American Whiskey Magazine June 2021

Every now and then I’ll go through a period of time where inspiration appears to have deserted me, so much so that I begin to wonder if this is simply who I am as a person now. Writer’s block sets in, speaking to literally anyone on the phone seems a bit too much like hard work, cooking gets very beige, and my whiskey choice becomes very monotonous. We can all take some comfort in knowing that everyone has been there; on one level or another we all have some experience of inspiration-lacking periods of time. While allowing my thoughts to dive into this topic a little more I couldn’t help but wonder about what it is that pulls us out of this unproductive reverie. For me it is twofold; often something…

With restrictions still making it challenging to hold live events, some of our Whisky Live organisers have begun to look at alternative options and the UK show, Whisky Live London, will run once again in 2021 as Whisky Live At Home. Following the resounding success of the 2020 ‘at home’ show, the UK team have been delighted by ticket holders’ excellent engagement with the online content, which was composed of more than 15 hours of video interviews, and the outpouring of positive feedback on social media. The team will continue to work with our partners around the world and explore whether it may be possible to deliver a similar experience outside of the UK. Furthermore, with restrictions easing in some countries and a path to post-pandemic life beginning to become more…

There’s a feeling in the world of whiskey that everything has already been done and they have already arrived at the perfect way of doing things. In reality, the liquid we think of as whiskey has really only existed for a couple of hundred years of human history, and it took well over a thousand years to arrive at this point. It’s possible that the whiskey of the future has not even been invented yet, and what we relish today may be seen as antiquated in 100 years. Distilleries like Buffalo Trace are at the forefront of this realization, conducting and measuring experiments that are carefully documented all because they realize that there is always some room for improvement Even within the seemingly narrow confines of American Standards of Identity, as laid…

Recently I decided to conduct an unscientific social media experiment by joining three whiskey and Bourbon Facebook groups. I’m not going to mention the names out of respect to the members. My reasons in joining the groups were threefold. The first fold was to put my finger on the pulse of the average whiskey imbiber. The previous sentence might sound a bit snobbish but hear me out. My inner circle of whiskey friends rarely ventures away from their palate’s reservation. That is fine – but it doesn’t help me grow and keep an open mind. Fold two is to flex my personal knowledge base, thinking I would answer a few questions and dispel any rumors about whiskey with hard facts and links to stories written by industry professionals. The sage advice from Sother…

There’s a phenomenon sweeping wine country in Northern California: women vintners and winemakers are adding whiskeys to their portfolios or moving into whiskey-making completely. The variations in how this is happening are numerous, ranging from collaborations using their wine barrels in partnership with distilleries, to whiskey distilleries popping up in wine country. One thing is for certain: the whiskeys they are producing are adding to the craft spirits movement in some pretty unique and impactful ways. “More wineries are starting to dip their toes into the spirits industry,” says Wine Country Women author Michelle Mandro. “It’s a product that doesn’t rely on the same agricultural conditions as wine, which could provide some production flexibility in some seasons. With the frequency of wildfires and the risk of smoke taint, this could be…

American whiskey brands are a very interesting combination of old and new, much like the liquid itself, each with its own gatekeeper or gatekeepers watching over the spirit being created. For the majority of their time in the industry, those gatekeepers stay relatively unknown to the majority of whiskey drinkers, allowing the liquid and their work to speak for itself. However, there are moments that break the mold and these moments deserve to have a light shone upon them, because against the odds of pattern, tradition, and learned behavior, there is a change happening. This change is not to the liquid that is currently being made, but instead to the balancing of those creating it. It is no great shock to readers that since its fruition, the whiskey world has been predominantly…