Living the Whiskey Life in Cascade Hollow (Episode 757: March 3, 2019)

Nicole Austin made her mark on the American craft distilling
movement at Brooklyn's Kings County Distillery, then spent some
time in Ireland working on Tullamore D.E.W's grain distillery
project as its commissioning engineer. Last year, she returned to
the U.S. - not to another "craft" distillery, but as head
distiller and general manager at Diageo's Cascade Hollow
distillery in Tennessee. That makes her one of the first craft
distillers to join a major whisky company as a distillery
manager, though she's pledging to keep "craft" in her job
description. We'll talk with Nicole Austin about making the
switch, and the one unique thing she asked Diageo for when she
was negotiating to take the job. Here's a hint: it didn't involve
whiskey. In the news, Nikka is joining Suntory in shaking up
its whisky lineup because of supply issues, while also planning a
major investment in new warehousing capacity. Bunnahabhain's $14
million refurbishment is underway, and some news reports are
claiming an $18 supermarket blended Scotch is the "world's best
Scotch whisky." That's not the case, and we'll explain why.