The Kindred Spirit podcast will feature interviews leaders and innovators in the spirits industry.
Caroline Ashford first made a name for herself as The Gin Queen, the title of her website. The Gin Queen is now Australia’s largest website devoted to gin. Since founding her website, Ashford has also built a career as a spirits judge.
Caroline has recently been recognised for her work in spirits communication, receiving the Gin Communicator of the Year award at the 2020 Icons of Gin Awards in London, and being shortlisted for the IWSC Spirits Communicator of the Year in 2022.
The Kindred Spirit was born out of a series of Instagram Live sessions that Caroline held over the pandemic. In these videos, Caroline interviewed gin producers from Australia and around the globe.
“It was great to peek behind the scenes and listen to the brand stories, but lot of people got in touch and said that while they enjoyed the series, they would prefer it in podcast format. And so, The Kindred Spirit was born,” Caroline said.
Caroline already has a number of guests lined up for the podcast, including Ally Ayres from Karu Distillery, Whisky and Alement’s Brooke Hayman, and Seb Costello, founder of Bad Frankie. The first episode features Desmond Payne MBE, Master Distiller of Beefeater.
“I’ve been privileged to meet some extraordinary people in my ten years in the industry and I wanted to share their stories. They are people I admire and who have had an influence on both personally and professionally,” explained Caroline.
Though Caroline is known for her expertise in all things gin, the podcast will span the spirits world.
“This isn’t a gin-focused podcast, I’ll be chatting to lots of different people across lots of spirits categories. They all have the same thing in common – passion for the industry,” Caroline concluded.
The first episode of The Kindred Spirit podcast is available on podcast apps now.
