The Whiskey Ring Podcast

Heritage, Grain, and Grit: Matt McKay Revives the London Distillery Company The London Distillery Company - TLDC - has, TLDR, had a rather rough two centuries. Two failed ventures, one in the early 1800s and one in the 2010s, the last ending in 2020 with a few dozen casks remaining, sitting in a warehouse for several years unloved.  Enter Matt McKay, a Whiskey Ring Podcast guest way back in Episod...

La Maison du Whisky, Version Française, and Everything About French Whisky I love "visiting" new countries through the podcast. Granted, France we had technically touched before through Brenne, but I'd heard that there was so much more to learn about the French culture of drinking and spirit production - so who better to talk to than Marion Attardi and Matthieu Acar, of La Maison & Velier and...

Scottish Born, Colorodo Bred Show Notes and Reviews Colorado was long a bastion of the craft beer scene, and out of that grew a now-booming craft whiskey industry. Among the first of those whiskeymakers was Boulder Spirits (part of Vapor Distillery), who imported Alastair Brogan in 2012. His vision was clear: to create the best American single malt whiskey possible, while honoring traditional meth...

Why Not, What If? Georgie Bell and husband Fabrizio Leoni co-founded The Heart Cut, an independent bottler, with an eye towards the world. The question is relatively simple: how can we connect whisky enthusiasts with some of the most exciting, innovative, and deserving-of-attention distilleries? More than half of which - in a telling coincidence - have been Whiskey Ring Podcast guests? Georgie and...

Leading the Revival of Maryland Rye This week on the Whiskey Ring Podcast, I got to cross off another long-awaited guest: Sagamore Spirit. Situated harborside in downtown Baltimore, Sagamore's campus is among the more beautiful I've visited. The 5-acre plot centers around Penny, their 40' copper column still, which has (almost) single-handedly managed their transition from MGP-sourced rye to 100%...

Waves, Whiskey, and Wild Tasmania: The Waubs Harbour Story Nestled on the rugged East Coast of Tasmania, Waubs Harbour Distillery emerges as a maritime whiskey revelation that challenges everything you thought you knew about Tasmanian spirits. Founded by Tim and Bec Polmear, with distiller (and Tim's brother) Rob bringing scientific precision and deep industry experience, this distillery is a test...

Our First Venture To South Dakota Black Fork Farms' roots trace back to Gordon Omen's great-great-grandfather, Poppy J Omen, who immigrated from Germany and farmed in Southwest Minnesota. The distillery operates on the same land where Gordon grew up, now primarily dedicated to distilling operations. Gordon's inspiration came during a trip to Budapest, where he experienced a field-to-glass bourbon...

A Weirdly Timed Episode... Let's get the awkwardness out of the way - I had the pleasure of interviewing Mel Maddox, now-former Master Blender for Old Elk, on May 2nd. A few days later, it was announced that Old Elk had been acquired by Middle West Spirits (a previous guest!) and, subsequently, all workings at their Fort Collins, Colorado location were ceasing. This included laying off all product...

Geese, Barley, and Peat At The First New Islay Distillery in 124 Years In this brand new episode of the Whiskey Ring Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with James Wills, son of founder Anthony Wills and a worldwide face of Kilchoman Distillery on Islay. This episode marks a significant milestone as it is my first interview with an Islay distillery (I was surprised too!), and I was excited to...

One Distillery, Two Time Zones, and Corsets and Whips, Oh My! Husband-and-wife team BIll and Johanna Welter came to whiskey through very different paths - thankfully, their union has produced not one, but two distilleries from which Journeyman's whiskies and spirits spring forth. Bill's passion for golf led him to St. Andrews, Scotland; Johanna's path led through hospitality, drinking whiskey at a...

Bourbon Pursuit and Pursuit Spirits Enter the Whiskey Ring What do you ask when your guests have over 1,000 podcast episodes over three shows and 10 years? That was my task this week - let me know how I did!  My guests are Kenny Coleman and Ryan Cecil, hosts of the Bourbon Pursuit podcast and founders of Pursuit Spirits, an NDP grown out of their love of bourbon and rye and, in my mind, the dream...

From Neighbors to Distillers: The Story Behind Oaklore Distilling Co. In this episode of the Whiskey Ring Podcast, I had the pleasure of chatting with Matt Simpkins and Tom Bogan, the co-founders of Oaklore Distilling in North Carolina. Their journey began as neighbors bonding over their shared passion for whiskey while walking their kids to the bus stop. What started as casual "Tuesday drinking"...

Whiskey, Rum, and Community: St. Augustine Distillery In this episode of the Whiskey Ring Podcast, we take a deep dive into the world of craft distilling in Florida, featuring two key figures from the St. Augustine Distillery: Will Hensler, the COO, and Rick deMontmollin, the VP of Production. As we explore the unique landscape of distilling in the Sunshine State, we uncover the rich history and i...

Are You In The Muff Market? Are You A Muff Liquor Man?  Ok folks, we're going to have fun on this one.  When I started the research for this episode, I wasn't sure whether the "Muff Liquor Company" name was a tongue-in-somewhere thing or a hard lean-in. Turns out it's the latter with a healthy dose of the former. It is a company based in Muff, Ireland that makes liquor, and yes they know what the...

Blueberry Muffins in Cognac and an Ice Cream Collab Waiting To Happen Allison Parc began as a ballet dancer, and nearly 20 years after leaving that career behind, she still exudes the confidence and posture of one about to assume first position. Her new career, embarked upon at just 23 years old, was wildly different: one grounded in a product of indulgence and imbibing. Even she was unsure if she...

Shochu Tradition Meets The New Japanese Whisky In Kagoshima, along one of the longest beaches in Japan, lies Kanosuke Distillery. Though the family has been distilling shochu for 140+ years, they hadn't entered the whisky sphere. That changed in 2017, with the first products coming out in 2021.  This is a new standard for Japanese whisky, making grain whisky on shochu stills and using Japanese sti...

He's ozonating spirits, y'all - what the hell.  I'm thrilled to welcome back my friend, distilling guru, alchemist, historian, artist, swearer, and so many more things, Alan Bishop.  There's no need for long show notes on this one. It's a wild ride, from injecting ozone into sunflower spirit to what it means to be the face and embodiment of a brand. Everything else in the middle is a bonus.  Yes t...

Where I Spent More Time With A Cat Than In The Distillery Though I really ought to return!  Leiper's Fork Distillery was founded by Lee Kennedy, who had a long-standing fascination with the history and science of whiskey production (starting with a Fox Fire book series I'd never heard of, all about Appalachian life). After experimenting with home distilling as a teenager, Kennedy pursued establish...

Sugar Kelp, A Little Peat, And A Vision For The Future I first heard about - well, read about - Isle of Harris Distillery in Dave Broom's A Sense of Place. A small community known for its beauty, its tweed, and its declining population, its would-be savior was not a Scot at all, but an American who had grown fond of the area (owning an island nearby) and wanted to save it.  How though? A distiller...

An OG New York Distiller - But You May Know Them From Elsewhere Finger Lakes Distilling is one of the oldest distilleries in New York, having started in 2007. They're part of the Empire Rye collaborative, and are producing whiskies, brandies, vodka, and a soju spirit.  But you probably know them for a serendipitous partnership: Pursuit Spirits, from Kenny and Ryan at Bourbon Pursuit, who used Fing...

High Malt Bourbon and Community Support, No LCP Needed: The Story Behind Chattanooga Whiskey A few years is a lifetime in craft whiskey, and few brands epitomize this more to me than Chattanooga Whiskey. When I first tried them - most likely their now-gone 1816, which was sourced transparently but not representative of where they are today - I was not a fan. Something was off, and I resisted revis...

From Bogs to Bottles: Peat's Unbreakable Bond With Whiskey This one's for you, Bill. In this episode of the Whiskey Ring Podcast, I had the pleasure of welcoming Mike Billett, a peatland specialist and researcher, to discuss his newly released book, Peat and Whiskey: The Unbreakable Bond. His passion for peat led him to write a popular science book that not only highlights the scientific aspects o...

Untangling the Myths and Legends of Whiskey How many distillery tours have you been on? Are you a veteran of the hobby, or a new entrant looking to learn as much as they can, or perhaps someone on a family trip taking a brief trip to a nearby distillery for fun? Whichever of these applies to you, chances are you will hear something (probably multiple somethings) that are apocryphal, stories told s...

There's More To Western Pennsylvania Than The Whiskey Rebellion! If you're a whiskey nerd of any level, of course you know this, but it's worth saying again. Previous guests such as Wigle Whiskey and Liberty Pole Spirits have done excellent work exploring the Whiskey Rebellion's place in history and its importance to the area - so if you're a new distillery looking to find your niche, you better b...

Bats, Bees, and Bushels - Farm Distilling in Georgia For my first "visit" to Georgia, I wanted to find somewhere that felt truly of the land. You can't do better than Doc Brown Farm & Distillers. Georgia terroir, farming their own heritage corn (Jimmy Red!) and getting whatever they can't grow themselves locally, even Georgia barrels. It's all about Georgia, and it's all about the sense of pla...