Drinks At Work with Sam Bygrave

Today’s guest on the podcast is Ross Blainey. He’s the ambassador for The Balvenie and Glenfiddich, and not shy of a real discussion about the whisky world. This is actually a conversation I had with Ross for an online Boothby.Talks event during lockdown in October 2020, called How Whisky Works — you can watch the video here.The idea behind the talk was to get at a broader look at how the whisky world operates. It’s not a chat about how whisky as a liquid is made — there’s no chat about the size of stills here — and nor is it about the brands that Blainey represents. It’s more a talk about how Ross came to be a brand ambassador, what his role entails, and how whisky goes from idea to execution. It’s a wide-ranging discussion with Ross, and he’s a great storyteller — I think there’s a lot to get out of this conversation.

James France has been influential within the Australian drinks industry over the last decade, and is responsible for importing some of the best and most respected craft spirit brands through his company Vanguard Luxury Brands.He also seems to have a knack for recognising and breaking small brands in the Australian market, brands that then go on to get picked up by the big players in the drinks world, brands like Ketel One, St Germain, Hudson Whiskey and Four Pillars among others.Sam Bygrave asks James about what he thinks makes a good brand, what new brands need to succeed in today’s marketplace, what the difficulties are in getting a business like Vanguard going — particularly in Australia — and a whole lot more. He’s a super smart guy, and has built arguably the most respected craft spirits portfolio in the country — one that drinks giant Lion liked so much, they bought him out.

Shay Chamberlain is an accomplished bartender and bar manager. She ran the Melbourne cocktail institution that is Black Pearl, working there for four years. Before that, she honed her conflict resolution skills at the late night hospo bar of choice for many in Sydney, Big Poppa’s; and before there, Shay was a key member of the team at Bulletin Place that saw them win a number of accolades, including Cocktail Bar of the Year and land on The World’s 50 Best Bars list.In this chat we talk about what she’s learned over the years working with some of Australia’s very best bartenders and bars, the challenges involved in being a brand ambassador at this moment in time, and what she thinks are the key factors that the ownership trio behind Never Never Distilling Co have harnessed to make their brand one of the big success stories of the last five years.

Tim Stones is the distiller at Hickson House Distilling Co, where he makes a trio of gins under the Hickson Rd label. He began his career as a bartender, working at a couple of influential London bars in the aughts, before becoming the global brand ambassador for Beefeater gin. In this conversation he talks about what it was like to be a brand ambassador in the days of healthy expense accounts and how that’s changed, we talk about the kind of brain you need to be a distiller, the creative process involved in crafting a new gin recipe, how he got experience in the distillery side of things and how he thinks about gin.

You may know Caroline Ashford as The Gin Queen on Instagram and Facebook or via her website, theginqueen.com, but Caroline is also behind the Australian arm of Junipalooza, which as you might guess is a two day show devoted to all things gin, and during the pandemic she got into the gin pushing game herself with The Ginporium, an online concierge that helps you get the right gin for you. It’s an interesting chat, we talk about how she’s amassed an online following in the many 10s of thousands, her advice on growing your own brand, where gin is at today and how she’s built her career in drinks over the last decade.

Jason Williams is not just a bar owner, nor is he just the creative director for Proof & Company's consultancy agency Proof Creative — he also is one of the few bartenders to have his face and nickname adorn a bottle of gin. Williams talks to Sam Bygrave about how the choices he has made along the way, his openness to opportunity, and his adaptability have led him to a unique and creative career.