Ross Blainey is William Grant & Sons’ The Balvenie Brand Ambassador for Australia and New Zealand. His job, as he puts it, is to bring the stories from the 126-year-old Speyside distillery to those who haven’t been able to get there. Some of those tales are also behind the company’s new ‘The Balvenie Stories’ range of whiskys. Ross’ first encounter with The Balvenie’s Single Malts was as a teenager, when he was tasked with building the whisky range at the Dufftown pub where he was working. He grew the bar’s range of single malts from under 10 to almost 200, yet found that he kept coming back to The Balvenie 12 DoubleWood as his go-to dram. We ask Ross about the process to becoming a Brand Ambassador, the qualities that bode well for success in the role and what goes into developing brilliant tasting events. "It's about passion and communication." Then, we explore what's next for the category of whisky, as well as some food pairing tips, with some classic stories from the Distillery interspersed throughout. Key points 05:14 Getting into Whisky 07:05 Ross’ go-to dram 11:08 Becoming a Brand Ambassador 16:09 Tasting events 19:00 The weirdest tasting note he’s encountered 20:40 The Balvenie Stories 27:27 What next for the category of Whisky? 34:12 Translating the Scottish accent 36:34 Food pairings See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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