The Pot Still is undoubtedly a Glasgow whisky institution...
Proudly boasting an extensive and diverse selection of over 1000 different whiskies sourced from Scotland and beyond, it’s known the world over, not just for the whisky, but for its good old fashioned Glasgow welcome. This atmosphere undoubtedly stems from its family ownership and the commitment to providing a place that feels just as comfortable for whisky geeks as it does your non-whisky drinking punter. We sat down for a dram and a chat with co owner Frank Murphy to get his thoughts on whisky, pubs, Glasgow and everything in between…
RB: Can you give us a brief history of your family’s involvement with the Pot Still?
FM: My dad (Brian Murphy) has had pubs since I was six, so, we’ve all been in the trade for donkeys. He sold off the pub that he had, the Arlington, before the smoking ban came in because he thought that would be the end of pubs. So, we were all cast to the four winds. We went away and did different things and found ourselves in different places, and I ended up finding myself in here the first time working for Kenny. (Ken Storrie and his family ran the pub from the early 90’s until 2010)
So I started working for Kenny and then Geraldine (Frank’s sister) started not long after. I then left to go and do other things so Geraldine got our cousin Sean in. I was at a few places including the Clockwork (The Murphy’s latest venture on the southside), before ending up back here (The Murphy’s officially took over the pub in 2011). During Lockdown my dad decided to retire so one of my other sisters, Kate has taken on his stake in the business so now it’s myself and my two sisters.
RB: The whisky world has changed massively in the past 15 years. Have you seen that change reflected in the pub?
FM: We've had to change the way things are on the gantry! That's the simplest and easiest explanation for it. I mean, everything was a little bit here and there before and we tried to install an order on it but it never really worked. When we came in 13 years ago there was three active distilleries in the lowlands. Auchentoshan, Glenkinchie and Bladnoch.
Then Ailsa Bay came on stream and now you've got Lindores, you've got Eden Mill, you've got the reopened Rosebank, you've got Clydeside ,Glasgow, Inchdairnie, Daftmill, Lochlea, Holyrood, Bonnington etc etc and so, the lowlands section, although we're sat in the lowlands, it was a small section of the pub. We had a lot of Auchentoshan but we didn’t have a lot of local whisky.
The other thing is just the sheer number of bottles. When the Waterstones opened this place as The Pot Still in ‘81 they had 300 bottles of whisky on the shelf, and that was a larger proportion of the total number of whiskies you could buy in the world at that time than the thousand odd bottles that we have now!
We could quite happily buy three times as much and still not have everything. Derek at Artisan (Artisan Restaurant, Wishaw) has a mind boggling amount of whisky but it’s still not everything. I could let you try a dram of everything in here and then send you up to the Bon (The Bon Accord) and there would still be new things to try. So it’s a matter of curating now. Finding out what you want to stock and why you want to stock it, what you want to offer the customer.
For a very long time we didn’t have anything over £100 a dram until the Springbank 30 came out then that opened the floodgates a little but we’ve managed to create a little space where we go for noodley, odd things, a lot of independent bottles… I like getting in whisky adjacent things as well and we have a fair bit of new make, because I like talking to people about new make!
RB: What do you feel the role of the pub is in todays whisky landscape?
FM: I like the idea that we’ve potentially introduced more people to whisky than any other comparable place. The level of conversation we choose to have with our customers means we’ve always got multiple staff on so we can spend more time talking. We get so many people in who say ‘oh i don’t like the stuff’ but if we can get something good under their nose and they say ‘oh i like the smell of that’ then instantly we’ve got past a barrier and can find something that works for their flavour and price requirements.
We’ve got wine casks, we’ve got port casks, IPA casks, stout casks…if you find out what people like to drink and can introduce them to things that have an aroma or a flavour they’re familiar with then that gives them that bit of confidence to give things a try.
Another thing we like to do is offer flights which means people can order a few drams and sit with the whisky first rather than having to be totally clued up on what they’re ordering beforehand, and then if they’d like more information that then starts a conversation.
We’re part of a community here. I’ve known Thomas at The Bon since the first time I worked here. The Piper has always been around but it’s gone big recently with its upstairs lounge. The Gate’s arrived out in the east end. The Barrowlands area has totally changed with The Gate and Van Winkle out there. Ben Nevis has always been there, The Lismore has always been there but there’s now more whisky drinking options in the city than there ever was, which is great. I’m absolutely delighted about that because as I said it creates a sense of community, more of a reason to be in Glasgow.
RB: Favourite whisky place (other than the Pot Still)?
FM: I’ll go to the Bon because I know them well and it’s somewhere I like going. If we’re going to a gig at the Barrowlands it’s the Gate. It depends on which cardinal direction I’m heading in! If I’m going here, I’m going there and if I’m going there, I’m going here! I love the diggers as well (Athletic Arms, Edinburgh) and The Laurieston because I feel comfortable there.
RB: Three drams that hold a special significance to you and the pub?
FM: Highland Park 25. That was my road to damascus dram. I was working in the Clockwork and my pal was coming in. I hadn’t bought him a birthday present so I bought him the most expensive dram in the pub and he let me try some… At that point my dad had the Arlington and he only drank Guinness so I would sample all the beers for him and that’s how I got into beer. We’d go to trade shows and there would always be 10 year old this and that but that 25 year old HP really opened a door for me.
Benromach 10 is my default drinking whisky. I enjoy that so much because it tastes the way Highland Park used to taste! We recently did the tour there and it ended up just us with the distillery manager. I usually try not to de-rail tours with all my questions so I make a mental note and keep all my questions for later but on this one I could ask every geeky, noodley thing I wanted to ask and it was absolutely brilliant.
MacNaMara Rum Cask is from a wee company on Skye called The Gaelic Whiskies Company. It’s a blend, it’s not expensive and it’s bloody lovely. It’s not a big hitter it’s just a really nice whisky. We frequently get worried as every so often it’ll fall out of stock and we think ‘is this it?’ and then thankfully it comes back in stock. It’s a great example of a whisky that’s probably not that well known outside of here but we stock it because we really like it. At the end of a shift you might want a MacNaMara and a Super Bock…neither are expensive but what they both have is flavour.
RB: Small question to finish on…favourite distillery? You can only pick one!
FM: Ah ****, I can’t…
Well, Auchentoshan…when I worked here for Kenny they came around their key accounts to take them out to the distillery and that was the first time a distillery had really focused on me as a bartender rather than an owner…they really wanted bartenders to learn about their stuff which at that time was quite a progressive idea. So I’ve got a soft spot for Auchie because of that.
Oh, Glenfarclas was one of the first distilleries I ever went to…
RB: You’re only supposed to pick one!
FM: I know, I know, I’m going through my shortlist here!
I really liked Glenfarclas as it was so obviously a family run business. It’s certainly not the newest or most polished but it has the feeling that a family run it and they want you to know they run it, so we leant in to that.
Macallan is impressive, ridiculously impressive. As an example of what a distillery could be in the 21st Century, you can’t fault it. It’s maybe just the marketing of the product that makes it a bit, let’s say…annoying? Like it being called a ‘brand home’ instead of a distillery!
Should it be Benromach? It’s kind of everything that surrounds the distillery… that tour, I’ve got a lot of pals there. I could say Glen Moray just as much. The first time we went there Iain Allan (Glen Moray global brand ambassador) was taking us round. It’s all who’s talking to you, why they’re talking to you, what they’re telling you… it’s all bound up in people and place.
A great note to round things up on. Thank you to Frank and all the Pot Still team. Here’s to the whisky people and the whisky places!
Cheers!
