The Whiskey Ring Podcast

A Boot Hill is a burial ground for the unclaimed, the poorest, and those hanged for misdeeds. For some, a Boot Hill was necessary - it got them the first few steps to heaven. And Dodge City, the fabled town of the old west, has the original Boot Hill.  Boot Hill Distillery isn't located on top of the hill, exactly (it's quite close), but it is built on those stories. Images of Wyatt Earp and other...

Sangam World Whisky is the newest release from the Rampur line of Indian whiskies. While there is some Rampur distillate in there, this is much more - a blend of Indian, European, and New World whiskies into a cohesive, slightly smoky (unusual for the Rampur lineup), and highly enjoyable bottling that expands what you may think about Indian whisky into a new category altogether.  The idea, while e...

Highline Spirits is women-led, women-owned, and women-operated - but that's not the story (or the whole story).  Entering the blending space, Highline - founded by Christi Lower in her home state of Michigan - was inspired by one of the most beautiful places she (and I!) have ever been: the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park. With 3000' up and 3000' down and just enough width for about two pe...

Anna Axster and Wendelin von Schroder - cousins and veterans of the entertainment industry - have started a whiskey. Just a few weeks ago, that whiskey brand launched as Lodestar Whiskey, a blend of high-rye bourbon and American single malt whiskies aiming for a Southern California vibe.  This whiskey - and the women behind it - are worth a look. It's a whiskey aimed at multiple audiences with mul...

Paul Pacult has made a name as one of the OG whiskey/spirits writers in the US. His books, including Kindred Spirits, Buffalo, Barrels, and Bourbon, and American Still Life, have won multiple awards and gone through multiple printings. He is the founder (with his partners) of the Ultimate Spirits Competition, which is sunsetting later this year, and an otherwise esteemed taster with a legendary re...

This week, I'm joined by Henric Molin, the chemist-turned-distiller who never quite left the chemistry behind when he and his wife started Spirit of Hven Distillery on a small island in Sweden.  Spirit of Hven's products are immediately recognizable by their Erlenmeyer flask-shaped bottles. Inside the bottles is an adventure. Corn whiskey, rye from the far north, gins with nearby botanicals, and m...

Happy Thanksgiving!  This week's episode is extra special. I'm joined by Maggie Kimberl - bourbon reviewer, Content Editor for American Whiskey Magazine, panelist for multiple whiskey awards, cigar aficionado, bourbon historian, and prominent member of several groups promoting women in whiskey, perhaps the most important and widely impactful role among the many hats she wears.  Maggie is a Louisvi...

If you're from England, you probably think of Adnams for its 150-year-old brewery. What you might not know is that for just over a decade, they've also been distilling. In fact, they were the first distillery in the UK to have a brewery and distillery on the same site (they had to check with the government!) Adnams not only has a unique distillate for their single malt, they're also putting out on...

Barrels are one of those inventions that change the course of human history. Think I'm overstating it? Devised by the Celts and proliferated by the Romans, barrels have carried everything from water to fish to oil and whiskey in the last two millennia. They're (ideally) leak-free, can store things for long periods of time, and are easily moved by one person despite weighing hundreds of pounds. Tod...

What would you do if your family had lived on the same land for 900+ years in the most beautiful area of Ireland, have a history of bootlegging then going legit, and a passion for action?  You start a whiskey brand, that's what, and you name it for Daniel O'Connell, your ancestor and one of the most famous Irishmen to ever live.  Sir Maurice O'Connell is the man behind Wayward Irish Spirits and Th...

Welcome! This week I'm joined by two people at the heart of the Rosen rye and heritage grain movements: Laura Fields, head of the Delaware Valley Fields Foundation, and Bob McDonald, owner and farmer at Dancing Star Farm in central PA.  These two know more about farming and grain history than I will ever forget, and the passion is evident. If you don't already, follow Laura and Bob on Facebook - L...

Live from New York it's Black Button Distillery!  Black Button has just opened a brand new facility, 6 times the size of its former one and with 10 times the capacity! They're now producing between 10-15% of all the bourbon in New York, all while promoting New York whiskey, Empire rye, and knowing where your grains are from.  I'm joined by founder Jason Barrett, Director of Marketing Gregg Stacy,...

Hood River, Clear Creek, McCarthy's Single Malt, and Trail's End Bourbon - all are the same family, the same facilities, and part of a whole.  Hood River Distillers, founded in 1934, was one of the first distilleries to come online post-Prohibition. Clear Creek was founded by Steve McCarthy in 1985, first to produce fruit brandies and later (starting in the '90s) a peated single malt that paid hom...

Ardnamurchan Scotch Whiskey, out of Adelphi Distillery, is not-so-quietly putting out a delicious new style of Scotch, marrying peated and unseated spirit (with peated water right off the peated hills nearby) into a gentle, smoky spirit with huge body and oiliness.  Ardnamurchan is an extension of Adelphi, an independent bottler with a history dating to the 1820s. This (relatively) new distillery...

The Barrell Rye pick is in! A Barrell Rye blend finished for 12 months in Armagnac casks - this is an incredible pick.  To help us launch it, I invited Barrell's own Tripp Stimson to talk about this pick in particular and the goings on at Barrell as they expand around their 10th anniversary.  I'll leave the rest for the episode - oh, btw, Patreon members get an exclusive benefit. Join today! _____...

Lisa Roper Wicker. If you know bourbon (or American whiskey in general), you know her name. She's an industry legend whose humility and quiet nature belies an intensity for her work and a vast store of knowledge.  Lisa has had stints at such spots as Limestone Branch, Widow Jane, Pearse Lyons, Samson & Surrey, and more, exploring a new facet of the industry at each step. Distiller, blender, br...

THE SINGLE BARRELS ARE HERE! IF YOU'RE NOT ON PATREON YET, GET ON IT NOW OR YOU'RE LIKELY TO MISS OUT ______________________________________________________ Ok, here's a new one - how often do you come across a whole new category of spirit? Something that needs new recognition by the TTB, EU, UK, and all regulatory agencies?  Introducing Trä-Kál Patagonian Spirit. Think about a brandy base (distil...

This week, we're back to whisky! Still without an E, but whisky nonetheless!  We're going to the farthest east coast of Australia, the Gold Coast and Cape Byron to visit Cape Byron Distillery.  Founded by Eddie Brook and nurtured by whisky legend Jim McEwan, Cape Byron is putting out whiskies, gins, and liqueurs that celebrate the land from which they come. The Brookie's gin has 25 botanicals, wit...

We're taking another diversion from whiskey this week to talk rum! I'm joined by my favorite rum guru, Eric Kaye, to talk Holmes Cay Rum, single barrels, and origin series rums from around the world.  Eric spends half the year traveling around the world, trying rums from Barbados and Jamaica to Mauritius, Japan, and Fiji. Dozens of countries, all making their own styles of rum for exploration.  An...

Let's be honest - if you don't know who or what Jack Daniel's is, you probably aren't old enough to listen to this podcast.  ANYWAY - I'm thrilled to be joined by Lexie Phillips, Assistant Distiller. Lexie is not only the first woman in this position, she's also an accomplished distiller and taster in her own right with a background in agriculture. Oh, and she led the barrel pick that resulted in...

Part 2 of our episode with Dread River Distilling in Alabama gets down to the nuts and bolts with new distiller Joshua Goins. Founder John Cubelic stole Joshua down to Birmingham to take over the distilling, and just a month and a half into the job he entered the Whiskey Ring.  I must say, he did an amazing job.  This episode works best with Part 1 (Episode 98) but is set as a standalone, too. Enj...

Back to whiskey! Driving down to Brooklyn, we're visiting New York Distilling Co. (NYDC) with founder Allen Katz.  NYDC was one of the first distilleries back in NY after the craft movement started. It devoted itself to only one type of whiskey: rye. Gins, too, but only rye on the whiskey side. And that rye is Empire Rye - a minimum of 75% rye grown in New York.  NYDC is a fascinating study in foc...

I know what you're thinking: Gin? That bitter, juniper-heavy, cocktail drink?  Yes, gin. But gin is so much more than a mixing spirit.  Gins have been a low-key favorite spirit of mine for a while now. The most interesting ones differentiate themselves with local botanicals (read: plants, spices, etc.) that create a profile unique to that place. Some, like this week's guest, start before that, usi...

In the last two years, how many products have we seen that contained 15-, 20-, even 30-year-old Canadian whisky? A dozen? two dozen?  Also - want to know how buffalo horn buttons help Jason move whiskey across borders? (Don't worry, the horns fall off naturally, no hunting involved). None of these products came from Canadian producers, though - all the ones I could find were put out by NDPs or pro...

We've reached it! Episode 100!  For Episode 100, I wanted to feature a distillery I initially wasn't sold on. I wanted to highlight the importance of retrying products every few years, especially for younger distilleries that continue to hone their craft.  Coppersea sits in the beautiful Hudson Valley, right outside New Paltz (which is world-famous for its mountain climbing - who knew!). They're o...