International Whiskey Day lands on a Friday this year and World Theatre Day is today too, which means you can go to the theatre and drink whisky and technically be celebrating two things at once. Ryan O'Donnell would like it noted that International Smashburger Day is also a real calendar entry and that smashburgers are categorically different from regular burgers, a position he holds with the conviction of someone who has clearly thought about this a great deal.

There is a pillow fight day coming. There is a world octopus day, which Ryan O'Donnell argues should technically be eight days. There is a talk like a pirate day, which raises the question of how you write a pirate email to a coworker you are trying to get into a meeting. These are the kinds of problems worth sitting with on a Friday.

Also today: the sun rose. The ecosystem cleaned the air without being asked. The cells in your body did things you are not aware of and turned them into energy anyway. International Whiskey Day or not, that is already a lot.

Topics: International Whiskey Day, smashburger debate, silly international days, World Theatre Day, Friday show

Originally aired on 2026-03-27

Canadian whisky has been reaching past its reputation and most people have not noticed yet. Stephen Beaumont says Canada is currently the most exciting whisky market on the planet, beating Ireland for that title, and the evidence runs from Crown Royal's new single malt to Lot 40's cherry wood and dark oak finishes to a hundred percent rye whisky being made right now in Windsor.

What does it feel like to realize the category you wrote off as a mixing spirit has been quietly doing something remarkable? The Glenora Distillery in Cape Breton is the first modern single malt distillery in North America. Okanagan Spirits in BC is making a bourbon-style whisky with 45 percent chocolate malt, something no American distillery can touch under their own regulations. Eau Claire in Calgary has a Stampede whisky. Alberta Distillers just released a 21-year-old.

Twenty years ago Canadian whisky went in ginger ale. Right now it is winning the argument about which country is making the most interesting spirit in the world. Stephen Beaumont has been saying so out loud and International Whisky Day is a reasonable occasion to listen.

Topics: Canadian whisky, International Whisky Day, Lot 40 whisky, Glenora Distillery, Okanagan Spirits BRBN

GUEST: Stephen Beaumont | http://beaumontdrinks.com

Originally aired on 2026-03-27

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau's English-only statement after two pilots died had a problem that had nothing to do with language. It had to do with order. The names should have come first. Andrew Caddell says the criticism of Rousseau is fair and the timing of the politicians who piled on was tasteless. Both things can be true.

What is it like to realize a CEO has been through this exact situation before and apparently taken nothing from it? In 2021 Rousseau spoke to the Chambre de Commerce in Montreal entirely in English and told the francophone audience that he had lived in the city for twenty years and never needed to learn French. He believed this reflected well on him. It did not. That was five years ago. One paragraph on a teleprompter was all that was needed this time and he did not do it.

The NDP is choosing a new leader in Winnipeg this week. Andrew Caddell says the party is a shadow of what it was, Wab Kinew is not going anywhere, and Abby Lewis has lost two elections.

Topics: Air Canada CEO French language, Michael Rousseau 2021 Montreal, NDP leadership Winnipeg, Canadian politics, two pilots LaGuardia

GUEST: Andrew Caddell

Originally aired on 2026-03-27