WELCOME TO WHISKYCAST!
Thanks for your support of WhiskyCast. Whether you've
been listening since the beginning or are just discovering the podcast, I
hope you'll learn something useful in each episode.
I started producing WhiskyCast in November, 2005 as part of my own education
in whisky. I've been a journalist for more years than I'd like to admit
here, and have worked in radio and television newsrooms all over the United
States. I got my start in Columbus, Indiana the day I graduated from high
school, and have been working in the media ever since. You may have heard or
seen my news reports in Indianapolis, Detroit, Houston,
and Anchorage, along with a couple of stories for NBC Nightly News and CNN.
I've also done freelance work for the Wall Street Journal Radio Network and
worked behind the scenes at MSNBC, The Gallup Poll, and Bloomberg News.
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
I treat WhiskyCast as seriously as I treat a regular newscast. You won't
hear rumors or gossip, and I pride myself on maintaining a solid standard of journalistic
ethics. WhiskyCast does accept advertising (and if you're interested, check
the ad page
for details), however, I will never allow it to affect the editorial content of
the show or my tasting notes and whisky ratings. If a WhiskyCast sponsor has news that merits reporting, I'll make the
decision to include it based on my news judgment. The same goes for
interviews with sponsors; I'll do them, but because it makes
journalistic sense to. Keep in mind
that the companies likely to be interested in sponsoring WhiskyCast are also
among the industry's leaders, and have some of the top experts in the field
that can help teach us all more about whisky. By the way, WhiskyCast
advertisers are made aware of these policies well before they decide to
become a sponsor. I do accept expenses-paid trips to visit distilleries
because that's the only way I can afford to do it, but I will always disclose
it when I travel at someone else's expense. In some cases, the organizers of
a whisky festival may cover my travel expenses to attend, and again, I'll
disclose that when it happens. Finally, I do accept whisky samples for
nosing and scoring. Again, it's the only way I'll be able to afford to taste
many whiskies, and with many expressions not being sold in the U.S.,
accepting a sample may be my only option to try a whisky. I do not do
consulting work for distilleries, and have never accepted payment from a
whisky producer for anything other advertising on WhiskyCast. WhiskyCast has been a success
because of the trust you place in me, and I'll never do anything to break
that trust. If you have questions about any of these policies, just e-mail
me.
By the way, I use the global spelling for "whisky" without the "e" as a
general rule, unless I'm referring to a brand that specifically uses
"whiskey" on its label. While Scotches, Bourbons, and whiskies from Canada
and Ireland tend to dominate the market, there are great whiskies being
produced in Japan, India, Australia, Wales, France and many other countries.
I've featured whiskies from all of these countries on WhiskyCast, and if you
know of an obscure whisky that deserves more attention, please let me know!
Slainte!
Mark Gillespie
