Blackadder: The Whisky Bottler with a Backbone, a Bit of Sediment, and Absolutely No Time for Polished Nonsense - A Conversation with Hannah Tucek.

In the theatre of whisky, where some producers rehearse their lines for mass-market palates and others wear their age statements like medals, Blackadder prefers to barge through the side door, trailing cask char and carrying a bottle that looks like it’s been smuggled out of a cooper’s dream. It doesn’t whisper. It doesn’t seduce. It simply shows up - honest, oily, and completely unfiltered - like the punk poet at a black-tie gala.

This isn’t just a cask - it’s Blackadder’s idea of a time capsule... filled with smoke, sediment, and zero tolerance for chill filtration.

Founded in 1995 by Robin Tucek and now helmed with fierce grace by his children, Hannah and Michael, Blackadder has become a lodestar for those who believe whisky should not be “finished” in the cosmetic sense but rather left gloriously unfinished - alive, textured, and slightly wild-eyed.

Their flagship expressions under the Raw Cask label don’t just resist filtration - they rebel against it. These aren’t drams, they’re declarations.

My own initiation came by way of a 16-year-old Ledaig, drawn at cask strength and unapologetically swirling with sediment - like a snow globe left too close to a fireplace. At first, I thought it was a gimmick. Then I tasted it.

The dram opened like a theatre curtain: vanilla buttercream on yellow sponge, salted caramel, a breeze of underripe mango and starfruit. But just as you’re lulled into sweetness, the scene shifts - pickled meat, coal smoke, a bitter citrus snap, and that unmistakable funk of beach bonfire soaked in sea spray and diesel. It was Wuthering Heights in liquid form: windswept, briny, beautiful, and slightly unhinged.

Water didn’t dilute the drama - it changed the lighting. Suddenly: lime zest, syrup-drenched tropical fruit, malt syrup, toasted barley, and parmesan rind. The mouthfeel? Super oily, bordering on greasy, with peat oil and Szechuan peppercorns tap-dancing across the tongue. It was like licking a salt-rimmed oyster shell beside a mechanic’s workbench - and loving every second of it.

Bottling whisky with more backbone than your double shot espresso - unfiltered, unapologetic, and serving sass by the dram.

That bottle wasn’t just a whisky - it was a love letter scrawled in soot and spirit, a tactile reminder that whisky, at its best, is not engineered but entrusted.

And that’s where Hannah Tucek comes in. With the quiet confidence of someone who’s been raised in whisky's shadow but never blinded by its spotlight, Hannah brings both vision and vigilance to Blackadder’s mission: to bottle truth, not trends.

In this conversation, we speak with Hannah about the art of listening to casks, the joy of not fixing what isn’t broken, and why - when everyone else is airbrushing their spirits - Blackadder chooses to leave the fingerprints visible.

1. Your earliest encounters with whisky were ambient rather than deliberate- woven into the fabric of domestic life. How has this immersive upbringing informed your sensibility toward authenticity and craft in spirit bottling?

Hannah Tucek: My brother and I have been very spoilt when it comes to experiencing quality spirits. Because our father's vision for the company was to bottle as close to the cask sample as possible - without any added colour or flavouring and with minimal filtration - our tastebuds, as far as whisky is concerned, have developed with the quality of the spirit firmly at the forefront.

2. You speak of a pivotal moment - tasting a 30-year-old Glen Ord - that reshaped your perception of whisky. How do such sensory epiphanies continue to guide your curatorial decisions within Blackadder’s singular cask philosophy?

Hannah Tucek: It’s very simple. My father, brother and I regularly sample from our casks, and we only bottle the spirit when we are 100% happy with it ourselves. Everyone has personal preferences, of course, but we bottle a cask when we believe the wood and spirit have interacted well - and the angels have taken their fair share. If we don’t enjoy what’s in the bottle, why should our customers?

Our philosophy is: the cask is king. We work closely with Tonelerías in Spain and other trusted suppliers to ensure top-quality wood, and source our spirit through contacts my father has built up over more than 40 years in the industry.

3. Blackadder’s Raw Cask ethos resists intervention, championing sediment, texture, and complexity. In an era of refinement and conformity, does this approach represent not merely a technical choice, but a philosophical one - a quiet act of rebellion?

Hannah Tucek: There’s definitely no rebellion here! Our intention has always been to bottle as close to the cask sample as possible, and Raw Cask simply embodies that ethos.

4. As the next generation stewarding a fiercely independent brand, how do you navigate the delicate interplay between familial legacy and your own evolving vision for the company’s future?

Hannah Tucek: Our father is still very much involved in the day-to-day running of the company - and the word retirement certainly isn’t in his vocabulary! My brother and I are united in continuing his vision. We have no intention of growing the business beyond what is sustainable as a truly independent, family-run company. We’ll never compromise on quality, and we don’t look to others for inspiration.

5. The idea that “every cask has a fingerprint” suggests a deep intimacy between bottler and spirit. How do you interpret the character of a cask - what signals speak most clearly to you, and when does a whisky announce its readiness to be shared with the world?

Hannah Tucek: Even if all casks were made from the same tree, no two would be identical in their composition. Over time, our experience has taught us which casks to choose and when a spirit is ready.

We select a wide range of cask types, many of which are made specifically for us, so we can guarantee their quality. Blackadder is a reflection of our family - it’s incredibly personal to us. And we hope that comes through in every bottle.

6. Having once been a reluctant whisky drinker, do you believe the appreciation of whisky is primarily a matter of palate, memory, or narrative? And how does that belief shape the way you present your whiskies to the public?

Hannah Tucek:I think it’s all about the palate - unless, of course, you’re swayed by the narratives of others. Which we never are.

7. You describe your role as keeping the ‘wheels turning,’ yet there’s an elegance in that orchestration - ensuring that a brand grounded in artisanal values remains operationally resilient. How do you preserve that balance between structure and spirit?

Hannah Tucek: For us, it’s very simple: we never compromise on the quality of what we bottle. I remember someone approaching me at a whisky fair saying, “Ah, Blackadder - I know if it’s on the label, it’ll be good.” That consistency is everything.

8. With Blackadder expressions found in whisky bars from Tokyo to the Faroe Islands, what do you think resonates universally about the unapologetically raw nature of your spirits?

Hannah Tucek: We’ve learned that people really appreciate the purity and quality of an unadulterated spirit.

9. As independent bottlers face increasing pressures from global conglomerates and shifting regulatory environments, what do you see as the enduring strength of a small-scale, cask-centric model - and where do you believe innovation still has room to flourish?

Hannah Tucek: Market pressures affect everyone, large and small. But our industry is built on mutual respect - we’re all pulling in the same direction. Most innovation today is in marketing or how you reach consumers. While distilling technology evolves - different yeasts, stills, etc. - the fundamentals haven’t changed. And we haven’t either. We’ve stayed true to our identity for over 30 years. If it’s not broken, we don’t fix it.

10. If the cask is, as you say, ‘king,’ then how do you define the role of the bottler? Are you a translator of wood and time, a custodian of character, or something closer to a storyteller with an alchemical bent?

Hannah Tucek: The bottler must treat the cask with humble respect, fealty, and due diligence. Ultimately, what goes into each bottle reflects our family’s values - and we take that responsibility seriously.

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Words and questions by AW.

Photos courtesy of Blackadder.