The Pattisons’ Empire: A House of Cards

Robert and Walter Pattison were among the most successful whisky brokers of the 1890’s, a golden era for Scotch whisky. However, their empire collapsed because of bad loans, fraudulent cask sales, and an accounting scheme that inflated the company’s profits. When the Pattisons finally fell, they took other whisky merchants down with them, just as the industry’s overproduction ended the golden era. Justine Hazlehurst spent four years researching the Pattisons for her new book “Opening the Case: The Affairs of Pattisons’ Whisky,” and she joins us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Kentucky’s Garrard County Distilling has gone into receivership, while The Macallan is demolishing its old distillery and The Glenturret is looking for some whisky thieves.