Programs & Events

Presentation: ‘Not Your Average Joe’ tells the fascinating story of how the son of a bankrupt English farmer rose to be one of the leading figures in the history of the Scotch whisky industry, making two fortunes and losing one along the way. Covering Joe’s pioneering exploits as one of the first military aviators during WW1; his controversial rum-running activities into the USA during Prohibition in the 1920s; his leading role in designing and building the city of Vancouver’s first skyscraper; his rise as one of the leading Scotch whisky ‘barons’; and his pioneering transformation of a derelict 10,000 acre Scottish Highland estate into the UK’s first cattle ranch during Britain’s ‘battle for beef’ in the lean years after WW2. 

Speaker: Tim Smith has always had a great interest in the colourful whisky entrepreneur Joe Hobbs but knew that a proper biography of Joe’s life had yet to be written. In collaboration with Joe’s family, Tim’s detailed research has enabled him to unearth a wealth of previously unseen material about Joe’s life and achievements. Tim is visiting from Hong Kong.