme so it can use up the starches.

Kerry:
Oh, that's good.

Virag:
So that's what we do. We germinate the grain, meaning we don't do it, we get malted grain. And then you dry the grain when the shoot is about an inch long. And now what you have is a bundle of the enzyme and the starch. So when you crush the grain, it comes in here and you add hot water to it and you let it sit. And after about 30 to 40 minutes, that starch turns to sugar. And that's why I use malted grain because so I don't have to spit in your whiskey. I love it. And so that you filter out from here. your sweet sugar solution, and you pump it into the fermenters in the back. And after cooling it in the heat exchanger, and then you pitch the yeast, the yeast goes to work on the sweet sugar solution called the wort. And that's what the first and the second, so that's the first process is convert the starch to sugar, that's my mashing. and the second part is do the fermentation.

Kerry:
Okay, so now we're over here at the fermenting tanks, right? Yeah. All right, so tell me, it goes to the heat exchanger over there, that nice little blue thing, and then it comes into the fermenting tanks, and then how long does it stay in these fermenting tanks before it moves to the next position?

Virag:
Aha, so it takes about two days for it to ferment, but we don't take it out and distill it at that point of time. What we do after that two days is we open up the hatch and then let the local microflora come in and infect what is called the wash or the distiller's beer. And the reason for doing that is we discovered at some point of time during a little science experiments that when The local wild sourdough yeast comes in and infects it and turns it really sour and tart. It makes a much more rich and complex whiskey. So it takes me about two days to finish the fermentation. Then I let it sit for another two days and let the local sourdough yeast turn it sour and tart. And then we will distill it.

Kerry:
That's fantastic. OK, so how does it get from here to the distillation area? We got a little, OK, got some pipes right there. All righty. So let's go check that out. So now we're here at the stills, which have been piped over from your distillation for your fermentation tanks. And what kind of still is this and what brand is it?

Virag:
So this is something which is custom-built for us. So it doesn't have a brand. And this is a pot still, as you can look at it. It doesn't have any plates. It doesn't have any columns in it. Right. It's a good, old-fashioned copper pot still, 100% copper. And you can see right here. Why do you think the stills are made of copper? Is it because they look pretty?

Kerry:
No, it's good for the flavor.

Virag:
Yes, it's amazing for the flavor. So have you noticed whiskey will give you less hangover compared to beer or wine? And you wonder why that is? Well, one of those things is the sulfur or the sulfites. Beer has sulphur in it, wine has even more sulphur in it because you burn sulphur to kill the mould in the barrels. And when you're taking something which is 7% and taking it to 43%, 50%, 60%, so all of that stuff is getting more intense and more focused. So that sulfur is going to get more focused and give you a rougher flavor, so we want to take it out. When you are distilling an astil made of copper, this astil has 3,000 pounds of copper in it. That's a lot of copper. That is a lot of copper, and that's very expensive. That copper reacts with the sulfur and precipitates it out as sulfides and sulfates. At the larger distilleries, you lose about a pound of copper a day. They say astil gives up its soul to make whiskey.

Kerry:
Of course it does. You got to put soul in the whiskey, otherwise it's not whiskey.

Virag:
Exactly. I put my soul in it, it still puts its soul in it.

Kerry:
Do you have names for these guys?

Virag:
Do they have... This is called, because this is distilling wash, so it's called a wash stain.

Kerry:
No, you need to name her. She needs a name. And she needs a name.

Virag:
Is it a she or is it a he?

Kerry:
Maybe one's a she and one's a he and they're married.

Virag:
Ah, okay.

Kerry:
So, I guess... And these are their children. No, I don't know. Okay, so it goes from this one, and then do you do a... So it goes up, right?

Virag:
So now if you look at the shape, you see it's a lampshade still. And I wanted that lampshade still so I can get lots of copper, lots of surface area, where the copper can pull out the sulfur as much as it can. The lime on the top is sloping up. and then it's going down in a condenser, and the condenser basically is, here you can see a little mock-up version of the condenser. It's got lots of copper tubes in it, where the vapor comes down and condenses.

Kerry:
Is this your safe over here, your liquor safe?

Virag:
That is my liquor safe over there, and where you measure what alcohol percentage you're getting, and what temperature you're getting your, and so then you collect your low wines, which are made from your wash or your distiller's beer.

Kerry:
And then do you do a second distillation on that set over there?

Virag:
The second distillation goes on the second still.

Kerry:
We're gonna head on over to the next still. Okay, so over here, we've moved into here. I'm gonna step over real quick. And we got the first safe, right? And then the second safe. So tell me, once you do all the proofing from this safe, what happens next?

Virag:
Okay, so once we get the low winds out here, then that gets pumped into the second one, which is right here.

Kerry:
Okay.

Virag:
And then it gets distilled. Now, second time, if you look at the shape of the still, it's slightly different from the first one. And you can see it's basically an exaggerated ball still. And I've got a refining lentil on the top. And the reason for that is I want to create more reflux so I can get cleaner cuts. And the cut is essential to how you make your whiskey, to the flavor of your whiskey. If you look at my output here, I've got three different outputs going out. So I can take my heads, my hearts, and my tails, based on what is coming out at this point in time. Here you can see a whole bunch of blue-green stuff sitting out there, right? That's all what the copper... I was going to say, that looks like copper residue. Exactly. That means, yes, my copper is pulling out the sulfur from whatever I'm distilling. And so when it starts distilling, it smells like nail polish remover or paint stripper. But it smells good though. Because that stuff is in there and you don't want that in your whiskey because you don't want those bad hangovers. So acetone and methanol and acetaldehyde and things like that, that goes into my heads and doesn't go into the barrel. And then next, when I decide it's clean enough, it goes into the hearts, which is what will go in my barrel. And in the end, we take the tails out. So that doesn't go into the barrel either.

Kerry:
Do you reuse the tails back in another batch or no?

Virag:
Yes. Yes, we do.

Kerry:
And then this is the end of the distillation process. Then when it's done here in this beautiful copper pot still, does it immediately go into a barrel or do you put it in a tank first? What do you do?

Virag:
So then it goes, see the room right behind that? That's my filling room. So it goes into a tank over there and I'll take about three or four different batches, combine them together and use that to fill three or four different barrels.

Kerry:
Okay, so now I'm here in front of the tasting room at 10th Street Distillery, even though it's on 4th Street, and I have Vishal, who is the partner in this, partner in crime. Vishal, come on in here. Now tell me, why did you decide to get involved in this, and what's your whiskey history passion, and yeah, how did you, what's the story?

Vishal:
I think the main reason why I got involved was Virag, my partner. I think Virag and I knew each other from college days a long time ago and we kind of were both whiskey fans and I think we kind of drifted apart for many years and reconnected in the Bay Area. And then we had a common passion for whiskey and a common passion for building something that would last sort of beyond ourselves. I think that It's a great opportunity. Both of us felt it was a great opportunity to build something meaningful, bring North America and U.S. on the single world map. That was the plan.

Kerry:
So what is your main role here besides being his partner in crime?

Vishal:
Yeah, Virag and I share a lot of work around the distillery, but I do a lot of the blending. Virag does a lot of the distilling part of it. So yeah, but I think we help each other.

Kerry:
Good, so you both have the fun jobs. And then you can hire people to do the not fun jobs.

Vishal:
Sounds about right. Everything's fun.

Kerry:
You sound like you're a Silicon Valley guy. You're here in San Jose, and I started my career in Silicon Valley here in San Jose. So how did you go from being a Silicon Valley guy to knowing exactly how to decide what kind of stills to get, the processes you'd need, and how did you do that all?

Virag:
Being a Silicon Valley guy also means you love making things, right? So I enjoyed making things and I had no idea how to make whiskey, but I had been making beer for about 10, 12 years before that. And so when I decided I want to make whiskey and I had no idea how to do that, so I went to Scotland. I apprenticed in Scotland. Where did you apprentice at? Kilhooman.

Kerry:
Okay.

Virag:
And they sent me to Ardbeg and Laphroaig so you can go see. And my objective doing that was to see, number one, how these guys are doing it. Number two, to taste at different stages. The wash, what does it taste like? That fresh make, what does it taste like? And we did that all of those places. And then I came back and then spent the next five years working on the process. Right, what you're doing in Scotland is not going to work over here in California. So coming up with the right process over here, which means how do you mash, how do you ferment, what cuts do you take during distillation, what kind of barrel should you be using, what kind of yeast you should be using. And then Vishal joined me.

Kerry:
And did you also go to Scotland for school?

Virag:
I did not go to Scotland for school, but I am a chemical engineer. Vishal is a PhD in chemical engineering, and he used to set up plants for GE. So one of the things you will often see happening with craft distilleries is the things are very different. Everything is different from one batch to another, and we didn't want that. We wanted it to be same, so when you liked a product, you came back to buy a second bottle, it was the same. And so Vishal brought that discipline and a lot of deep knowledge. So there is a difference between running something as a hobby in a five-gallon batch and doing a 500-gallon batch over here, and how to do that. And so then we sat down and we designed each and different piece of the equipment, including the slope of the lime arms, did all the calculations. And when we came up with the specs, then we went shopping to see who could actually build it for us, rather than telling us No, that's not how you want it. We'll build it this way. Somebody who will actually work with us and create what we wanted.

Kerry:
So where did you go to get these made? I'm assuming not Vendome. And then was it a US company or somewhere abroad?

Virag:
It wasn't a US company simply because nobody in US wanted to work with copper. Copper in that is a third of an inch thick.

Rachel Barrie:
Wow.

Virag:
And that's a pain to weld and to form. And so we talked with Vendome, we talked with all the other vendors in Germany and in Scotland. And the thing was, here, put down a deposit, take a number, and call us back in two months. And then we'll tell you what we're going to make for you. and that's not what we wanted so then we went around the globe and then we found some good fab shops in Asia which will actually fabricate it to our specs do all the right stuff like when you're welding stuff you want to make sure it's back poached with helium and things like that Vishal went visited them I visited them and then they make the stuff which has been now seven years old

Kerry:
Fantastic. So Vishal, when you started working with him and you guys were starting to look into the stills and all of that, what was your initial thought? Were you like, this is going to be quick and easy? Or were you like, oh, this is going to take forever?

Vishal:
Yeah, that's a good question. Definitely, I didn't think it was going to be quick and easy, but everything takes longer than you think it does, right? We started working on a small process. I don't know if Virag showed you the mini still that he had that we played with and did experiments with. And then scaling up the process, designing the equipment, you know, making sure that it's consistent, repeatable, high quality. I think a lot of that took a lot of work. So it took us a couple of years to sort of work through all of that and come up with the right designs that we got fabricated. Definitely not easy.

Kerry:
Okay. And at the same time, were you guys still working your Silicon Valley jobs until it was ready to go? Or are you still doing that now? And if not, when did you finish your Silicon jobs to do this?

Virag:
So I left my last job before I started this. And this is something which I've been working full-time on since then.

Kerry:
Okay, which is what, since 2015?

None:
2011.

Kerry:
2011, oh wow, okay.

Virag:
Yeah.

Kerry:
What about you?

Vishal:
Yeah, Virag and I started working together in 2015, roughly. And I left my job then as well. And now I'm back doing a job, but I spent a few years with Virag doing this full-time.

Kerry:
Okay, wow, all right. So what's the five-year plan for 10th Street?

Virag:
The thing is very simple, right? The first thing you want to do is you want to make sure you have a good product, right? Now if you look at the scale of the distillery we have over here, the big guys probably spill more than what we make. But the thing is, this twice in a row that we have been awarded the best whisky in the world, it's not something that, hey, it was a fluke, it happened once and doesn't happen. So we have won best in show, beating big names, who I won't name, from Scotland, from Japan. and from America, right? So our first thing was to make a great product, which we have done. The next thing is now to make sure people know that there's a great product. People say, really, in San Jose? In fact, yesterday- Really, in San Jose? That's what I hear. I had people coming in at Pleasant Hill Highland Games. We just walked past. They said, oh, they saw the banner that said local, made in Bay Area, and they walked past to taste the scotches and other stuff. And then later on, one of their friends goes and tells them, oh, you've got to try this stuff. It's really good. And they said, now I came to try it. Really? You're making it in San Jose? But he said, it's really good. I'm like, OK, well, you know what? You want to taste this? For this, I'm going to charge you two tickets, not one. I didn't think I was there when you did that. And they paid two tickets, and then they're like, wow, this is good stuff. But that's the thing which you have to overcome. There's a lot of noise out there, and you have to overcome that noise. But we believe we have a really good product, the best in the world, right? Among the best in the world, some might say, best in the world, some might say, Jim Murray has said that we are a handful of distilleries on the planet which know how to do it right. He has said we are probably the best distillery outside Kentucky in America. It means a lot to us that experts are saying that. And so the question for us now is not that can we make the product, good products, it's can we get more people to know that there is a great product coming out, which is where we need some help.

Kerry:
All right, so you heard it here first. It's a great product. It is whiskey of the year, two years running. Are they both the same? Not the same. We got Dragon, what was the first one?

Virag:
It was a Weinkasse finish.

Kerry:
Okay. And I'm here to tell you, not just because it's hometown San Jose, but it's fantastic whiskey. Like, it blew me away when I tasted it in San Francisco, and I'm very happy to be here to check out your distillery, and it's a beautiful location, and you should be very proud.

Virag:
Thank you so much.

Kerry:
Thank you.

Vishal:
Thank you.

Kerry:
Up next, I catch up with Dr. Rachel Berry at the Mermaid Bar in downtown Los Angeles in this week's Tavern Talk. Stay with us. On Season 2 of Barrel Room Chronicles, I embarked on an amazing journey through Ireland, from Cork to Belfast, and nearly everything in between. Now, I'm going to do it all over again. But this time, you're invited. That's right. Join me this spring for a trip of a lifetime through the rich tapestries of Irish whiskey culture. We'll visit iconic locations, such as the Titanic Experience and the new Titanic Distillery, and tour through the lush Irish landscapes, and visit filming locations from the hit TV series, Game of Thrones. We'll also visit historic sites, including cathedrals, jails, castles, and more. Plus, we'll get to distill our very own batch of Klondikelty gin. To find out more or to book now, visit barrelroomchronicles.com and click on the Brock Tours photo. All right, guys, this is a dream come true for me right now. Dr. Rachel Berry has been one of my idols forever, being the first woman of whiskey of pretty much anything. Oh, there's a trumpet player back there. That's so funny. There's a little mermaid show going on over here. Anyway, she's been an idol of mine for years and years and years, and we've been Facebook friends for a while, but you know, being that we're across countries and oceans, and this is the first time we actually get to meet in person. So, Dr. Rachel Berry, welcome to Barrel Room Chronicles.

Rachel Barrie:
Oh, thank you so much. It's my absolute pleasure to be here in this amazing location here at Mermaid. Yes, we're here in downtown Los Angeles. You know, what a cool place to be talking about whiskey, you know, from, well, Ganglasa that we have in front of us. That's been the focus, you know.

Kerry:
Which is appropriate that you're doing it in a Mermaid bar since this distillery is on a beach. We just, I was just at an industry exclusive event, which I was invited to. where we got to talk about these three new, well, newish expressions from Glen Glassa, but more importantly about Glen Glassa itself and the beach. And we learned a little mermaid dance that we just made up and now I'm gonna sing it here at the, or do it here at the bar. But Dr. Berry, I just wanted to ask you, when you first, well, first of all, for those who have been sleeping under a rock and don't know who you are, tell us which all distilleries you're responsible for the wonderful whiskeys that come of them. You mean my history? Just the ones I work with.

Rachel Barrie:
OK, that's good. We don't want to go back too far. Exactly. Well, I'm now absolutely honored to be working with the Brown Foreman collection of single malt Scotch whiskeys, which are all in the northeast of Scotland. They're almost in a trinity, a triangle, going from the bend to the glen to the sea. And what I mean by that is Ben, is Ben Riech, which is in North Speyside. We have the Glen, which is Glendronach, which is deep in the Valley of Forg in Aberdeenshire. And then we have Glenglasa, which is almost right on the beach. Right on the north coast are Coastal Highland Malt. There are three malt distilleries which I'm very, very fortunate to be working with and have been for the past nearly eight years.

Kerry:
Yeah, and I must say that, well this is new to me, your Glen Glassa, but the other two distilleries I've been fortunate to have had tasted many, many times and actually are two of my favourite. So it was a great pleasure to get to learn about Glenglasa today. If you want to just give us a little information, you were stating earlier that this is right on the beach and what kind of, well give us a little teeny tiny history.

Rachel Barrie:
Okay, well the distillery's been around for a while, it's no spring chicken. It's been around since 1875 when Colonel James Moir built the distillery. It's had a checkered history, I have to say. It did actually close in 1986 and then it reopened again in 2008, so it had 22 years when the doors were shut. very lucky to sell just a few old and rare casks from the 1960s and 70s, not many though, some precious gems. And then the distillery started up again in 2008 with a little bit of volume, a little bit in 2009, and then more from 2010 onwards. So, when I joined in 2017, I basically looked at the portfolio and had to think about the stock How can we bring Glenglassa to life? And fortunately, in 2023, that's when we launched Glenglassa to the world. We had enough whiskey by that point to be able to do that. And they are the whiskeys we've got today.

Kerry:
That's fantastic. Well, today we tasted these three. And I know you're running out of time, so maybe we'll just taste the first one, the Sand, what is it? Sand? Sand End.

Rachel Barrie:
Now Sand End is the beach. You mentioned the beach. Yes. So it's the beach where the distillery is situated. Any closer to the beach and the distillery would be in the sea. So it is literally one of, if not the closest distillery to the sea and specifically to a bay where we have the best surf in Scotland. So I learned to surf when I was at Sand Den Bay and you can see the bottle itself with its teal topper and then stopper and then with the waves that you can see carved into the glass just like the shape that you see in the sand as the waves ebb to and fro with the tide and so you can see straight away it's the coastal malt and you know we call it Glenglasser the coastal malt and so we almost transcend the traditional whiskey regions because, in my opinion, there's no other distillery like it. It is the most lush coastal elixir in single malt, I think, that anyone will ever try.

Kerry:
You do have the sea on the nose on this.

Rachel Barrie:
You do, and you know, when you dip your nose in, this is 50.5% alcohol, but you would never know that because the ocean carries the flavors. It has, you know, this beautiful tropical scent. When I nose Glanglasa, it kind of settles my mind and awakens my senses at the same time because it makes me pause. And just be immersed in the fulfilling abundance of nature because everything that leaps out of this glass is like you are standing on the beach. And of course, like, I don't know, like me, I don't know if you're the same, but when I stand on the beach it's almost like time stands still. You're like, doesn't matter what happened past, present and future, you know?

Kerry:
When I know this, I hear the seagulls, I hear the waves. I can smell the ocean air.

Rachel Barrie:
Yeah. And what amazes people is this is in the north of Scotland. And I have to say, we don't have coconut trees, and we don't have pineapple palms. But we do have some gorse, which is like a beautiful yellow flower that flowers for about three months of the year that is very close to the distillery. And we do have the salinity of the ocean. So it's quite remarkable and really quite magical. that the Glenglasa converts what is essentially malted barley, which is really quite dry, you know, there's a husk on the outside, there's the barley on the inside, and it converts that 100% during the distillation process into this lush coastal elixir because of its location. You know, that's nature talking. That's nature talking in the glass. All the elements of nature. The sea, the air, the water, you know, the wind, everything. Well, I put my mark on things, you know. But, you know, people have called me a whiskey whisperer because I kind of listen to what the whiskey is all about. It's a bit like being a teacher, I suppose, that you kind of get to know, you know, what's the unique character and how do you make it the best it can be. And how do you make it shine, basically, at the end of the day? Well, Solange Va. Solange Va, good health.

Kerry:
I think of the ones that we tasted today, I think this one is my favorite. I think it's an easy drinker. I think this could be my everyday go-to. But boys, they've got flavor.

Rachel Barrie:
And this is the thing, it's a real paradox because it's enlightening. It's bright. it awakens your senses but it's also got these rolling waves of texture and flavor with tropical fruit and salted caramel that just roll around on your palate like there's no beginning or end. It truly is a unique single malt, Glenglass of Sand End, that is beautiful, neat, I enjoy neat. You know, if it gets to maybe 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which you might get one day of the year in Scotland. You know, I might add some soda water, a little bit of pineapple, put some ice cream in there and just have some fun because it's beautiful neat, but because it's so awakening, so luscious, so tropical, it means you can enjoy it neat, you can enjoy it with a drop of water. Or you can join in a cocktail, or in an ice cream float, which is my favourite, you know. Or even better, what I love is to take my glass of Glanglasa, and everywhere I go in the world, I have a bottle of sand in, and I go on the beach with my glass, and I raise a glass of Glanglasa, And I just take in the fulfilling abundance of the moment exactly where I am, on the beach I am, wherever I am in the world. And there's nothing quite like it. It definitely is a very special moment.

Kerry:
I may have to start taking a bottle around my travels, which whiskey has given me the benefit of a lot of travels, which has been fantastic. Speaking of travels, we're going to convert to journeys. And your journey has been exceptional, I think. How long have you been in the industry now?

Rachel Barrie:
I've been in the industry for 33 years formally. I mean prior to that I was a student at university and I did start up a water of life society whilst I was at university which was with a group of people where we enjoyed a miniature, you know, miniatures of single malt so we got to know them. So it was very much a hobby and brought up in distilling country and then science. And then of course, yeah, I'm very lucky to have actually had it as my formal job for 33 years this year.

Kerry:
Now, when you were first going to get your very first job in whisky, What was that very first job and did you think ever in your wildest dreams that you would be one of the most iconic women in whisky today? Oh stop it!

Rachel Barrie:
No you are, you are! I have had an amazing journey and of course you know when you're like in your 20s you have no idea what the future holds. You know you're literally just Carpe diem. You know, that's my mantra. Seizing the opportunities as they arise. And, you know, I obviously got a good degree and it just happened to be I was cycling past the university on the last day. A job was advertised at the Scotch Whisky Research Institute. I had no idea it even existed at that point. And I got the job as a research scientist. And it was like, whoa, that's it. You know, history was made. You know, that was me. Because it was the most fascinating journey, learning everything about how whisky is made, you know, everything from the malted barley in the field, through distillation, which is obviously something in chemistry training you learn a lot about, to the flavours and maturation, the complexity of oak. the differences in humanity and sensory perception, you know, that was something I found also very fascinating, and also how to influence flavour as well in the research scientist role. And then I moved on to, they brought me in for Glenmorangie, Arbeg, I was there for 17 years, and then Bowmore, Laphroaig, and Auchentosh and Glangiri, Scotch Malt Whiskey Society, and then Brown Foreman, obviously the American company that makes Jack Daniels and Woodford Reserve, tap on the shoulder and I was like, yay, I'm getting to go back home and work with distilleries, which literally I was brought up and born beside. I learned to surf with my dad on the beach at Glenglassa. I farmed with my family around Glendronach and I learned to glide a plane over Ben Reach distillery in Speyside where they have the best thermals in Scotland. So they're all very close to my heart and really just connect all the sensorial and learning experiences I've had in life. So I'm very, very lucky and very fortunate, very humbled.

Kerry:
So you've been back in your hometown area since, what, 2017? 2017 was when I moved to Brown Foreman. to work with our trinity of malt, shall we say. So with the three distillers that you mentioned earlier, that are all, what do you say, in an hour with each other, maybe?

Rachel Barrie:
Yeah, I mean, you know, Glendronach is probably the best known, which is in the Valley of Forg in the richest, most fertile landscape in Scotland. literally in Aberdeenshire and literally you go up you go north from there for about 20 minutes drive if you know the roads of course they're quite windy and you're at Glenglassa right on the beach in Sanden Bay and then from Glenglassa you drive probably around 25 minutes west and very slightly south into Speyside to Ben Reach which is in the sweet spot of Speyside between the sea, the North Sea, and the Cairngorm Mountains. That's great. In Speyside. So yes, they're all very, very close, but all very, very different.

Kerry:
So when you started working with these three distilleries, did you think you were going to have a favourite and then find out that that wasn't your favourite or are they all your favourite because they're all your children and that's just how they are?

Rachel Barrie:
Oh yeah, of course, of course. You know, I love all of them. You know, I've got a very, very rich and varied repertoire in both the foods and the beverages, the whiskeys I enjoy, the places I love to travel. You know, I get to travel the world from here in the magnificent Los Angeles to, you know, New York, Chicago, Boston, to Asia, to Europe, all around the world. And I love all of it. You know, it's all part of the journey, as you say. But the beauty of working with three distilleries, you see two too few and four too many, in my opinion. Oh, yeah. In my opinion, the Trinity is absolutely the best. And, you know, if you think about whiskey and you think about landscapes in the world, You know, the most beautiful landscapes have a bend, hills or mountains that have a glen deep in the valleys, and they have the ocean. You know, I always have to be near to all three.

Kerry:
So, OK, really fast, because I know you've had a varied, varied career. Do you know off the top of your head how many different expressions you've worked on career-wide?

Rachel Barrie:
Oh my goodness. Well, yeah, I mean I can start with the number of casks I've tasted or nosed. I've nosed about 170,000 casks. Wow. In my lifetime. That's amazing. through doing that has enabled the creation of a lot of different whiskeys. So I would say, you know, probably with my, in the first 17 years with my first distilleries I was with, probably about 50 different expressions. And then I would say probably about, yeah, no, maybe 60. 60 and then probably another 40 and then currently probably another probably another 50.

Kerry:
Wow.

Rachel Barrie:
So we're talking about probably about 150 and that doesn't count you know that doesn't encompass all the single cast bottlings. Right. Obviously I do that as well I didn't you know select single cast bottlings but these are for all the core or the you know, the limited editions, etc. expressions. There are probably about 150, but to get to that, you know, I've nosed about 170,000 casks.

Kerry:
That's amazing. Well, Dr. Rachel Berry, I know you have another engagement to get to this evening. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for taking time out to talking to the Beryl Room Chronicles audience, and hopefully I will see you the next time I'm in Scotland. Oh, for sure. Thank you for having me. Of course. Cheers. Cheers. Sláinte mhaith. Sláinte mhaith. That does it for today's show. To read notes on this episode or learn more about our guests, please visit www.barrelroomchronicles.com. Want to interact with the show or have questions for our guests? Then ask them on our socials or send us an email. Or better yet, leave us a voicemail on our website. If you like what you heard, please rate and subscribe to the podcast. If you really liked it and you want to show your support, buy us a whiskey through our Ko-fi site at ko-fi.com slash BRC or become an exclusive member of the Barrel Room Parlor. If you work in the whiskey or spirits industry or just have a deep passion for whiskey and want to share your spirits journey, register to be a guest through our website. Last but not least, please enjoy your spirits responsibly. Thanks for joining me. Until next time, so long.

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