On this special bonus episode of Scran we are looking back to the Scottish Food and Drink Excellence awards which took place in Glasgow a few weeks back. The Excellence Awards shine a light on the incredible businesses that call Scotland home.
Underpinned by people, passion, and perseverance, it is an opportunity to toast the industry’s fantastic achievements over the past year, whilst looking to the future and supporting the next wave of innovation and creativity
Rosalind is joined by three of the award winners on this episode to learn more about their businesses and how awards can impact them.
First up Rosalind speaks to Hayley Wilkes of WeeCOOK followed by Andrew Wilson of Young Spirits and Andrew Rowley of Ballintaggart.
You can find more information about the awards and the winners here.
https://foodanddrink.scot/events-and-membership/the-excellence-awards/
Underpinned by people, passion, and perseverance, it is an opportunity to toast the industry’s fantastic achievements over the past year, whilst looking to the future and supporting the next wave of innovation and creativity
Rosalind is joined by three of the award winners on this episode to learn more about their businesses and how awards can impact them.
First up Rosalind speaks to Hayley Wilkes of WeeCOOK followed by Andrew Wilson of Young Spirits and Andrew Rowley of Ballintaggart.
You can find more information about the awards and the winners here.
https://foodanddrink.scot/events-and-membership/the-excellence-awards/
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Scran, the podcast passionate about the Scottish food and drink scene. I'm
00:07your host, Ros Derskin, and on this special bonus episode, we're looking back to the Scottish
00:11Food and Drink Excellence Awards, which took place in Glasgow a few weeks ago. The Excellence
00:17Awards shine a light on the incredible businesses that call Scotland home. Underpinned by people,
00:22passion and perseverance, it is an opportunity to toast the industry's fantastic achievements
00:27over the past year, whilst looking to the future and supporting the next wave of innovation
00:31and creativity. I'm very pleased to say that I have three of the award winners joining
00:35me on this special episode, so we can learn more about their businesses and how awards
00:39can impact them. First up, I speak to Hayley Wilkies of Wee Cook, followed by Andrew Wilson
00:45of Young Spirits and Andrew Rowley of Bal and Taggart.
00:48Hi Hayley, how are you? I'm good, thank you. Good, good to see you. You too, congratulations.
00:55It was a big, big night at the Scottish Food and Drink Excellence Awards.
00:58Yeah, yeah, and that, yeah, it was a massive surprise. It was lovely to win the Seafood
01:04Award, but then we hadn't realised until we saw the little brochure, the little page at
01:08the back. We were listed in the product one, and then they announced it, and I was like,
01:13I hadn't even had a chance to neck my wine or my fizz. I straight up and off to see Simon
01:18Rimmer again, it was wonderful.
01:23So for anyone that doesn't know, could you just tell us a little bit about yourself and
01:26your business?
01:27Yeah, so I'm Hayley, I'm the chef, owner, bit of everything, person who owns and runs
01:32Wee Cook and the Wee Cook Kitchen. So we're a little kind of hybrid business. We have
01:36a cafe and restaurant currently in Canoostie, and we also have our pie making and farmer's
01:42market kind of side of the business, we do a little bit of wholesale pies as well. And
01:46we won the Seafood Product of the Year and then the Product of the Year at the Scottish
01:50Food and Drink Excellence Awards with their products.
01:53Yeah, no, congratulations, it's great. And so it was your fishwife pie, is that right?
01:58Yeah, the fishwife pie. So we do a lot of different pies. We've got, you know, our kind
02:02of standard, well I say standard, they're still really good, you know, award winning
02:06pies. We've got Guild of Fine Foods Awards for them. We've also got pie awards from the
02:10Scotch Pie Awards, Scottish Bakers, but it was the fishwife pie that's trumped it all
02:16this year and done the deed for us. It's been brilliant.
02:19And can you tell us about the pie for anyone that hasn't tasted them? I should say, I've
02:22got a few of them in my fridge right now.
02:24Look at you, you could probably sell them on for profit. It's been impossible to get
02:28enough made this week since the awards. So the fishwife pie isn't a fisherman's pie.
02:34It's, you know, we describe it as the kind of sassy little sexy sister of a fisherman's
02:38pie. We've kind of reinvented it. You know, classically a fisherman's pie would have potatoes
02:42on the lid, and we made this pie that was enclosed, like with the puff pastry under
02:47the lid. And we use our local Arbroath Smokies to make the stock and infuse it. And it's
02:52rammed full of Scottish haddock, salmon, natural smoked haddock, and then the Arbroath Smokies
02:57themselves all bound together in a kind of parsley sauce with a little secret family
03:02recipe that we use in there. And it's a really hearty, tasty, meaty pie for a fish pie. It's
03:08a little bit different. It's like I say, it's not a fisherman's pie, but it's our take with
03:13a little bit of girl power as well on there, you know, in homage to the fishwives throughout
03:17the centuries that help us get where we are.
03:20What did it mean for you to win, like, both awards? So overall product of the year is
03:23just like, that's like, that's sort of high, you know, that's basically your product is
03:29the product of the year in Scotland.
03:32That was very humbling, actually. And for all the excitement of it on the night, I mean,
03:35we were literally blown away to win that. I mean, to win the seafood one was great.
03:40You know, we know we're lucky. We can only take credit for producing the pie. You know,
03:46the fish comes from the North Sea or from Scotland. And, you know, it's, you know, it's
03:50the people of, well, you know, the fishmongers in Arbroath who smoke product and, you know,
03:56that we use that. So we kind of benefit from that. But to win the product of the year.
03:59Yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't, I don't know, I couldn't describe that even on the night.
04:04And even now, it means so much to us is to be amongst people we admire and we hold in
04:11great admiration for, you know, small businesses, independent business, Scottish business, and
04:15some of these big organisations that we are up against. So it means so much to us to kind
04:21of validate our product and to the team for all the hard work that we put in. And, you
04:25know, that's going to make us busier. It already has. And that all helps towards the future.
04:29And that kind of helps us put back into the economy and keep that wheel turning, as it
04:34were. So it's massive, massive all around.
04:37Yeah, because one of the people you're up against was Martin Spencers.
04:42Oh, don't, my mum, my mum was so chuffed about that. And all she said on the night,
04:49because when we were about to go to the awards, I was like, oh, I'm so tired. I'd driven
04:52all the way from Angus, I'd been up since five in the morning, and it was quarter past
04:55five, I was getting ready to go up to the Hilton. And I was like, oh, I don't know if
04:58I can be a part of that. And my mum's like, oh, good luck. I hope you beat Martin Spencers
05:02so she can tell everybody in the little village back in Wales. And yeah, and do you know what,
05:08that is standard alone, isn't it? They'd enter with their best ever fish pie, or their second
05:13best ever fish pie. Do you know what, it's all banter, you know, I didn't realise it's
05:19like a competition as such. It's, you know, it's about recognition. I think all the finalists
05:22deserve to be there. If you just look around the room, you know, my favourite biscuits
05:27in the world, there's Borders biscuits there. And I was so excited to, you know, when I
05:30saw the lady that owns Borders biscuits, I was desperate to go and tell her how much
05:33I love the chocolate dark ginger ones. And I was slightly surprised that we didn't have
05:37one in our little goodie bag. That's another product anyway. But yeah, yeah, beat Martin
05:42Spencers, wow. I'll love that for the rest of my life. Doesn't matter what we do now,
05:46it's it.
05:47And do you sort of think, and I kind of know the answer to this, because you can get your
05:52pies at the farmers market local to me. And I know they're the fish, the fish wife pies
05:57the first to sell out. So do you find that these awards do kind of filter down to the
06:01public and they are more kind of inclined to try things?
06:03Yeah, definitely. Because, you know, most people will go for a pie, they'll go for a
06:07scotch pie, a mince pie, a beef pie, maybe a chicken pie. And they're like your kind
06:11of gateway pies, a bit like gateway drugs, you know, but once we've got customers who
06:15will buy those pies, then we can chat to them about the other ones. And then they're interested
06:19and people will go away and try one. And we love it when they go for things like the fish
06:23pies and, you know, because it's, it is try something different, you know, you're eating
06:28something that's, you know, there's plenty of fish, you know, it's Scottish and you know,
06:32it's a little bit of Angus, particularly when we bring it over to Glasgow to the markets
06:35there or we go to markets further afield. And it's nice to kind of fly the flag for
06:40local produce. You know, we do a lot with other like local Angus businesses, we collaborate
06:44and we're part of the Appetite for Angus kind of food group, food and drink forum. And then
06:49as well for Scottish bakers, you know, they were sat on the table, Michelle and, you know,
06:55the guys in front and that was really nice to kind of be able to have them there when
06:59we, when we went up for the award as well. So, yeah, it's brilliant, really good fun.
07:03And if you've always kind of been in this sort of line of work, did you, did you say
07:07your, as your mum from Wales, are you from Wales?
07:09Yeah, so I'm from North Wales originally, I'm proper Welsh, you know. So I left Wales
07:16when I was like 18. I traveled all around the country and different places in Europe
07:20I was a holiday rep and, but I'd started working in a local hotel and cafe when I was 13. So
07:26the food's always kind of been my background and my mum's a great cook, my grandma was,
07:30and my dad just loved seafood. He was a fish mad dad kind of guy. And we'd, I'd fight with
07:36him for the, with the local prawns that we used to get, I'd go cockling, we'd go fishing
07:40for mackerel, sea bass, and, you know, going looking for mussels and stuff. So it's kind
07:45of in my blood. And I love food. I mean, you just got to look at the size of me, you know,
07:49I'm a kind of two to three pie a day kind of girl. So, yeah, no, and I was really lucky,
07:56you know, when I moved up to Scotland, I managed to kind of change careers a little
07:59bit and I actually put myself through, through college because I never had a formal qualification.
08:04And then I worked in like some of the Hilton's, Glen Eagles, I was lucky enough to work with
08:09Gandolfi as well. And I worked under a wonderful head chef called Jamie Donald, who used to
08:13be a chef in the Gandolfi fish. And that's, you know, again, where I learned a lot more
08:16about fish and reduction of sources and, and it's kind of applying those things. And then
08:22I went freelance and then set up WeCook in 2011. And the pies kind of came about in 2017
08:27as a side hustle, a little sideline to use up leftover ingredients, because, you know,
08:32we tried to minimise wastage as chefs and, and they grew arms and legs and wings from
08:36there. We started making them at four for market, like a cooking demo, people were buying
08:40them and then we couldn't keep up with the demand. And then they were, they became their
08:44own little, little thing. And we've got awards. I think the first one, in fact, the first
08:48one was the, the BBC Good Food Show, they used to have it in Glasgow. And we actually
08:53won the, the Artisan Producers Awards next to Michelle Maddox from the Clutie Dumplings,
09:00the Lust Smokehouse. And it's been wonderful actually following their journey since 2017
09:05and getting that award and how we've all gone our own different ways and the different levels
09:09of success that we've had. And, you know, it's quite nice for you to look back on photos
09:13of how young you look there and what we were doing and, and where we are now. And if you'd
09:17have told me in 2017, when I was chuffed to be at the Good Food Show with a free stall,
09:22you know, flogging 60 pies that, you know, we'd be up in front of, well, you know, the
09:28best of the best in Scottish food and drink and getting an award, I wouldn't have believed
09:33you. I would have said, I thought you'd had too much to drink. I'd be like, yeah, right.
09:39And here we are. So it's, it's, that's amazing to see that. And then to know that and look
09:43back on that, you know, we don't take any of it for granted. So we're very lucky.
09:48Obviously, we're talking sort of towards the end of 2024. Do you have any future plans
09:53that you can share with us for next year or anything you're planning on looking at too?
09:56Oh, you see these grey hairs? I mean, it's, this is a really weird and exciting time for
10:03the business actually, because we've had the Caffey Inn restaurant. We had a golf club
10:06for two or three years at the Broughty Golf Club in Monmouth Heath. And then we moved
10:10to Bury Downs, where we are now, literally a year before COVID. And we had to kind of
10:14shut for COVID. And it was the pies that kept us going. And we've had that there six years
10:19now, and the lease is up. And we're not renewing the lease. One of the girls, she's going on
10:23having a baby, well, twins, actually, twinnies. One of my chefs is going travelling for five
10:27or six weeks. But we've actually got a unit in Arbroath. So what we're doing is we're
10:31closing the Caffey to focus on the production of the pies, diversifying some of the product.
10:36And we've got a little food trailer we're getting on the road. So we can take We Cook
10:39on tour, on a little world tour. And we want to be doing that, doing more events, pop-ups
10:43and diversifying our product range and increasing the production so that we can get to more
10:48markets and do more pies by post so that we can reach a wider audience. We were really
10:53lucky. We were on the Aldi programme, what's it called? Aldi's next big thing. And we were
10:59featured on a tasting thing on the Alan Titchmarsh show on ITV. And they repeated it, funny enough,
11:05two Sundays ago. And we were inundated with orders because of those things. And there
11:08are people who don't know what an Arbroath Smokey is, you know, in other parts of the
11:12United Kingdom. And it's great that we can do that. So that's what we're focusing on
11:16now going into the end of the year. Something new and, you know, just trying to grow on
11:21things and areas I know that people would like us to do. So it's all exciting times
11:26for us and quite stressful trying to box it off and cancel the broadband and, you know,
11:31boring housekeeping stuff as well.
11:34Well, it sounds, essentially, that sounds great, really interesting. And I know from
11:40experience that your pies do very well on the West End of Glasgow.
11:43Do you know what, honestly, we're just blown away with the kind of kind comments and support
11:47that we've, you know, we've had. And it's really lovely, even just to kind of speak
11:50to yourself. It's been lovely. The staff are all excited because I'm not very good with
11:53things like podcasts and stuff like that. You know, I can usually get them to type things
11:57up for me. So it's great to be part of it. And we're proud to be part of Scottish Food
12:02and Drink and Long Make Continue. And, you know, we want to hopefully encourage others
12:06to kind of get into it and be supportive and kind of keep that energy going. Yeah, we think
12:12it's great. And me being Welsh as well. I mean, I love Welsh stuff. I love Welsh cakes
12:15and I love leeks. But, you know, Scottish seafood's right up there. So we're really,
12:20really delighted that it's a Scottish seafood product that's done so well this year.
12:24Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. It's been great to chat.
12:28I'm joined by Andrew and Andrew, which is going to be an easy interview because you're
12:33both called Andrew, to talk about the recent Scotland Food and Drink Excellence Awards.
12:38So could I just start with Andrew Rowley? Could you just tell me a little bit about
12:42yourself, your business and what award you won?
12:44We are Ballantagart, so we're based up in Perth. So the award we won was the Regional
12:51Food and Drink Award. The original property, Ballantagart Farm, which is a exclusive use
12:58accommodation. We run a cook school out of there. It's also a wedding venue or venue
13:05for some kind of private dinners. We've got a kitchen garden up there, an orchard and
13:10lots of space. We've got an eight bedroom hotel in Grantley. The heartbeat of that is
13:16the kind of food and beverage offering there with a bar and a restaurant and a private
13:20dining. We've got two shops, so one in Aberfeldy and one in Kenmore, which again, food and
13:27drink is absolutely the heart of those. And our feast business, which is essentially an
13:34external catering business. Again, food and drink in the heart of it.
13:37Andrew Wilson, could you just tell us a little bit about yourself and your business and what
13:40award you won?
13:41Certainly. So I'm Andrew as well. Our company's called Young Spirits. We won Best Dark Distilled
13:49Spirit for our Fergan Harris 12-year-old Speyside. We are an independent bottler. We
13:55bottle for everyone. We bottle for about 100 different clients, but we have our own brands
14:01and Fergan Harris is part of one of our brands.
14:04And just to go back to you, Andrew Rowley, what did it mean for you and your team to
14:10win? Because obviously the Scotland Food and Drink Excellence Awards are sort of judges
14:15from across the industry, the food and drink industry in Scotland. So it's obviously a
14:19quite a big B2B and C2B award. So what was it? How did it feel to win?
14:27Yeah, it's an amazing achievement. And it's especially at the time of year that the award
14:33comes, it's the busiest time is almost over, but it's been a lot of hard work during the
14:40summer, opening a new shop and just it's always it's nice to get recognition for all
14:47the hard work you put in. And it's also for the team that, you know, it's myself and my
14:53brother that run Ballantyger, brother Chris, who I guess the team listen to us preach and
15:02talk about the importance of our ethos and what that means to us. And I guess for them
15:09to see the recognition for all the hard work they put in, but also the recognition of what
15:17it is that we do. It's that concentrating on the seasonality and like local produce,
15:26which is amazing.
15:27And you said as well, when you were talking about the business, food and drink is at the
15:29heart of everything. So was that always the plan when you set up one business, which then
15:36led into the other business, which has led into shops and things, obviously you've been
15:38expanding over the years. Was it always key to sort of focus on local produce?
15:44Yeah, definitely. I mean, when it started Ballantyger Farm, everything kind of grew
15:49organically. Brother started Ballantyger Farm and then I moved up six months later to
15:56sort of help open the hotel. And we both had the same idea and the vision. He was one side
16:04of the pass, I was the other. So his background was always cooking and mine was front of house.
16:10So it worked out really well. And yeah, we knew that there was an amazing local larder out there
16:18that maybe a lot of businesses aren't taking advantage of. Some of the best produce in
16:24Scotland is from Perthshire and we're really lucky with that. That was always going to be
16:29the core of everything we did and whether that was in food or a lot of the time in our drinks as
16:35well. It's definitely been a fundamental of our business.
16:40And Andrew, just back to you, Andrew Wilson, could you just tell us what it was like for you and your
16:45team to win the award?
16:47No, it's really great to get the recognition from within the industry. You know, you go to shows
16:54constantly and people try the liquid and try the whiskey we're making and the general public like
17:00it. So to have the feedback from people within the industry that know what they're talking about
17:07and know what they're doing is really good. It's a really good recognition of all our effort that
17:11we've put in to produce the best liquid that we possibly can. You know, when we developed the
17:17Speyside, I always wanted a big, hefty, easy drinking whiskey that appeals to my palate in
17:24particular. I have a sweet tooth and this whiskey is big and heavy and sherry. So obviously the
17:30judges on the panel have the same sort of palate as me and appreciated the big, rich flavour that
17:35it has. So it's good recognition for us as a team that we've put together something that
17:41everybody seems to like. So it's good. It's really good.
17:44And you were saying as well, you bottle for a lot of different people. So would it be the
17:47Fergan Harris brand that sort of consumers might know you for?
17:50We have got our Yohuru brand as well. So any fans of Edinburgh Rugby would have seen us. We did
17:55sponsor them for the last couple of years with our Yohuru brand. The Fergan Harris brand has just been
18:00growing naturally. We do a lot of exports with Fergan Harris. We export to the US, Canada,
18:07China, a little bit in Japan, a little bit in South Korea, Norway, Germany, Holland. So export
18:15is a big player for us. The UK, we are just growing organically. We are just letting it
18:20take off by itself. We are pushing it, but we're not overtly trying to push the UK.
18:26So many people might not have seen us around. You'll see us in kind of boutique whiskey shops
18:32and craft beer shops and X, Y and Z. But big retail-wise, you've never seen us before.
18:39We are relatively small in the UK still. But we hope that this help goes a long way towards
18:45pushing that, and you'll see us in more and more places.
18:49So that leads me on to my next question. Do awards like this mean more recognition? So
18:54do you sort of feel like you can, obviously, you can promote your projects and your business with
18:58one, but do you feel like you might lead to more business and more sort of awareness from the
19:03public who don't already know about you? Yeah, definitely. The awareness from awards like this
19:09is key for us to grow as a brand. It's such a crowded market with other brands out there,
19:13and what sets you apart is the recognition from other people within the industry. So other people
19:20within the food industry recognizing your product as a quality product helps that product grow
19:26within the market, absolutely. And Andrew, I suppose it's slightly
19:30different for you in terms of you're a slightly bigger player in your region anyway, but do you
19:37feel like this is the type of thing that just sort of further cements people's awareness of you?
19:42Yeah, definitely. And I think, as Andrew was saying, the people within the industry know about
19:49us and kind of understand what it is we're doing, because word of mouth can be such a powerful tool,
19:54and seeing that our name up there, Bon Awards, is, I guess, just a really nice place to be,
20:04and also just puts you into a conversation a lot of the time. We want people to be talking about us
20:15and whether that awareness is... We're a tourist destination, so with awards that are for the whole
20:23of Scotland, people just maybe didn't know about us or maybe kind of thinking about us, it kind of
20:28cements that. And just for anyone who's maybe starting out or looking at you award winners
20:34as inspiration, did you come from... So Andrew Wilson, did you come from a distilling background?
20:40Is it something you've kind of moved into? If someone was looking to sort of change their
20:43career and try something new, what would you say? I'd say Young Spirits in particular, we were...
20:50This company was founded five years ago. There was a gap in the market for independent bottling
20:55for other people's casks, so the business has kind of grown from there. We've always wanted
21:00to have our own brands, so that's always been in the back of our minds. So the brands only existed
21:05for two and a half years, although the business is five years old. For myself, I was just very
21:10fortuitous. I happened to be in the right place at the right time. I hopefully know a little bit
21:16about whisky, and it just seems to have been good timing on the part of Young Spirits and myself.
21:23It's all seemed to work out. John and Alex, who founded the company, they're the young men.
21:28They're both in their early 30s. I'm the old man of the company. They brought me in to talk
21:33about whisky and to do something with the whisky, and they gave me carte blanche to do whatever I
21:36want with the whisky and the brands. Although the Fergan Harris Speyside won the award,
21:43we specialize in kind of high-end single casks of various different distillates,
21:49finished in different ways and different wine casks. So I've been very fortunate that
21:53they've supported me and let me just do what I want with the whisky. There's been no
21:59restrictions on developing any liquids, so it's been a very quick learning curve for me, I guess.
22:07I wasn't in a distilling background at all before. I used to run a whisky shop,
22:14and John used to come in and give me samples of whisky to try, and I'd tell him
22:18X, Y, and Z. Then he said, come out for a chat one day, and that was it. I've now got my own
22:26whisky brand that I look after, and I help clients develop their whiskies for their
22:30own bottlings and X, Y, and Z. So it's just been, yeah, it's been interesting, an interesting journey.
22:35Yeah, it's amazing, five years, the way things can change. Andrew, what about you? Did you always
22:42work in hospitality, or is this something you've come into with the family business?
22:47Pretty much always hospitality. I went to uni, and while I was there, I was working in
22:53some very ropey bars. Then after uni, I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do, so
23:00I enjoyed working in bars, so I continued to work in Edinburgh and a few restaurants and things.
23:09Then I was lucky enough to get a job with people that inspired me, so Ondine was part of the,
23:17I think I joined on the second night, so not quite the opening team, but very, very close to.
23:24Working alongside Roy Brett, him owning his own business and seeing what it took,
23:29the passion and everything, I took a lot from that and loved my time there. Then worked for
23:36Dakota Hotels for over six years, and again, working with someone like Ken McCulloch, who
23:44a giant of the tourism industry, and working really closely with him, just
23:51learning a new perspective on service and how to run a business. I guess a lot of experience,
23:59with people that inspired me helped. Then it was always the conversation with Chris and I that
24:05we probably always thought we were going to do it together at some point,
24:09we just didn't know when. I guess you can plan as much as you want, but he was down in London
24:15and knew that Ballantyne Farm was on the market. He knew that that was what he was going to do and
24:20start a typical business. It was just, I guess, fate, luck, somewhere in between the hotel two
24:28miles down the road was pretty much someone wanting to give it away because it was not in
24:34the best of states. Hospitality has been at the heart of my career and I've loved it.
24:42What are your plans for the rest of the year, heading into 2025? Is there anything that you
24:46can share with us? Obviously, our plan is always to release new single casts on the market. We
24:51just released, at the start of September, five new casts. Over the next few
24:58months, I am doing a lot of traveling, a lot of shows, a lot of shows, letting people try the new
25:02liquid, going across, meeting our exporters. I'm off to the US at some point shortly, just to have
25:09a chat with our importers over there and let them try the new liquid. Hopefully, confirm more sales
25:16for the new stuff that we have and also keep pushing the 12-year-old. The 12-year-old is our
25:22big volume driver. All the single casts are great to have, but the problem is that they are such
25:28small volume that they keep changing, but the 12-year-old is always there at the core,
25:33the core of the back of everything we do. I think I've got samples of your single cast.
25:37Is that the two different Craigeliches? Yes, that's the Craigeliches. You've got the Craigeliches,
25:42one finished in the Virgin Oak, one finished in the White Port. Then you'll have the Tomor in Virgin
25:47and then the Longbourn and the Bunahama. Yes, I've got some of them, so I'm looking forward
25:52to trying them over the weekend. Andrew, what are your plans? I imagine you're gearing up for
25:56Christmas and feasts and all that kind of thing. Yes, probably November will be gearing up for a
26:04really busy festive period, so lots going on at the hotel with festive menus and things and then
26:09the event side of the business. Obviously, the shop side of things will be gearing up for, well,
26:16first time we've had two shops, first time we've had a lot. We had a shop in Aberfeldy last year,
26:20but it's pretty much tripled in size. So making sure we get that offering right and just the race
26:27to the end of December. And then next year, it's really – we're opening kind of two businesses
26:36this year. We don't have anything huge in the pipeline, but you never know what might happen.
26:42I asked Andrew Wilson if there were other advantages to entering awards such as these.
26:47Also, the networking, the networking opportunities of the events is wonderful as well. So you go
26:52along to these events, you meet people from across the industry. Obviously, we're whisky
26:56and Andrew has got his business and his hotels and X, Y and Z, but getting to meet these people
27:02and having that little conversation where it can help grow us, grow our business, but having that
27:06conversation from meeting people at these events is key. I was at the table with one of the guys
27:12from McSween's Haggis and I would love to do a Fergan Haggis release, a Haggis infused with
27:20whisky. So I was having a chat to him about that, but getting to meet these people and having these
27:24conversations and just see where it could lead. And being in these awards and meeting the people,
27:29you never have that conversation. Well, you never know because there was a beer company in Edinburgh
27:33a couple of years ago worked with McSween on a Haggis beer. So they're open to all sorts,
27:38apparently. So there you go. That's it. I think so. Looking for Bernstein, Fergan Haggis.
27:46Well, thank you very much for your time. And it was great to speak to you guys. And
27:50congratulations again on your awards. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you.
27:54I think you'll agree there's lots to be excited about ahead for the Scottish food and drink
27:58industry. Don't forget the Scran Awards will be back in 2025. And we'll be looking for entries
28:04early next year. So get thinking about who you would like to nominate now. Thanks to my guests
28:08on this episode of Scran. Scran is co-produced and hosted by me, Ros and Erskine, and co-produced,
28:13edited and mixed by Kelly Crichton.