WhiskyCast honored with spirited award for best spirits podcast series

WHISKYCAST HONORED WITH SPIRITED AWARD FOR BEST SPIRITS PODCAST SERIES WhiskyCast, the world’s longest-running podcast series devoted to whiskies from around the world, has been honored with the 2020 Spirited Award for “Best Broadcast, Podcast, or Online Video Series” by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation.

The award was announced Monday morning during the kickoff event for this year’s virtual version of Tales of the Cocktail, the annual conference for the bar and drinks industry held in New Orleans. The conference attracts more than 15,000 people each July, but was replaced with a virtual version being held this week because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are humbled and grateful for this honor,” said WhiskyCast host and executive producer Mark Gillespie following the announcement. “In a year that has seen so much turmoil in the hospitality industry as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we will continue to play our part in raising awareness with consumers and providing support to hospitality professionals. The Spirited Awards are a welcome reminder of what awaits us once we have turned the corner on the pandemic, and it’s an honor to be recognized for our work,” he said. The podcasting award was added to the annual competition in 2018, and WhiskyCast is the only podcast to be named as a finalist all three years before being honored with the award this year.

WhiskyCast began in November, 2005 as the first podcast series devoted to whisky news and education as well as in-depth interviews with whisky makers, writers, retailers, and other industry leaders, Over the last 15 years, WhiskyCast’s weekly podcasts have been produced on location at distilleries and whisky events in Scotland, Ireland, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Sweden, Spain, India, and the United States. The WhiskyCast web site (whiskycast.com) offers a complete archive of all 837 episodes produced so far, along with WhiskyCast HD videos and archived episodes of the WhiskyCast Tasting Panel podcast series.

I want to thank our global audience of listeners — many of whom have shared our journey of whisky discovery for the last 15 years. It is an honor to receive the Spirited Award because our mission is to share the stories of whisky, and that is what we hope to continue to do for a long time to come,” Gillespie said. “We also want to express our gratitude to our sponsors who make it possible for us to produce WhiskyCast each week while honoring our commitment to editorial independence.”

Redbreast Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey and Dewar’s Scotch Whisky are the Presenting Brand Partners of WhiskyCast, while the Diageo Classic Malts, Writers’ Tears, Sagamore Spirit, and Catoctin Creek Distilling are Segment Brand Partners.

WhiskyCast is produced by CaskStrength Media, and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music, along many other podcast apps and smart speakers. New episodes are available each week, produced from the WhiskyCast studio in the “charming, yet regrettably dry town of Haddonfield, New Jersey.” The studio is also home to the live “#WhiskyWednesday and #HappyHour Friday live webcasts each week available on YouTube, the WhiskyCast Facebook page, Twitter, and Periscope.