My Bushmills Chat with 92yr old Les Duthie

My Bushmills Chat with 92yr old Les Duthie

From Whiskey Chats by Laurie O'Dwyer

March 2, 2026 · 2h 1m · Season 1 · Episode 200

About this episode

Laurie O'Dwyer interviews 92-year-old Les Duthie, former manager of Bushmills Distillery, discussing his life and experiences in the whiskey industry.

Join me for My Bushmills Chat with Les Duthie. Les Duthie was the Bushmills Distillery manager from the early 70's until the mid-90's. He is 92 yrs young and has a memory like an elephant. I went and sat with Les at his home in Bushmills village, a mere stone's throw from Bushmills Distillery. He grew up in Glasgow and entered into the drinks industry in the 1950's, where he spent his entire career, ending up as Distillery Manager in Bushmills during a pivotal point in Irish history - The Troubles. This was a privilege to sit and chat with Les and I expect you will learn as much from him as I did. Thank you to his daughter Shirley and also to Adrian McLoughlin from The Harbourview Whiskey Hotel in Carnlough for facilitating this chat. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by: www.boanndistillery.ie www.killowendistillery.com Don't forget to sign up to my Patreon channel for early access episodes and more, for a few euros a month and help me deliver the best podcasts to you. https://www.patreon.com/whiskeychatspodcast I really hope you enjoy listening in to our chat. Laurie

People in this episode

Host: Laurie O'Dwyer

Guest: Les Duthie

Topics covered

  • whiskey
  • distillery management
  • Irish history
  • personal stories
  • interviews

Keywords

  • Bushmills
  • whiskey
  • Les Duthie
  • distillery
  • Irish history
  • The Troubles
  • interview
  • personal stories

Sponsors

Boann Distillery, Killowen Distillery

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bushmills Distillery, The Harbourview Whiskey Hotel

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