Kenny and Viktorija Macdonald like the word "mòr", Scots Gaelic for "big".

Growing up, Kenny was known as Coinneach Mòr ("Big Kenny"). He and Viktorija met in the Glasgow pub Òran Mór ("big song") over a dram of Dalmore ("big meadow").

"That whisky has a lot to answer for," Viktorija jokes...

After they'd hitched up, they decided to start a whisky company called Dràm Mòr: Big Dram.

Iniatially they acted as agents for other whisky producers, utilising Viktorija's contacts in her native Lithuania to export uisge beatha to the Baltic states and Ukraine, before expanding elsewhere into Europe.

But before all that - and Viktorija - Kenny had "many different hats". And two jobs. He was a meat inspector for the Food Standards Agency and a nightclub bouncer for 27 years, where he says, "I have seen every form of stupidity the human race has to throw at me."

So how did they get into the whisky industry?

"It was Viktorija's fault," Kenny insists. "Let's be perfectly clear about that. So I came home from work one night and Viktorija said to me: 'Why do you do what you do? You obviously hate it'."

"Well of course I hate it," Kenny says he replied. "It's my job." But, he continues, "Viktorija said, 'Some folk really enjoy what they do.' And you know, to my utter shame, I laughed at her."

But Viktorija, Kenny says, persisted: "What would you love to do?"

And then it dawned on him: "I love whisky."

That's when they decided to start Dràm Mòr. And they eventually went from agents to independent bottlers.

But how did they get there?

In this episode Kenny and Viktorija tell John about their whisky journey; how they started Dràm Mòr; the markets they trade in; their thoughts on the current state of the whisky industry; and how they believe people in Ukraine and the countries neighbouring Russia - like the Lithuania and the other Baltic states - are, as Viktorija puts it, "drinking more of the good stuff because they don't know how long they're going to live."

People in Ukraine, Viktorija tells John, are "living between hope and hell. Literally."

Theirs is a sobering tale about the universality of hope over fear; and the simple pleasure that can be found, even in the worst of times, from a simple dram.

So raise your glass to life, hope and fortitude. If you know your history, it's what Scotch whisky has always stood for.

Slàinte!

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Socials:

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Creator & producer: David Holmes

Art work & design: Jess Robertson

Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)

Vocals: Andrea Cunningham

Guitars: John Beattie

Bass: Alasdair Vann

Drums: Alan Hamilton

Bagpipes: Calum McColl

Accordion: Gary Innes

Music & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John Beattie

Recorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, Scotland

Special thanks: The Piper Whisky Bar, 57 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, Scotland

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