The Whiskey Lore® Podcast

Meinelschmidt Distillery (Hagarstown, MD) WF053 Time for another Mid-Atlantic stop, this one not far off the I-81 exit. We're stopping in to visit a military veteran who, along with his wife, decided to take their enjoyment of craft distillery travel and turn it into their own distillery. We'll learn Cort and Chelsea's inspirations for their Hagarstown distillery, hear about the growth of the town...

Copper Fox Distillery (Sperryville, VA) WF052 You've heard of peat smoked Scotch...well, that's not what you're going to get at Copper Fox. Instead, the grains from the distillery's malting floor get their smoke infused with smoke from cherrywood, peachwood, and applewood. It's a unique take on smoke and it comes from distiller and founder Rick Wasmund's fascination with the wonderful scents these...

Black Draft Distillery (Martinsburg, WV) WF051 What started as a horse farm is now the home of whiskey, fascinating flavors of vodka, and barns and a patio filled with music, cocktails, and a good number of soon-to-be friends. Join me in the smoking room of the Black Draft Distillery as I chat with founder Glen Price about the evolution of his horse farm into an agritourism site and the home of fu...

Oak & Grist Distillery (Black Mountain, NC) WF050 Just a few miles east of Asheville, North Carolina (which has held the honor as Beer City USA several times) is a somewhat sleepy community on the edge of the mountains, where Will Goldberg and Charlie Stanley are focused on distilling up two amazing spirits - an American Single Malt and a Dutch-style Jenever. Their stories start with both wine and...

Today I braved Atlanta traffic for one of my favorite recorded interviews of the year. Join me as I chat with ASW's head distiller Justin Manglitz. A distiller, a fiddler. Somehow, without ever traveling to Scotland or Ireland, he pulled in the art of distilling from those storied whisky making areas, saw what was happening in America, and developed his own hybrid techniques from the two disparate...

St. Augustine Distillery (St. Augustine, FL) WF0048 Heading down to a beautiful distillery in a historic building in a town filled with its own history. Join me as I travel to the oldest continuously occupied town in the United States (did I get that right?) as we meet with Richard DeMontmollin, head distiller, and chat about the origins of the distillery, his family name, the wonders of the pot s...

Seven Three Distillery (New Orleans, LA) WF047 Time to head down to the Big Easy to a distillery experience with a little swamp magic and a whiskey tree. In a town with so many cool things to experience, its time to get a feel for the hospitality and spirits produced by Luka Cutura and his team at Seven Three Distillery, just across the bridge from the Louisiana Superdome and a few blocks from Bou...

Crittenden Distillery (Kiln, MS) WF046 Head to the deep, Deep South, down to the self-proclaimed moonshine capital of the United States, Kiln, MS. While it did snow here a couple weeks ago, this area is much more known for its heat and we're going to go step by step with Matt Crittenden through the distilling process and chat about various considerations along the way. Patreon members are getting...

Dread River Distillery (Birmingham, AL) WF045 The Deep South tour continues as I move through 48 great states and craft distilleries. Today I'm at Birmingham's Dread River Distillery meeting with their head distiller Joshua. We're going to dive into his experience moving from a Pennsylvania distillery into the heat of the South. We'll also learn about an American Single Malt experiment that took a...

Time to take a trek off the beaten path to a family run distillery that defines what it means to run a craft distillery business. For 10 years, Craig and Meredith Amick have grown the business from moonshine made on a flame fed pot still to a line of Bourbon's that are showing, even in South Carolina heat, the right craftsman can make a unique Bourbon filled with complexity. Join me as we chat abo...

Rock Town Distillery (Little Rock, AR) WF0043 Today, I'm off on the last stop of my first swing through the country. The destination is Rock Town Distillery, where cocktails have become a specialty, and where you can taste the difference between column still and pot still whiskey - and maybe even taste some peated Bourbon and single malt. Join me today as I chat with Phil Brandon, founder of Rock...

Hochatown Distilling Co (Broken Bow, OK) WF0042 What do you think of when you think of Oklahoma? Probably not beautiful green hills and Bourbon whiskey. Well, it is time to discover, along with me, one of the most beautiful parts of the state of Oklahoma, near the tourist town of Broken Bow, to learn about a distillery built on science. Meet Blue McDaniel, co-founder of the Hochatown Distilling Co...

Ironroot Republic Distillery (Denison, TX) WF0041 The Great 48 Tour heads to a family run distillery that is celebrating 10 years of mixing French distilling techniques with Bourbon and other spirits. Join me as I chat with Robert Likarish, co-founder of Ironroot. We'll talk about the distillery's origins, working with barrels in Texas heat, and how they set their distillery experience apart from...

Old Dominick Distillery (Memphis, TN) WF040 Welcome to Memphis, the second stop on my Great 48 Tour of the United States and its amazingly creative craft distilleries. Today, we're skipping Graceland and heading straight downtown to Front Street, a couple stops from Beale, to enjoy some whiskey and Memphis history through the eyes of the Old Dominick Distillery. Join me as I visit one of my favori...

Bard Distillery (Graham, KY) WF039 It's time for the "Great 48 Tour" as I make my way across the country, visiting a craft distillery in each of the 48 contiguous states. It seems appropriate to start this kind of journey in Kentucky, the state that helped bring whiskey back after Prohibition. But so many distilleries in east and central Kentucky are well established. Heading to Western Kentucky i...

Kiwi Spirit (Golden Bay, New Zealand) WF038 (A special extended version is available at whiskey-lore.com/patreon - available with the 7-day free trial) It's time to head to the land of the Kiwi's - New Zealander's fun nickname. A few weeks ago, Kiwi Spirit was flying in the Whiskey Lore "Craft Distillery Fan Favorite" competition and reached the Sweet 16. I felt it was time to get to know them and...

Hellyers Road Distillery (Burnie, Tasmania) WF037 How many distilleries are there on the island of Tasmania? Wow, really?  It is time to take our first steps onto whisky island. So you thought that was Islay, right? Well, maybe by volume, but for the sheer number of distilleries, Tasmania has them by a mile.  Today, let's get a sense of what is going on in Tasmania, the flavors, the styles, the ex...

Hard Truth Spirits (Nashville, Indiana) WF036 Over the years, I've been to a few distilleries that consider themselves "destination distilleries." On the way up through Indiana, I saw Hard Truth suggesting they were a "Top" destination distillery. In this episode, Gerry, Bryan, and Travis are out to convince me of it. Join me on my last stop along the Midwest Great Lakes Tour 2024 as I visit the h...

O'Shaughnessy Distilling Co. (Minneapolis, MN) WF035 The Midwest Great Lakes Tour 2024 is winding down, but not before we hit a jewel of the Midwest, Minneapolis and the distillery that is bringing together Irish and American spirit traditions. The distillery is O'Shaughnessy the home of Keeper's Heart. I'll chat with former brewer, now lead distiller Chris Sliber about how he and Irish distiller...

When it comes to whisky legends, George Dickel has one of the most confusing. Was he a distiller or wasn't he a distiller? Who is this Victor or Manny Shwab that gets a mention during the historical breakdown on the tour. Did George ever own the Cascade Hollow distillery? And if he didn't who did? Plus, where did the slogan for their whisky "Mellow as Moonlight" come from? My guest today, Clay Shw...

45th Parallel Distillery (New Richmond, WI) WF034 After a short (recording) layoff, thanks a a hurricane power outage, I'm back to finish off the last three visits on my Midwest Great Lakes Tour 2024. Today, we're off to a distillery with great fan support in an area just a little off the beaten path. It's 45th Parallel, just about 50 minutes east of Minneapolis. It's a distillery focused on grain...

Lucky Guys Distillery (Hudson, WI) WF033 The sign says it all "mad scientist at work." Join me as I arrive on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota and chat about all things bitters (including how they're made), cocktails, white whiskey, and what charcoal filtering really does. I'll be chatting with Lucky Guys founder Guy Whitehead. And check out the growing list of distilleries available for you...

Great Northern Distilling (Stevens Point, WI) WF032 Thanks to everyone taking part in our Instagram Craft Distillery Bracketology. Without you, I wouldn't have discovered so many great Wisconsin distilleries, including the one I'm visiting today in the heart of America's Dairyland, beer land, and now whiskey land. During our visit, we'll learn about what potatoes bring to vodka, the special ingred...

Ethanology Distillation (Elk Rapids, MI) WF031 If you're into creativity and you love distilleries that push the boundaries, today's distillery has you covered. Nick and Geri Lefebre made gin and Bourbon, but they also make a pretty amazing spirit (2 ways) out of honey. Single malt and brandy fans might find this episode fascinating. Nick and I sit outside, enjoying samples and talking about creat...

Mammoth Distilling Co (Bellaire, MI) WF030 A big thank you to Mammoth for inviting me to South Manitou Island for the Rosen Rye project. What an amazing experience. You'll hear about some of it in this episode with my guest, farmer, brewer, and distiller Collin Gaudard. He'll talk about how Rosen Rye got to America, how popular it was, how it went away, and how we got it back. Also during this epi...