We're still in party mode for another little at Scran so we're talking about cocktails. More specifically we're talking to Iain McPherson of Edinburgh's Panda & Sons about his career, the cocktail business, trends and what to expect from cocktails in 2024 and beyond.
Iain tells Rosalind about the fascinating work he's been doing around using freezing processes in cocktails, having gone to great lengths to study the science and craft behind it all.
She also find out how it feels for him and his team to be the recipients of numerous awards and accolades including Panda & Sons being named one of the top 50 bars in the world.
Thanks for listening and for being with us in 2023 - the team at Scran are looking forward to bringing you many more tales from Scotland's thriving food and drink scene in 2024. Happy New Year!
Iain tells Rosalind about the fascinating work he's been doing around using freezing processes in cocktails, having gone to great lengths to study the science and craft behind it all.
She also find out how it feels for him and his team to be the recipients of numerous awards and accolades including Panda & Sons being named one of the top 50 bars in the world.
Thanks for listening and for being with us in 2023 - the team at Scran are looking forward to bringing you many more tales from Scotland's thriving food and drink scene in 2024. Happy New Year!
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:05 Hello and welcome to Scram, the podcast passionate about the Scottish food and drink scene.
00:09 I'm your host Ross Andersen and I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas.
00:13 We're still in party mode for another little while on this episode as we're talking about cocktails.
00:18 More specifically, we're talking to Ian McPherson of Edinburgh's Panda and Sons
00:22 about his career, the cocktail business, trends and what to expect from cocktails in 2024 and beyond.
00:28 [Music]
00:30 My suspicion that working in bars has become more of a solid career choice in recent years
00:34 thanks to improvements in pay, conditions and opportunities is confirmed in this chat.
00:39 Ian tells me about the fascinating work he's been doing around using freezing processes in cocktails,
00:44 having gone to great lengths to study the science and craft behind it all.
00:48 [Music]
00:50 When I went to do the concept of Hoot the Redeemer, we wanted to make ice cream with alcohol in it.
00:55 And I love ice cream, but I didn't necessarily know how to make it really well.
00:59 So actually I went to the Gelato University, which is a thing in Bologna, Italy to study.
01:04 You know, I even went down to the University of Reading to study science of ice cream.
01:08 But actually going there with a bartender's brain, I suddenly realised actually there's so much more we could do.
01:13 I thought it would be really fun just making ice cream, but it was really like science forward,
01:17 like proper classroom courses. And I really opened my eyes to actually thinking we can do a lot here.
01:22 [Music]
01:24 I also find out how it feels for him and his team to be recipients of numerous awards and accolades,
01:29 including Pan Dunsuns being named one of the top 50 bars in the world.
01:33 [Music]
01:37 I'm joined by Ian McPherson of Pan Dunsuns in Edinburgh. Hi Ian, how are you?
01:41 I'm great, Ros. How are you getting on?
01:43 Yeah, good, thank you. So we were talking in sort of mid-December just in the lead up to Christmas,
01:47 but this is going to go out just after Christmas. So we'll chat a little bit about the festivities and Hogmanay.
01:53 But before we get into all that, could you just give me a little bit of your background and your career to date
01:57 and how you got to where you are just now?
01:59 Yeah, so I'm based in Edinburgh and I've got three amazing bars here.
02:05 One's Pan Dunsuns, probably our most recognised bar on the global side of things.
02:10 And then we've got Hoot the Redeemer, which is kind of more of a whimsical, fun kind of bar.
02:14 And then we have Nauticus, which is our kind of pub, which is championing all things Scottish.
02:20 And yeah, I started off briefly at The Outsider, doing dispense bar there.
02:25 And then I moved to the Voodoo Rooms back in 2007. And yeah, I started off as a glass wash there.
02:31 But there was such an amazing team at the Voodoo Rooms at the time that really kind of inspired me
02:36 and got me really hooked on the love of hospitality and making cocktails.
02:41 So yeah, I moved my way up to general manager there.
02:43 And then, yeah, 10 years ago, I decided just to take that risk and open Pan Dunsuns.
02:48 For anyone that doesn't know, Pan Dunsuns is a speakeasy bar in Edinburgh.
02:52 From the street, it doesn't look like what it is when you can get into the bar.
02:56 So back then, was that something quite new for Edinburgh and Scotland in general?
03:01 Yeah, back then, I think I was very fortunate because I was doing a lot of cocktail competitions at the time
03:06 and thankfully was being quite successful at them.
03:09 So that allowed me the opportunity to travel to some amazing cocktail cities like New York
03:15 and it kind of really opened my eyes to seeing what these cities were up to
03:19 and kind of helped me identify the little gaps and what maybe Edinburgh wanted and didn't necessarily have yet.
03:25 So that's where I kind of developed Pan Dunsuns to be this kind of family vibe, very friendly, all walks of life are welcome.
03:33 They get the best cocktails, but in a very kind of relaxed atmosphere
03:37 and really kind of bringing that really top Scottish hospitality to our guests as well.
03:41 And why is it called Pan Dunsuns?
03:43 Pan is my nickname, I have a mixed race background.
03:46 So my dad's Scottish from Pitlockery and my mum was from South Korea from a city called Incheon.
03:51 So we all had kind of animal names at school and that was my name.
03:55 And the Ansons was more actually a continuation of my family's business.
04:00 So my great grandfather, grandfather and uncle had a shop called Macpherson and Sons,
04:04 which was a grocery in Pitlockery and unfortunately kind of closed down a couple of years before it opened, Pan Dunsuns.
04:09 So it's kind of a subtle nod to that kind of family legacy and I want to kind of continue that in a different way.
04:15 Nice. And Who At The Redeemer is quite a funny one as well.
04:18 Yeah. So Who At The Redeemer we actually developed or I developed from lucid dreams.
04:22 So you know, I like sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night at like 3am,
04:26 got a really clear idea of your dream and then you fall back asleep and you can't quite remember it when you fully wake up.
04:32 So one of my friends taught me to kind of write down little notes,
04:36 you know, you can train yourself to when you wake up at 3am to write it down and fall back asleep.
04:39 So then when you do wake up, you've got this kind of memory point to remember the dreams.
04:44 And it's quite funny. I highly recommend doing it because sometimes you write in a language that doesn't exist.
04:49 But sometimes you come up with some really cool ideas.
04:52 And in this case, it was this kind of twist on that film Big with Tom Hanks, but everything was like adult versions.
04:58 So you're in this kind of fun fair, you know, the ice cream's had alcohol in them.
05:02 The games were for playing for cocktails, slushies with booze in them.
05:07 And so it's this kind of like fun fair, childhood memories, but twisted into an adult form.
05:11 So that's kind of where that came from. And my business partner, Sam's favourite animal is an owl.
05:16 So that hoot, obviously, plain in the words means a party as well.
05:20 So, you know, kind of party saves all was kind of the angle.
05:24 So let me say Panden Suns opened 10 years ago and obviously it was quite a big deal for Edinburgh.
05:30 And we're looking at cocktail culture now in cities, especially in Scotland.
05:34 I feel like it's come a long way since I started going out, which was round about the early noughties as well.
05:39 So how would you say the scene in Edinburgh has changed in that time in terms of, you know, cocktails and the way people sort of consume?
05:45 Yeah, I think historically, if you look at the early noughties, that's really when the kind of the second wave of boom of cocktail love started.
05:52 But Edinburgh was actually quite far ahead. You know, you had the likes of London and New York.
05:56 And obviously in terms of that phase, actually, Edinburgh was one of the first ones to really move like you have.
06:02 I think Bramble just celebrated their 17th birthday like two weeks ago.
06:06 And, you know, like places like the Villager, Dragonfly were kind of pioneers back in those days.
06:11 But yeah, I think we've always had great bartenders and we've had good bars.
06:16 But yeah, as you said, it's continuing to improve.
06:20 You've got some amazing bars, obviously mine slightly biased, but you've got other amazing bars like Hey Palu, Dragonfly, which is like kind of reborn with the new owners there.
06:31 I think it's doing a great job. And, you know, even like, you know, good restaurants are now delivering, I think, really good cocktails,
06:37 where probably in the past I was always an afterthought for the top restaurants.
06:41 And would you say being a bartender as well, like it's one of those things almost a bit like going into hospitality,
06:46 people maybe start off thinking, oh, it's what I do while I'm studying or until I get like a real job.
06:51 But now it's maybe developed into something that's way more like a craft.
06:55 Like I've seen it becoming a bit more like a chef, like people are making syrups and like going forging for ingredients.
07:00 It's becoming way more sort of in depth than potentially it was before.
07:04 Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think we have such a highly skilled job.
07:08 You know, I think thankfully you're seeing that pay increase kind of hopefully getting there to align with the actual skill set needed to be a top level bartender.
07:15 You know, and I remember even like when I was opening up Panda and Sons and even then my dad, I think it was like two weeks before he opened,
07:23 was like, son, you can still walk away from this.
07:25 You know, and he wasn't really quite understanding that this is an amazing career you can have in bartending.
07:31 And yeah, I think now you're starting to see like, you know, thankfully the minimum wage is increasing to a good level.
07:37 But then you've got things like real living wage.
07:39 And I think that's what we've always believed in since day one at Panda and Sons was always to pay more than the minimum wage.
07:45 We wanted people to realize that this is a career. It's not just a, as you said, a stopgap to something else.
07:51 You know, and I think it gives you the opportunity to travel around the world.
07:54 You know, you learn your craft here and then you can move to like, you know, New Zealand, Australia, Europe.
07:59 So it is a really good career.
08:01 And then obviously if you do want to move on, like there's other great steps to like opening your own bar or even working for a brand.
08:08 So you've just in the last few months launched a new cocktail menu and it's quite innovative.
08:13 So can you talk us through that, but also your process of how you create new cocktails?
08:18 Yeah, so our menu transcends released earlier on this year.
08:22 And it's all about freezing techniques.
08:24 So I guess the precursor to this was actually Hoot the Redeemer was actually the first thing that really kind of twigged my memory of this.
08:29 Because when I went to do the concept of Hoot the Redeemer, we wanted to make ice cream with alcohol in it.
08:35 I love ice cream, but I didn't necessarily know how to make it really well.
08:38 So actually I went to the Gelato University, which is a thing in Bologna to study.
08:44 You know, I even went down to the University of Reading to study science of ice cream.
08:47 But actually going there with the bartender's brain, I suddenly realized actually there's so much more we could do.
08:53 I thought it would be really fun just making ice cream, but it was really like science for like proper classroom courses.
08:59 And I really opened my eyes to actually thinking we can do a lot here.
09:02 We always look at the top restaurants, top chefs, and we try and adapt their techniques.
09:06 I think like sous vide is a really classic example of this.
09:09 But if you're constantly looking at the kitchen, you're not really going to see much to do with flavor creation with freezing.
09:15 Because, you know, apart from ice cream, gelato, I've had a weird frozen Siberian fish when I was in Russia many years ago.
09:22 And, you know, there's not a lot.
09:24 But I think that's what I realized now, like we can create a lot more with freezing.
09:28 And that's what we're trying to promote and transcend.
09:30 So each chapter is kind of based around one technique.
09:33 So we've got freeze concentration, which is a really old technique.
09:37 And then we've got things like freeze drying.
09:40 We released a new technique with the menu called suppression, which is our kind of freezing alternative to sous vide.
09:47 And then also we got our thing, which was our first kind of technique called switching, which we released about six or seven years ago as well.
09:53 And we don't try and bore people with like overloading of information.
09:58 We've kind of designed it to be if they are interested, they can read that side.
10:01 If they don't care, they can go straight to the cocktails and order those instead.
10:06 For anyone that doesn't really know, sous vide in a kitchen is wet as a water bath. Is that right?
10:10 Yeah, exactly. There's kind of two parts.
10:12 So you have like sous vide, firstly, you usually have this kind of vacuum chamber, which sucks the air out.
10:17 And that kind of creates this kind of infusion process.
10:20 And then the second part is that water bath.
10:23 And that kind of creates this kind of marrying of the flavors.
10:26 So those are the two goals we were looking at.
10:28 So what can we do with freezing that's similar?
10:31 And for a long time, I always thought about, especially in Scotland in the winter, burst pipes.
10:36 That's quite a common thing here.
10:38 And I was thinking, well, what is the energy generated from the water expansion?
10:43 And I kind of realized how powerful and which energy was created.
10:46 So I was like, is there a way we can kind of contain this?
10:49 And that's where we found these kind of like two to five liter stainless steel kegs, which are strong enough.
10:54 And what we do here is we add all our cocktail and say we want to infuse apricots or plums.
11:00 We put them in as well, sliced, and then we fill it right to the top and tighten it and chuck it in the freezer.
11:05 And then what this does is when it's expanding, it's trying to escape.
11:08 But then instead, it actually goes into the fruit.
11:11 So that's, again, like mimicking that kind of vacuum, getting rid of the air.
11:15 And then when it's fully frozen, all the flavors kind of suspend.
11:18 And then when it defrosts, they combine together.
11:20 So that's kind of doing the same goal as what the water bath does.
11:23 But if you did the same cocktail with sous vide and sous pres, you'd still get two completely different cocktails.
11:28 But it was just us trying to kind of do the same goals.
11:32 You've won numerous awards and you were recently in the top 50 bars in the world, which is amazing.
11:39 How does that make you feel and how does your team, what does it do for you and your team when you're in those lists or winning those awards?
11:47 Yeah, I mean, it makes me really proud and I'm just really, really happy for the team.
11:51 They've worked, we've all worked together as a team really, really hard.
11:54 We're not necessarily going out of our way to win, but it's just nice to get that acknowledgement that people on a global scale are appreciating what we do.
12:01 And I think also it's a really good thing to, it's reflecting on actually how good Edinburgh or Scotland's bartending scene is.
12:09 And it's hard to be on these lists.
12:11 There's more and more amazing bars opening year on year.
12:15 Even our menu was top four in the spirits of the awards in the world.
12:19 And, you know, we've been, as you said, various other awards and it's just great.
12:23 I think on a macro scale for the city and just for the team, I think it's just a nice kind of morale booster,
12:29 especially like times like this, especially in Scotland when the hospitality has been kind of hit a bit hard with regulations and stuff recently.
12:37 It's just nice to kind of give ourselves a bit of positivity.
12:40 And do you find the community is quite collaborative?
12:43 Like can you, if someone comes to you and asks for advice on like, you know, the process that you're using, is it quite collaborative or are you still, you know, quite competitive?
12:51 I think it's important to have that friendly competitiveness.
12:54 But I think, you know, what I've been trying and the community is, is like, it's just sharing your knowledge.
12:59 You know, I travel around the world talking about my techniques, how to do them.
13:03 People message me on Instagram, you know, hey, I'm stuck on this part of this technique.
13:07 Can you help me? Of course.
13:08 I think for our whole scene to progress, we need to be sharing knowledge.
13:12 I think thankfully you're seeing this whole like secret recipe, then kind of cloak and dagger and smoke and mirrors of techniques and how they're creating things is kind of diminishing, thankfully.
13:22 So I think the more people share, the better.
13:25 And at the end of the day, I think what's so great about Edinburgh is you go to all the different bars and everyone's doing their own thing.
13:31 So even though we help each other, I think everyone's still got their own kind of USP, their own kind of passions as well.
13:37 We are coming into the new year eventually.
13:40 Do you see any sort of trends or anything that's maybe going to come up and be maybe something that people are going to be drinking in 2024 or maybe not drinking because, you know, non-alcoholic things are becoming quite big as well?
13:52 Yeah, I'm really happy for the non-alcoholic thing.
13:55 It's just been normalized finally, which is really good.
13:57 And there's some really good non-alcoholic brands out there.
14:00 But actually, I think in terms of trends, freezing techniques, again, I'm trying to push that.
14:05 But we're seeing that in a big adoption scale probably in the top level.
14:08 But on the kind of broader scheme of things, I think highballs, you know, from traveling around the world, you're starting to see people wanting these kind of like longer drinks, like soda, water in them, which I think is really nice.
14:19 So, you know, it's kind of leaning into that kind of low and no ABV cocktails, but it's kind of mid, you know, people dilute a lot more, really nice and effervescent, refreshing, light, clean.
14:31 So I think we're going to see more and more of that.
14:33 I think, you know, things like the whiskey highball or even things like a Paloma, you're starting to see in so many menus everywhere around the world at the moment.
14:41 And I think it's going to continue.
14:42 I was kind of hoping for the martini, but then that's really alcoholic.
14:46 You and me both, I love a martini as well.
14:48 You need to come to Panda's and try our Panda Martini.
14:51 I do, yeah.
14:52 And also I've been drinking a lot of sherry, which my friends find hilarious, like I'm some old woman, but I love sherry as well.
14:57 Honestly, they'll be changed soon.
14:59 Sherry is the best.
15:00 We've got quite a few sherry drinks on our menu and we have a sherry based drink on our mirror on the back bar that we have pride in possession since day one.
15:10 So we're sherry lovers as well.
15:12 So if you were in Edinburgh, obviously in any of your own bars, where would you like to go around Scotland?
15:17 Like, would you have bars that you would sort of recommend or sort of hidden gem type things?
15:22 Yeah, there's like Absinthe here in Glasgow.
15:24 That's doing really well.
15:26 Gate in Glasgow is really, really cracking kind of, I think it's like, you know, like Nauticus as well.
15:32 It's just kind of like, I like this new wave of these kind of like modern cocktail pubs.
15:36 So there are pubs, but they do really great cocktails as well.
15:39 Aberdeen's got a really, really good scene like Orchid.
15:42 You know, that's another one that's been around for a long time and still kind of pushing Aberdeen.
15:46 That's great.
15:47 And Dundee's got a pretty decent scene as well.
15:50 Outside of that, I've not been too many.
15:52 I know a couple of bartenders in Inverness, but I think, you know,
15:56 every year that passes, each of these places are just getting better and better.
16:00 I think it's really nice to see people getting involved as well.
16:03 Like before it was a bit like a Cosmo or, you know, there's nothing wrong with the classics,
16:08 but like people weren't really up for trying new things.
16:10 Whereas now you go into like Absinthe here's somewhere I go quite often in Glasgow and it's really busy and it's really buzzy.
16:16 And it's really nice to see that folk are like into the scene now.
16:18 Absolutely.
16:19 And I think that's the power of the internet as well.
16:21 People have so much resource and learning and they can just pick up on Instagram or just on Google or YouTube.
16:28 So we're finding clientele really, really kind of educated on exactly what they want, like niche brands, you know,
16:34 so just people calling for Jack and Coke.
16:36 I remember I call it like the Lime Cordial scale.
16:39 So like when I first started working in the food rooms, we're ordering two cases of Lime Cordial a week
16:44 because it was that long vodka craze for a very long time.
16:47 Now you're barely buying one bottle every six months.
16:49 So I think that kind of shows that advancement in terms of clientele's like palates.
16:54 And yeah, it's great.
16:55 You know, I just had like a martini.
16:56 People love martinis.
16:58 I'm finding that a lot more popular old fashions.
17:00 Bitter drinks like Negronis, that kind of variation side of things.
17:04 It's really amazing to see.
17:06 So as we head into 2024, what are your plans for the future?
17:10 Are you going to open any new bars?
17:14 Well, we do have a fourth bar we've never opened yet.
17:17 We were fortunate enough to be able to acquire it just before lockdown.
17:21 But I think we're going to continue doing our innovation with Panda and Sons
17:25 and doing some really cool stuff and knowledge sharing education.
17:29 But yeah, I think growth, I'm a bit hesitant.
17:32 You know, I don't want to talk too negatively, but I think next year is going to be tough,
17:36 if not tougher than it has been this year.
17:38 So for us, it's about getting to 2025 and then we can look at growth and growing through things.
17:43 But one thing I'm enjoying so much at the moment is seeing all these amazing restaurants opening up.
17:48 And it's great.
17:49 You know, like Timberyard just opened up their new restaurant, Montrose,
17:52 and I'm dying to check it out.
17:54 Same with the Aisle Group, they've opened up Layla.
17:57 So yeah, I'm happy for all these people opening.
18:00 But yeah, for us, we're just kind of being a bit more cautious.
18:02 But that's probably me overthinking everything.
18:05 Would the fourth bar be in Edinburgh?
18:07 Yeah, it'll be in Edinburgh. It's in Edinburgh.
18:09 I thought about Glasgow, but I think we're so close together and we're all Scottish,
18:15 but I think we're both quite different.
18:18 And I'm just worried I'm just not going to get it.
18:20 And then people are just going to be annoyed at me there.
18:22 So I think it's just a slight hesitance from my side.
18:26 But I would never rule out opening Glasgow.
18:29 I do love that city.
18:31 And I think the music scene, the food and drink scene there has exploded at the moment.
18:35 I think it's a really exciting time to be in Glasgow.
18:37 So yeah, I wouldn't rule it out, but the next one will be in Edinburgh.
18:41 Well, if you change your mind, the Odd Bins down Hindland Street has just shut down,
18:44 and I would love a cocktail bar down there.
18:46 So I'm saying that to everyone.
18:49 So as we go towards Hogmanay and people are maybe going to be at home
18:54 or just enjoying some drinks, whether it's Hogmanay or not, over the festive period,
18:58 what would you recommend as a sort of easy to make cocktail for at home?
19:02 Yeah, I think now with this weather, we're getting into that kind of colder vibe.
19:06 So I really love having these kind of warmer drinks.
19:10 So I think gin is still very much popular.
19:13 But the good thing about a kind of hot, in this case, gin toddy,
19:17 you can kind of replace the spirit quite easily with whiskey, bourbon,
19:21 if you want to go tequila, vodka.
19:23 So you kind of do like 15 mil gin.
19:25 I generally do 15 mils of honey, 10 mils of lemon juice,
19:31 a couple of cloves, maybe a stick of cinnamon.
19:33 And then you kind of top it up with hot water and then give it a wee stir
19:38 and then have it in a mug.
19:39 And it's just a really delicious drink.
19:42 And it's one you can kind of make in a bigger bowl as well,
19:45 a big hot bowl, kind of like this kind of soup things,
19:48 and then just kind of hand it out from there.
19:50 So it's a good one you can do for parties and just keep you warm
19:53 and a little bit boozed up at nighttime.
19:55 That will keep you warm.
19:57 What are you up to for Hogmanay?
19:59 I take it you guys are open and working and all the rest of it.
20:01 Yeah, so at Nauticus we're opening.
20:05 Thankfully all the bars have got late licenses.
20:07 Pound and Sons we are as well.
20:09 Hoot the Redeemer is actually the first time we're reopening in a while
20:12 because Hoot's a bit of a tricky one because we're inside the street party
20:15 but not within the street party.
20:17 We're like in this kind of service lane.
20:20 So it's a bit tricky, but I guess just a quick shout out,
20:23 if anyone does want to go to Hoot, let us know.
20:25 We will have access tickets and we'll have people waiting
20:28 at the security entrances to let you in.
20:31 But yeah, I'll be kind of dotting between the three bars,
20:33 making sure everyone's happy and just helping where I can.
20:37 But yeah, I'm looking forward to it and as always looking forward
20:40 to seeing the firework display.
20:42 And is there any sort of competitions and awards coming up in 2024
20:45 that you're sort of looking forward to as well?
20:47 Yeah, one is like a kind of cocktail Oscars is the Spirit of the Wards
20:50 and that's based in New Orleans as part of Tales of the Cocktail,
20:54 which is probably the biggest cocktail conference
20:56 and the education kind of party platform.
20:59 That's one that's eluded us so far.
21:01 So it's one of the really like we've always been top four,
21:03 which is again really huge being a top four.
21:06 So you kind of go from like you submit, you go top 10 regional,
21:09 which is kind of like continents, then you go top 10 international,
21:13 then top four and then there's a winner.
21:15 So it's quite a lot of rounds.
21:16 So to get top four is really hard, but hopefully next year
21:19 we're going to go again and see.
21:22 But then there's also great ones in the UK.
21:24 Class Magazine do a great one in terms of that's probably the biggest,
21:29 the class awards in terms of that.
21:30 Thankfully, we won one of those awards last year.
21:34 Cocktail comps, there's some really amazing ones like Patron Perfectionists
21:38 is a really, really big one and the trip to represent the UK
21:42 and go over to Mexico is a trip of a lifetime.
21:45 There's other ones that have always been amazing like Diaz-Joudu
21:48 called World Class, which is probably the biggest cocktail comp
21:52 and probably the hardest one to kind of win.
21:54 So I'm going to be kind of pushing my teams to enter various competitions
21:59 and we'll see.
22:01 Nice. Well, it sounds like an exciting time.
22:03 What are you going to do for New Year's?
22:04 What's your plans?
22:05 Are you coming to Edinburgh or are you going to be in Glasgow?
22:08 Do you know, I've never done New Year in Edinburgh ever and I'm from Fife.
22:12 So no, it's because you end up stuck there for you can't get home
22:15 because there's no trains.
22:17 I am spending it with my family up in Perthshire.
22:20 So my sister's got two young boys and she always kind of struggles
22:23 to know what to do in between the Christmas and New Year time.
22:25 So we're all getting together and just having probably quite a low-key celebration
22:29 because they're quite young.
22:31 But no, I'm just looking forward to being off work,
22:33 which I probably shouldn't say.
22:35 Me too. I'm never not working, but I'm actually off to Mexico tomorrow
22:40 for an actual holiday.
22:41 So I'm looking forward to that, getting a bit of sunshine
22:44 and then coming back just before Christmas.
22:47 Yeah, it should be good, drinking lots of tequila, margaritas,
22:50 just to kind of live it up a bit over there.
22:52 So yeah, I'm looking forward to that too.
22:54 Yeah, that's another thing that's gone mad, isn't it?
22:56 Like really good quality tequila because most people are like,
22:58 "Oh God, I can't drink that."
23:00 But actually it's okay. It's good when it's good.
23:02 Yeah, I think, you know, that's a good topic actually
23:04 because everyone's always been talking about what's going to be the next gin,
23:07 you know, and I think always everyone's been kind of banking on it being rum.
23:10 Tequila's grown so much, you know, I've seen it,
23:13 especially Blanket Tequila's actually good quality, 100% agave.
23:16 Tequila's like, I think actually, not that I want to talk about COVID too much,
23:20 but people were making a lot of cocktails at home.
23:22 And I think actually from that, even touching on what we were talking about earlier,
23:25 about, you know, people researching and knowing what they want,
23:28 but I think this really helped that.
23:30 And I think margarita was probably like one of the most popular drinks
23:33 to be made at home at that time.
23:35 So yeah, I think since coming out and everything being reopened,
23:39 you're seeing such a huge demand.
23:41 Even like this, beginning of this year, there was like a tequila shortage.
23:45 No one could get anything, especially of a quality.
23:48 And the problem was, it was kind of the spiraling out of control.
23:51 Cause every time it came back in stock,
23:52 everyone was in ordering three,
23:53 four times more than what they needed because they were trying to hoard.
23:56 And then it went out of stock again.
23:57 It was just this downward spiral of people hoarding and buying it,
24:01 I guess kind of, I guess it was like the Mac two of the toilet roll crisis,
24:05 but in this case, but yeah, it was crazy,
24:08 but thankfully we were able to get tequila again, but yeah, absolutely.
24:11 I think talking about trends, we're talking about highballs,
24:14 like tequila is going to continue to continue its growth in the UK market for sure.
24:19 Good. So goodbye, terrible tequila slammers.
24:22 Hello, good tequila cocktails.
24:24 Honestly, I don't know why, I don't know what scientific background is it,
24:27 but if you just drink good tequila,
24:28 you really don't get as bad a hangover as you would just on a normal night out.
24:32 So it's definitely one I try and do, but it's hard to stick to this one,
24:36 one spirit, but it does, it does work.
24:38 Okay. I'm going to hold you to that.
24:39 I'm going to try it over Christmas and see how I feel.
24:41 Good night, we'll be back to see you the next day.
24:44 Well, thank you very much Ian.
24:46 It's been great to chat and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in 2024.
24:50 And yeah, I would say have a good Christmas,
24:52 but we will be putting this out after Christmas.
24:54 So have a good new year.
24:55 You too. Have a great one.
24:56 Thanks.
24:57 Thanks for listening and for being with us in 2023.
25:04 The team at Scran are looking forward to bringing you many more tales
25:07 from Scotland's thriving food and drink scene in 2024.
25:10 Happy new year.
25:11 Thanks Ian for being my guest on this episode and thanks to you too for listening.
25:17 Please remember to rate, review and subscribe so you never miss an episode of Scran.
25:21 Scran is a logical podcast that's co-produced and hosted by me
25:24 and co-produced, edited and mixed by Kelly Crichton.
25:27 [Music]
25:33 (dramatic music)