- yesterday
On this special partner episode of Scran Rosalind is joined by legendary Scottish actor James Cosmo. In recent years James has worked alongside Annandale Distillery to create a blended whisky. 'Storyman' is named in honour of James, and for his reputation as a great raconteur, which you'll become very aware of in this podcast!
Rosalind chats to James about his great passions; acting, whisky and food. He shares memories from his days working on the cinematic giant that was Braveheart, including a story about coincidence that is hard to believe. Rosalind hears more about the process for developing his blend working alongside the master blenders at Annandale. James gets very animated when asked about his passion for cooking - in fact, he might call it an obsession!
You can find out more about Storyman and Annandale Distillery by visiting their website.
Tours of the distillery run every day of the week from 10am until 4pm. Each tour includes up to 5 drams including a taste of James' blend Storyman'.
Rosalind chats to James about his great passions; acting, whisky and food. He shares memories from his days working on the cinematic giant that was Braveheart, including a story about coincidence that is hard to believe. Rosalind hears more about the process for developing his blend working alongside the master blenders at Annandale. James gets very animated when asked about his passion for cooking - in fact, he might call it an obsession!
You can find out more about Storyman and Annandale Distillery by visiting their website.
Tours of the distillery run every day of the week from 10am until 4pm. Each tour includes up to 5 drams including a taste of James' blend Storyman'.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm joined by James Cosmo, actor and whisky enthusiast, and we are here to chat about
00:10Jamesy's Whisky, which he's created in association with Annandale Distillery. So, James, how are you?
00:16I'm very well, thank you. Very well.
00:20Thank you so much for joining us. It's lovely to see you. So, you've been the face of Story Man
00:26Whisky for the last couple of years since it launched, but you've been very involved since
00:31the start, which goes back much longer. So, can you just tell us, for anyone that doesn't know,
00:35just about that journey to how you got to where you are with this whisky?
00:39Yeah, I knew the folks at Annandale from before. I'd visited them when I did a movie called The Outlaw
00:49King and they were down at the distillery and they asked me to come along. I don't know what
00:56they were doing, some publicity thing. And I went down and I met David Thompson, the owner of
01:02Annandale and his team. So, I knew them already. But the genesis of it really was,
01:14you know, when you do films or a TV series or something, you know, at the end of it,
01:21you always have to go spend ages buying people presents, you know, and you just end up in
01:27Waterson's buying them books that you know they're not going to read, but you just do it, you know.
01:32And I thought, you know, it'd be so much nicer if you had something personal that you could say to
01:37somebody, yeah, this is from me to you, you know, it's special. And so I spoke to my business partner,
01:43Andy Pancholi, and he said, well, let me think about that. And I said, well, why don't you contact
01:51Annandale, who I know, and mention my name and see if they can, you know, maybe bottle me some nice
01:57whiskey or something. And so Andy did with subsequent meetings after that. And we decided that maybe there
02:06was more to it than just doing a, you know, a very small run of 100 bottles or 200 bottles or whatever.
02:13And David Thompson said, why don't we, you know, create a really, really special whiskey,
02:20a really good, because I like blended whiskey mainly, and create our own partnership between
02:28myself and Annandale. And that's what we did. A chap called Keith Law, who's a master blender,
02:39joined us. And golly, it took quite a while, the sourcing of the different spirits for the blend.
02:53But Keith, you know, I'd travel up to Annandale, and we'd have a tasting, and it was just a matter of
03:02tasting. And then we'd go in that direction and refine it and refine it. So we'd, we'd several
03:08tastings and talked about it. And, you know, Keith is one of these people, he's got just such a knowledge
03:14of, of whiskey, it's astonishing, you know, and a wonderful nose. And I remember, I think we've got
03:20it and videotaped some of the others. There was one day when it was like, there was six
03:27samples of whiskey there, had to decide which one it was, but I chose the one. And it was a very,
03:34by that time, it was a very subtle difference. But that's the one I chose. And we started the first run
03:42of it, you know, and it's been a fantastic experience, you know, just seeing that first bottle there.
03:52Unfortunately, it's got my ugly mug on the label, which probably frightens the horses.
03:58But just seeing, seeing that there, and then people's reaction, you know, it's, it's been,
04:06it's been terrific. Yeah, we, we, you know, over the last couple of years, since we launched, we won the
04:17People's Choice gold medal, year before last. And we just recently won the Orrin Moore,
04:26and Best Blended Whiskey Award, which is, you know, or more of that wonderful institution in Glasgow.
04:35So that's very prestigious. And lots of blind tastings, where we've come out and talk, you know,
04:43with very stiff competition and a much more expensive competition. But we seem to have hit
04:49that sweet spot. So I'm very pleased. And I'm very proud of all the, all the people that worked so
04:55hard to, to bring it to market. And you've mentioned that you're on the bottle. It has been very
05:03much made a new image. It's bad, doesn't it? It's on the bottle. No, I think it's great. I think it's,
05:09you know, it's, it's very different to their other offer, you know, like, it looks very different.
05:15How does it make you feel that it's been sort of made a new image? Well, that's, that's the thing,
05:20I think you, you look at it from a, a different perspective when it's you, you know, maybe other
05:30people look at it and think that's, that's okay. But yeah, I always feel a bit, you know, when I see
05:37myself, but I'm the same when I'm on, on, on screen, you know, on a movie or, or television,
05:46you know, I feel very uncomfortable looking at myself. And the older I get, the more uncomfortable
05:53it's applied because I can see myself as well. But no, it's, it's, I suppose, you know, the, the,
06:02the companies that David Thompson owns a big PR company and market research company, and these
06:09people that, that know all about that sort of stuff, that's, that's what they came up with,
06:14you know, so I'll, I hide behind the fact that it wasn't my decision.
06:23And what about the name as well? What's the, pardon the pun, the story behind the name Story Man?
06:28Well, I think that came with these, because I'm down in Surrey most of the time,
06:34and we would have these zoom talks with, you know, like eight people, all, all little things on the
06:42screen, you know, and this department and that department, they're all really smart about what
06:49they do. But I, as you've probably already found out, I tend to ramble on a bit. And I'm known for
07:00telling stories about things and places I've been and people I've met, you know, and one of the ladies
07:10there, I can't remember which one, but she came up with the idea of Story Man, and they all seemed to
07:17agree that that was it. So I was quite happy to go along with that.
07:21And then you've mentioned it's a blended Twisky, and you like blended Twiskies, is that it was always
07:27going to be a blend for you? Because you know how single malts now are sort of seen as, you know,
07:31the thing to have? Yeah, yeah, I know there's obviously there's that huge number of aficionados
07:40who, you know, single malt people and, and all the variations of that. But, you know, I would never
07:48pretend to be an expert in whiskies. I've always, you know, if I like a whisky, I like a whisky, that's,
07:54that's it, you know, if it's a particular one, but always sort of preferred a blend to a single malt, really.
08:06Yeah. And do you, if you'd been drinking whisky for a long time, like, what's your sort of,
08:10um, since half past eight? No. Oh, you and me both then.
08:15Yeah, I mean, I was brought up in, uh, Clyde Bank, um, although I moved to London when I was quite young,
08:26but, um, yeah, you know, being Scottish, it was there. I remember walking in a pub there, the
08:37Oshu Bar, I think it was called. Oh, yeah, yeah.
08:40Clyde Bank, and the Arnott Young's, the Shipbreakers was just down the road,
08:46and before we opened at five o'clock, about half past four, we would just start pouring
08:51halves and half pints of beer, and just have dozens and dozens of them, because nobody ever asked for
08:57anything else. You know, if somebody had asked for a gin and tonic, I'd have fallen over, and then
09:03they'd have probably lynched them. But, um, yeah, that was, that was, you know, if you're having a drink,
09:07you would have whisky, yeah.
09:11And what are your favourite whiskies besides, um, Story Man?
09:14Um, I like, um, Single Malt, Smiths, Glenlivet, there's so many of them, you know, and,
09:21and it's wonderful that we have, you know, for such a small country, we have such a diverse range of
09:28whiskies, and at the top end, you can't say any of them are, nah, that's not so good. They're all
09:35pretty fantastic. You know, that's, that's why the, you know, the whisky market has conquered the
09:41world, you know, because it is really, really good. When it's the top end stuff, it's special.
09:46So, I'm, I'm, you know, uh, happy to try whisky from the islands, or the highlands, or, you know,
09:54wherever. Um, every, every, every different one is a lovely experience.
10:01And, um, you're not just into your whisky, you're a keen cook as well. So, um, what do you like to cook at
10:06home? Um, uh, because I'm, uh, obsessive about things, I'll have like an Italian,
10:15two months of cooking Italian food, you know, and, and pretending to be Italian, it's pathetic,
10:22you know, like it's got to be perfect. Um, but, uh, I made, um, I did a series in, in Rome,
10:31called the Name of the Rose. And I remember going there for the, the first time, uh, this nice hotel
10:39that I was staying at. And I said, uh, first night, I said, give me a typical Italian pasta. And they
10:47said, uh, amatriziana, you know, with the guanciale, the smoked pork cheek. And it was, it was wonderful.
10:55And so that was one of my favorite dishes to cook, guanciale, you know, amatriziana. Um,
11:03it's, it's, it's very, it's very simple, but very elegant at the same time. So there was my, um, Italian,
11:13period, a bit like Picasso. He was in his Italian period at that time, you know, and I had a very
11:20short Korean, um, period, um, which is mainly noodles. Um, but I was following these folk on YouTube.
11:30So I was doing, you know, I've got tubs of, uh, uh, uh, gochujang chili paste, you know,
11:38and it's fantastic, but it's not, it's not a wide range of food. You know, it's a bit like Chinese
11:45food. You, you look at, um, uh, Nicola Dennis's book or Escoffee and the ingredients, you know,
11:55there's tons of ingredients, but a Korean cookery book or a, if you look at Ken Holmes book, it's,
12:02it's the same six ingredients in different proportions. That's, that's all you need.
12:07Don't worry. Um, uh, so yeah, I, I was doing my, my Korean, uh, and then I went into,
12:15quite recently, I was doing French cooking, trying to make canel, uh, the Leonese ones,
12:21you know, and, uh, I've had sort of limited success that we, the, the classic one was, uh, as Paul
12:30Bocuse, uh, uh, when he does, uh, um, canel de brochette, you know, pike, uh, dumplings, um, with a
12:41Nantua sauce, which is like a seafood sauce, um, you know, lobster shells and all that sort of thing.
12:50Um, so I, I couldn't get the pike. I've got a friend that goes fishing. Um, I, I fly fish,
12:57but you don't catch many pike on the fly. Um, so I'm hoping to get a pike, you know, a small jack pike
13:03and try and create, uh, the great Bocuse's dish. Um, yeah, so it's, uh, I really enjoy the,
13:12the challenge of it and the history of food as well. You know, like I'm thinking of doing, uh, uh,
13:18a YouTube or a TikTok tour with a friend of mine, Ronald McDonald, that owns the, um,
13:24the Boysdale group of companies, you know, the Boysdale restaurants in London and, uh, just going
13:30around Scotland, finding the great restaurants and the, uh, the different types of food, you know,
13:40from the East Coast to the, the West Coast, the Highlands, the Lowlands, all that, because we've,
13:45you know, a, a wonderful, um, uh, uh, span of different foods and, um, that are underappreciated.
13:56You know, I always, you know, you hear of the Scottish fishermen, you know, we've got the most
14:01wonderful seafood and why does it have to go to Spain and France? You know, why aren't we eating it
14:08in Scotland and Britain? I'm sure there's economic reasons, but I just find it very strange. Um, so
14:15yeah, I'd like to do that. And I'm also an aficionado of Scotch pies. I travel to many places to,
14:24to eat the Scotch pies. Um, in fact, there's one wee place in Annan, right next to the, the distillery,
14:33five minutes earlier, a little, you know, one of these family bakeries that probably started as a
14:38family bakery and they do all the old traditional, uh, Scots scones and potato scones and all that,
14:46and the cakes and things, all very traditional, and they make a Scotch pie. Oh my goodness.
14:53So I, I got to the distillery, have a few drams, then collect the pallets from the, from the,
14:59the bakery. So I'm, I'm all set for the drive back. Although somebody's driving, somebody else is
15:05driving. I mean, that sounds ideal because I can't imagine you get many Scotch pies in Surrey.
15:12Almost impossible. Yeah. It's, it's crazy. I've been thinking maybe I could, um, make some at home,
15:20you know, but I think you've, cause it's that watercrust pastry, you know, and it, I think it would
15:25collapse very easily. So I might have to try and source the, the pastry shelves and the tops,
15:32you know, from a butcher supply place or something and make my own, uh, proper mutton pie, you know,
15:38if I could, just to try and recreate it. Um, but there's another pie that I thought would suit that
15:46very well because I found it in a book somewhere and it was called a Kit Kat pie. And I thought,
15:54a Kit Kat, what, what? And I read more. And there was a, uh, an innkeeper called Christopher Cat,
16:01way back in, uh, Shakespearean days. And he made these very famous pies and Christopher
16:08Kitt and they became known as Kit Kat pies. Um, nothing to do with cats. Uh, but it was,
16:15it was very interesting because there are a lot of, um, raisins and, uh, sort of allspice,
16:22mace, mace, things like that. So it was that whole thing of, you know, the sweetness of meat
16:27and the, the savoriness of the, the sweetness of the raisins and the, the savoury of the spices
16:34and with this lovely meat. Sounds, it sounds great. So, um, anyone, obviously you've had a very long
16:42acting career, um, what have been some highlights that, um, you would like to share?
16:48Oh, um, yeah, um, it's funny because in one's career you can, you can, uh, think of, uh, you know,
17:01like big films that I've been in, you know, like Braveheart and things like that. Um,
17:06and they were wonderful, a wonderful experience and career changing and therefore life changing,
17:14um, which was fantastic. But there's also tiny little things that I've done, you know,
17:19with friends or whatever that I've got just as much satisfaction out of, you know, and, and being
17:26able to walk away thinking, you know, that was, that was the best I could do on the day. That's,
17:31that was, that was the best. So it's, um, yeah, it's difficult to choose any, any particular one.
17:37I mean, I suppose being part of that team that, that made Braveheart was, was, uh, an extraordinary
17:46experience. It was just, and it was like one of the last, um, real, uh, epic movies, you know,
17:57because CGI was, was not a thing then, you know, it was, it was just, you were just hearing about it.
18:04Um, so we did have three and a half thousand extras, which is a lot of people and tons of horses.
18:12It was incredibly exciting. You know, if you did that film now, now, a lot of it would be on a green
18:20screen and there wouldn't be that feeling of, oh my goodness, look at this. But we had that. It was,
18:26it was tremendous. And then, uh, the premiere in Stirling that Mel organized was, oh, such a
18:37wonderfully memorable night, you know, for, for many reasons that, you know, my wife and I talk about
18:44it often and have a laugh, you know, because it's funny that, um, I was doing this film. It's funny
18:52because when films come out, um, the industry tends to, to, they think if you've been in a successful
19:00film, well, if we cast you in another film that adds to the chances of being successful. Now,
19:07I don't know if that's true or not, but that's the way they seem to think. So I was offered this film,
19:13Emma, um, with Gwyneth Paltrow and, uh, all these different folk, Ewan, Ewan McGregor. Um,
19:24and I was working on that. And I said, um, I've got to go up to the premiere of Braveheart, um,
19:33on a Sunday. And they said, oh, gee, let's look at this because we've got a scene on the Monday
19:39morning. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they said, we've, we've got so much invested in hiring
19:45this event, this place. And we just, you can't go. I'm terribly sorry. So I phoned my wife and said,
19:54look, we can't go. And bless her. She said, that's, that's okay. But I could tell, you know,
19:58I was disappointed as well. So after about half an hour, I mean, it was, I was doing okay.
20:04I was being well paid. And so I phoned her back and I said, we've got a little airport up here, um,
20:11called Sevenoaks. Um, and I said, go up there and hire a plane. So she did. And so with the, the,
20:21the Saturday and Sunday off. So we drove up to the airport, the plane, twin engine thing,
20:28flew us up. Uh, we landed, a car picked us up. We went to the premiere. We went to the after party.
20:35It was fantastic. It was in Stirling Castle. It was unbelievable. They had fire eaters and jugglers,
20:43and it was all sort of medieval stuff, you know, and it was the most wonderful party. Everybody
20:47adored the film. Felt so wonderful. Eventually at three o'clock in the morning, I've got to
20:54drive back because that same plane is waiting to take off. So he'd say goodbye to everyone. I get in
20:59the car and we're driving to the airport and the guy had a, you know, these old brick phones that
21:06start moving. It rings and he says, um, uh, Oh, it's for you. I thought, Oh, geez, what's happened?
21:11Some of the kids or something. And it's the police. And they said, do you have a plane
21:17leaving for London? I said, we have like 20 minutes away from the airport. They said,
21:23this is incredible. He said, would you mind taking a human heart on the plane for a transplant?
21:31Because in those days, it was very, very time critical. I said, no, no, it's okay. They said,
21:37just keep on the motorway like that. And then within 10 minutes, this ambulance pulled in front of us,
21:44and then two motorcycle cops shot down and they were on the phone. So we just got on,
21:50it was a big yellow box. I mean, Annie and I put it between us and we flew down,
21:57landed at the airport and an ambulance and police there and it went scushing off somewhere. It was
22:03gone, you know, but I thought if I hadn't, if fate hadn't said, we really want to go,
22:10somebody got a heart that night or that day. It was amazing. Yeah.
22:14That is amazing. That is, that's really, yeah, that's so cool. And I take it, you don't really know
22:19anything about the person that got the heart. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I just
22:22hope it worked and it was, it was great, but imagine the chances of that.
22:28Yeah, that's, yeah, that's mental. That's so, that's so cool. And so obviously you've, with things
22:34like Braveheart, that's like a, you know, like a dream, a dream film. Do you have anything on your
22:40sort of dream to-do list? Not really. At my advanced age, I'm looking for a, like a film,
22:50like playing as a Gandalf-y character, you know, so I don't have to do much.
22:57Yeah, I'm looking for jobs that, that require a lot of sitting down and, or lying in bed. I don't
23:09I think I've seen enough of horses and horses have certainly seen enough of me.
23:17And what, what do you have coming up for the rest of the year? Is there anything you can share with
23:21us or anything to do with the whiskey at all? Yeah, I did a, the end of a series called
23:26Talamaska for AMC and we're hoping to start that in the next season in the autumn.
23:34As far as the whiskey goes, we continue to, to get it out there. It's just started to
23:42be imported into America. It's a bit difficult just now with tariffs and all that sort of thing,
23:47but we're getting out to America. It's in China. We're looking at India, but I just want to, to grow
23:55a home market as well, you know, because I'm, although it's got my ugly mug on it. I am very
24:03proud of that whiskey and not, not proud for myself, but I'm proud for the, the talented people
24:10that put that together. And especially David Thompson, who the, the faith to, you know, to put a lot of
24:17money towards it and, and Keith Law, who is just a master at his, his, his craft. It's, it's amazing.
24:25And I get such a buzz out of, out of people enjoying it. You know, I had a friend of mine that I gave him
24:34a bottle of about two weeks ago. I said, yeah, Jimmy, how about go with that? And he's a dyed in the wool
24:41Irishman. Been over here for years, but he's as Irish as anything. And I gave it to him and he said,
24:46oh, he said, no, he said, I drink the green spot. You know, that's my, that's my drink. I said,
24:52I know, I just like you to, well, you're my pal. Have a wee dram. So about three nights later,
24:58he phones me up and he said, no, he said, I've shut the door on the office. He says, no one else
25:04should hear this. He said, but James, he said, your whiskey is the best whiskey I've ever tasted.
25:13But I won't reveal his second name.
25:17Oh, that's brilliant. Just to, just to quickly go back to the scotch pie things, by the way,
25:23I don't know if you know, there is a cafe in London set up by a Scottish guy called Greg called
25:30Old Hag and they do scotch pies and they do morning rolls and they do square sausage and they do
25:36really good coffee and cheesies and sandwiches. I will do. Yeah. He's, he's doing really well.
25:45Um, yeah, I think it's sort of like Islington, um, so I'll, um, I'll send you the details because
25:50yeah, I'm sure he would be delighted. Yeah, he's doing really well. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's really
25:56taken off. It's such a good idea because, um, I used to live down there and I always wanted,
26:01you know, a rolling sausage and, you know, feddy if you're drinking. And then yeah, he's,
26:06he's doing it so that you'll get your scotch pies in there. Oh, that's fantastic. Excellent. Excellent.
26:13Um, well, thank you very much for your time. Um, I'll just check with Kelly if we're all good,
26:19if there's anything else. And if not, we'll, we'll wrap up. Yeah. Okay. Um, well, thank you so much
26:25for your time, James. It's been great to chat, lovely to hear your stories and find out more
26:29about your whiskey. Thank you very much indeed. It's been lovely talking with you.
Recommended
26:11
22:28
41:26
38:48