Cask to Glass cover art

Cask to Glass

Cask to Glass

By: David Holmes
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Summary

How do you take your whisky?


Neat? Splash of water? Block of ice? Or even a mixer?


However you take it, join John Beattie, former Scotland rugby international and semi-retired BBC radio and TV news presenter, as he celebrates the heritage and flavour of Scotland's national drink and the world's favourite spirit.


Whether you call it whisky, whiskey, uisge beatha, aqua vitae, or the water of life... there's a story behind every dram; a craftsman behind every drop; an aroma with every nose; and a flavour in every sip.


This is the spirit of Scotland: distilled in a place; shared around the world.


What makes it so special? Why is it so loved? And who are the people that make it, and the aficionados who drink it?


Join John every Thursday as he explores the alchemy that takes place from cask to glass.


Slàinte!


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Host: John Beattie

Producer: David Holmes


Socials:

@C2GWhisky

@JohnRossBeattie

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episodes
  • Beyond the Glens: Georgie Bell from The Heart Cut

    Beyond the Glens: Georgie Bell from The Heart Cut
    May 14 2026
    If you love whisky, there are hundreds of distilleries across the world pursuing flavour based on passion, provenance and a “taste of place”. Just look "beyond the glens" and the global "big five", says award-winning indy bottler Georgie Bell from The Half Cut.“I know I’m on a Scotch whisky podcast,” Georgie Bell co-founder of indy bottlers The Half Cut chuckles, before pressing home her point. “It’s Scotch and, not Scotch or…” she insists.“Whisky is now made across the world, and there are passionate individuals who are making whisky to the quality of Scotch. You just have to take a look at the recent World Whisky Awards and who the award winners were.“Scotland was there of course, but there were distilleries all over the world who were racking up gold medals right? Taking home best-in-class prizes. And these distilleries across the world, they’re making whisky that’s at that quality, but they’re not trying to replicate Scotch.“They’re trying to make whisky that tastes of home to them; that has a sense of place. And that is very exciting because actually when you think about it, what you need to make whisky is grain, yeast and water. You need time. You need a lot of money. And you need patience.“Those six factors don’t have any geographical boundaries. You can make whisky across the world. You just have to have the “why not, what if” mentality to be able to bring that to light. And those are the distillers that we partner with at The Heart Cut”.Georgie’s been in the whisky business for 19 years; since she was a 19-year-old bartender in Edinburgh. She was a global whisky ambassador for eight years, four with Craigellachie.Two and half years ago Georgie and her husband Fabrizio Leoni started The Half Cut. (Three days later she gave birth to their twin daughters.)The name comes from “the heart cut of the distillation process,” Georgie explains. “When the spirit runs off that final spirit still, distillers never take the first bit of the cut. They never take the last bit of the flow because of the undesirable flavours. They’re just not the character they want the whisky to be, but they always take their prized half cut.”“The heart cut is different from distillery to distillery,” Georgie continues, “because of the way the spirit runs off the still. Different flavour congeners are going to come off at different times.“We chose the name The Heart Cut for our independent bottler because we’re working with distilleries to find these incredible gems of casks within their warehouses. Kind of those prized one-off casks that really show the heart and soul of that distillery.”Distilleries like Stuaning on the west coast of Denmark, which was the first distillery Georgie and Fabrizio partnered with.It was founded by a group of friends intent on making a “distinctly Danish style of whisky,” Georgie explains. “I think four of them were engineers. One was a doctor, one was a butcher, one was a teacher, one was a banker.”They had the water. They had the grain. But they didn’t have peat.“But,” Georgie continues, “what they do have is heather. And once a year, they cut down some of this heather and they put it in the kiln during malting and they create a heather-smoked single malt. A flavour, that because of the heather and where they are, can’t be replicated anywhere else in the world.”It's whiskies like Stauning, "whiskies with a story", that Georgie and Fabrizio are bottling. Others include Starward in Australia and Thomson in New Zealand, as well as Nc'Nean and Lochlea in Scotland.So as Georgie says, it's "Scotch and, rather than Scotch or..."Slàinte!-------Socials: @C2GWhisky | @JohnRossBeattie Creator & producer: David HolmesArt work & design: Jess Robertson Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)Vocals: Andrea CunninghamGuitars: John BeattieBass: Alasdair VannDrums: Alan HamiltonBagpipes: Calum McCollAccordion: Gary InnesMusic & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John BeattieRecorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, Scotland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • Scotland's Smallest Whisky Distillery: Cameron McCann on Heritage and Innovation

    Scotland's Smallest Whisky Distillery: Cameron McCann on Heritage and Innovation
    May 7 2026

    Most Scottish whisky distilleries produce millions of litres every year.


    But Stirling Distillery?


    They produce what their owner, Cameron McCann, calls a "puddle."


    Yet in 2025 this tiny family operation won Best Scottish New Make Spirit at the World Whiskies Awards.


    Join John as he dives into how Scotland’s smallest distillery is beating the global giants, the 172-year history of their building, and their innovative approach to the future of spirits, including sustainable aluminium bottles. Plus, Cameron shares three "undervalued" whiskies that every enthusiast should track down right now.

    In this episode, we discuss:

    • The "Becoming" of Stirling Whisky: Transitioning from Gin to Single Malt.
    • How to attract 25,000 visitors a year to a tiny distillery.
    • The reality of the current whisky market for small producers.
    • Sustainability and the future of whisky exports.
    • Cameron’s personal recommendations for bottles you should buy now.


    Slàinte!

    -------

    Socials: @C2GWhisky | @JohnRossBeattie

    Creator & producer: David Holmes

    Art work & design: Jess Robertson

    Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)

    Vocals: Andrea Cunningham

    Guitars: John Beattie

    Bass: Alasdair Vann

    Drums: Alan Hamilton

    Bagpipes: Calum McColl

    Accordion: Gary Innes

    Music & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John Beattie

    Recorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, Scotland

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
  • Aussie Drams with That Whisky Girl Sarah Russell

    Aussie Drams with That Whisky Girl Sarah Russell
    Apr 30 2026

    By day, Sarah Russell is “Miss Sarah”, an Australian primary school teacher in Adelaide. The rest of the time, she’s “That Whisky Girl”, an Instagram influencer and whisky podcaster breaking down barriers in a male-dominated industry.


    “I just wanted to get the girls going,” she tells John from Kyoto, Japan’s “cultural capital”, where she’s just back from visiting the Miyagikyo Distillery founded by Masataka Taketsuru, the Father of Japanese Whisky.


    “I got into whisky into whisky a few years ago,” Sarah says, “and I’ve just found that it’s a very male dominated field. And every time I go to whisky events, I’m usually the only girl or it’s a couple of girlfriends and they don’t really love whisky.


    “But I meet lots of girls who love whisky and they talk about how maybe they don’t feel so comfortable going to these events. So I just really wanted to get everyone into it.”


    “You know,” she continues, “it’d be fantastic to have a bit of a girls’ night out at a whisky event rather than just it being a bit of boys’ night thing. And I’ve met so many women who are whisky distillers in Australia and brand ambassadors and amazing bartenders. So I really just wanted to showcase everything they’ve got going on.”


    But she adds: “I feel anytime I'm in a whisky bar in Adelaide or at a whisky show the amount of times I've had people say, ‘Do you even like whisky? Do you even know how to drink whisky?’ Or I've had like men stop me and just be like, ‘This is how you drink whisky.’ I'm like uh-huh I know.”


    So at the start of the year Sarah launched a fortnightly podcast on Instagram called “She’s On The Rocks” to do just that.


    Sarah’s whisky journey started off with whisky and cola when she was younger. But as for whisky on its own, “I was like, nah, it's not for me. It's a bit burny.”


    Yet, while she found she “struggled with drinking it”, she loved the smell of whisky; liked nosing it. “So I just kept trying it,” she says. “And eventually it just clicked for me. One day I was like, ‘What is this? I love whisky now’.”


    But not just the taste.


    “It's the memories behind things and it's the experiences, it's the people. It's just such a wonderful community as well,” she explains.


    Join John and Sarah as they trade memories made over sharing a dram; discover Sarah’s three favourite Australian whiskies; and find out just how much heftier the Angels’ Share is in Australia compared to Scotland, which is why, Sarah says, “It’s so hard for us to get older age statements.”


    Slàinte!

    -------

    Socials: @C2GWhisky | @JohnRossBeattie

    Creator & producer: David Holmes

    Art work & design: Jess Robertson

    Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)

    Vocals: Andrea Cunningham

    Guitars: John Beattie

    Bass: Alasdair Vann

    Drums: Alan Hamilton

    Bagpipes: Calum McColl

    Accordion: Gary Innes

    Music & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John Beattie

    Recorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, Scotland

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
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