American Whiskey Magazine September 2021

I don’t quite know where I stand on the nature versus nurture debate, and I will likely be swiftly removed from my post if I delve into that tangent here – just kidding, I hope – but I can’t help but think about it in relation to whiskey. To my slightly (we can all agree that’s an understatement) whimsical English literature-studying self, the creation of whiskey seems like the ultimate melting pot for the nature/nurture argument; maybe it really can be a bit of both. I don’t have to work too hard to prove my argument here, especially when you consider that the basic components that go into the creation of whiskey are found at your feet. Grains, water and a little yeast for fun; what’s more natural than that?! So…

2020 was a year of suspended animation. Restaurants and bars shuttered their doors, while many distilleries remained in production without the bustle of tourists visiting their campuses. Whiskey festivals ceased and cocktail competitions went virtual. Now that we are more than halfway through 2021 and more people are starting to be vaccinated, it’s time to move on to ‘the new normal’ with a bit of gratitude for all we have learned. There’s no sense in wasting the lessons we’ve learned on going back to the way things were. People have learned that virtual meetups can be a lot of fun and can even be more inclusive for folks who can’t travel for myriad reasons. We’ve learned that Zoom meetings are a fine replacement for in-person meetings, opening up the imaginary geographical…

If you are a comic book fan like I am, all you ever wanted was a crossover issue: a mixing of two (or more) iconic heroes from different companies meeting in the same book. In my youth I read the giant-sized Superman (DC) vs. Spider-Man (Marvel), and it blew my seven-year-old mind. Now, if you’re wondering what any of this has to do with whiskey crossover marketing then you’ve fallen into my (insert maniacal supervillain laughter) carefully thought-out trap. Whiskey has always been there in the background and by ‘always’ I mean long before 8-Track players, but sometime after the dinosaurs were wiped off the Earth. Its promotability and general acceptance almost seem unstoppable. Every whiskey-loving eyeball on Instagram and Facebook has come across an ad for a whiskey-infused partnership –…

It’s incredibly difficult to emit genuine warmth of feeling through a 15-inch computer screen, especially when digital conversation forms the vast majority of our days; but for 50-or-so minutes one April evening this year my thoughts on that were proven wrong. As a writer with a real sense of over-romanticism when it comes to storytelling, I’ve always been keen to take a look at the relationships that paint the full picture behind the brands we see across all industries. Not that I’m biased, but whiskey seems to provide rich tapestries when it comes to relationships, and as I discovered when in conversation with Wild Turkey’s master distiller and creative director, this star-studded team is no different. The aforementioned roles belong to Eddie Russell and Matthew McConaughey respectively and since 2016, when Matthew…

A very unusual project has come together, with 11 craft distillers stepping forward to contribute barrels of American single malt to create a vatted whiskey, from which all the proceeds will fund an internship program to help underrepresented people get a foothold in the distilling industry. So 11 casks of whiskey from 10 different craft distilleries, including FEW Spirits, Balcones Distilling, Santa Fe Spirits, Triple Eight Distillery, Rogue Spirits, Stateline Spirits, Thornton Distilling Co, Headframe Spirits, Bently Heritage Estate Distillery, and Sonoma County Distilling Co., worth an estimated $200,000 if sold under their original brands, were shipped to Headframe Spirits in Butte, MT. A small group met at Headframe in February to vat all of the whiskeys mentioned. Reade Huddleston, of Headframe, sat in with Johnny Jeffery, of Bently Heritage Estate…

The site of Distillery 291, embraced by the majestic foothills of the Rocky Mountains, is where Michael Myers launched the first Colorado Springs craft distillery in 2011. Myers, who grew up on rural farms in Georgia and Tennessee, went on to become a successful fashion photographer in New York City. He settled with his family in an apartment just blocks away from the World Trade Center, where eventually the events of 9/11, as for so many, would change his life forever. Myers and his wife decided they would leave the city immediately after the event of 9/11, moving closer to her family in Colorado with their young children. Choosing Colorado Springs, Colorado as their new destination, Myers could combine his love for the iconic cowboys of days gone by, with scenes from…