The Whiskey Ring Podcast

Dread River is here! Our first episode in Alabama, and it doesn't disappoint.  Dread River was founded by John Cubelic less than a decade ago. With founding partner Jeff (a doctor with Andrews Sports Medicine - the site of more Tommy John surgeries than I'd care to think about), they toured the country to find out what American distilleries were doing in different states. Along the way, they found...

Holladay Distilling burst onto the scene in 2022 with a 6-year-old Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon that won Best First Release at the 2022 Whiskey Ring Awards . It was a fantastic pour that beat out several other highly-touted distilleries from around the world, including Lochlea (helmed by the legendary John Campbell) and Keeper's Heart, which stole Brian Nation from Midleton and brought his influence to...

Wolfburn Distillery has a two-century history on the far north coast of Scotland - interrupted, of course. First founded in 1821, it languished in disuse for nearly 150 years before being revived in 2012.  At the time, it took the title of Northernmost Distillery in Scotland away from the nearby Old Pultney. Since then, 8 Doors Distillery has usurped the geographic title, but Wolfburn is happy to...

Plenty of distilleries and NDPs take someone else's distillate, slap a label on it, and sell it. I hate that. Others take the distillate - aged or new make - and do something with it, either a weird finish or some new maturation technique to differentiate themselves from the pack.  OH Ingram fits into the latter category, though not derisively. Their proposition is pretty simple, honestly: take ne...

Angus MacRaild and I get together to talk about his independent bottling venture - Decadent Drinks - and the blog that he started nearly 10 years ago, WhiskySponge.  Decadent Drinks was virtually unknown to me a few months ago. Since then, I've gotten a number of bottles. Why? Because they're fantastic, each a true showcase of their home distillery in the way an independent bottling should be. And...

Purchase your sample kit here for the virtual private Riachi tasting by June 17th to ensure delivery!  _________________ Surprise, surprise: another connection made at that center of the NYC whiskey universe, Travel Bar.  I got to meet Ronan Currie at a GlenAllachie tasting event and had to have him on the podcast. The GlenAllachie has a rich history as a brand despite it being one of the newer di...

Purchase your sample kit here for the virtual private Riachi tasting by June 17th to ensure delivery!  _________________ Please welcome back returning guest Ari Sussman to talk about Whiskey JYPSI and Outsiders Spirits!  Heard of Eric Church? Maybe the Jack Daniel's Eric Church Single Barrel special release? Maybe you're just a fan of his music (though if you're listening to this podcast I kind of...

Purchase your sample kit here for the virtual private Riachi tasting by June 10th to ensure delivery!  _________________ Colby Frey's family has been farming in Nevada for 165 years, so no opportunistic farmers here (is there such a thing?) For most of that history, the family grew grain and animals for commodity markets - the high-protein, low-starch grains desired for feed, not the kind that's g...

Purchase your sample kit here for the virtual private Riachi tasting by June 10th to ensure delivery!  _________________ Finding Riachi was a happy accident, and boy am I happy it happened. Riachi has been making wine and spirits - mainly arak - in Lebanon for 184 years (since 1839), until they decided to enter the whisky space in 2011. Roy Riachi, the family's current generation, found a love for...

Bonus episode #5! Welcome back to Devin Ershow and Chase Langdon of American Mash & Grain and Borrowed Page American Whiskey.  I loved Borrowed Page Volume 1 (2022). It blended four distilleries and four distinct styles into a one-of-a-kind American whiskey that allowed you to taste all four components without losing sight of the whole.  It was a tough act to follow, but Borrowed Page Volume 2...

We're finally back to whiskey, I promise! This is a classic episode - a distillery making single malt in the corn capital of the US. Don't worry, they make a damn good bourbon, too, but my first taste of Cedar Ridge was a single barrel of their single malt picked by Lost Lantern.  I'm joined by head distiller and Scotch-lover Murphy Quint, who has led the distillery's operations except for a stint...

After a few weeks abroad, we're back in the US, in Kentucky!  But we're not back to whiskey yet. This week, it's the Brandy Ring Podcast! Copper & Kings American Brandy Distillery sits in the heart of Louisville's Butchertown neighborhood. In a relatively small space, they manage to use shipping containers, a wide-open events space/patio, and a beautiful wall of windows that can open in good w...

Finland, Norway, and now Iceland - we're working our way back to this side of the pond, but not before visiting one of the most unique distilleries (and products) I've ever come across.  Eimverk Distillery is also known unofficially as Floki Distillery, named for the eponymous single malts that showcase both Icelandic barley and an Icelandic smoking tradition that can sound like a gimmick until yo...

A week after visiting Finland, we're staying in the Nordic countries - kind of.  Emily Vikre's family comes from Norway. There were always aquavit and hearty meals to be had. But when it came time to do something with that heritage - something that had nothing to do with her PhD in food policy and behavioral theory - she came home to Duluth to found Vikre Distillery.  Yes, they're making whiskey,...

It's a bit late - had a great event on Japanese whisky last night!  ----------- How much do you know about Finland? Yep, probably about the same I did. Not much.  Turns out, there's a whole lot to learn. I started, oddly enough, with a well-timed episode of Timesuck learning about the sniper known as the White Death from the Winter War of WW2. Besides a fascinating story, it taught me that Finland...

Roy Peter Clark - RPC, for short - is America's writing coach. He's written dozens of works, hundreds if not thousands of columns for multiple media outlets, and is considered the all-around go-to for concise writing.  So why is he on my podcast?  Simple: I write reviews. I read reviews. I critique others' writing and evaluate it as I'm reading. I know I'm far from infallible, so if someone can he...

Ever since I started my whisky journey, I've been fascinated by the art of the blend. Malt, grain, bourbon, rye, American, Scotch, Irish - when you get out of the box, there's so much you can do.  Nobody embodies that in the Scotch world better than Compass Box. Founded in 2000 by American ex-pat John Glaser, the company initially struggled to get on a shelf. Twenty-three years later, Compass Box...

Our first ever Oceania episode! Join me for a 19-hour flight to New Zealand, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Towards the top of the North Island lies Pōkeno Distillery, a relative newcomer helmed by industry veteran Matt Johns. The North Island of New Zealand is sub-tropical, with high humidity year-round, an unusual climate for whisky aging. And that whisky is spectacular.  I'm a b...

I do a lot of research for each episode of the podcast - I don't want to ask anything that's been asked over and over. Often, that's listening to podcasts, reading interviews, anything that might spark an insightful question or a different angle.  But what do you do when a distillery has their own podcast? What do you do when there's so much information out there and yet so much to ask?  You start...

Talnua Distillery in Colorado is quietly putting out some excellent single pot still whiskey in the Irish style. They follow the Irish Technical Files as far as possible, with only the "made in Ireland using Irish water" regulation unfulfilled.  Founders Patrick and Meagan Miller discovered the Irish single pot still style on their honeymoon when, by chance, they were in Ireland when the first Red...

This week, we're heading back to Texas! Down to San Antonio, where the Maverick family has roots stretching back to a decade before the Alamo. Dr. Ken Maverick, the owner and founder, is the eighth-generation Maverick in San Antonio. His ancestor might have been the last man to leave the Alamo alive, sent out to get help.  Maverick Distilling is out to prove itself as a whiskey company that happen...

Surprise! For the first time, The Whiskey Ring Podcast is proud to bring you the inaugural interview for a brand!  Triple Dog Irish Whiskey is officially launching TODAY after a soft launch in five states. And you're hearing about it first right here. This is a brand new Irish Whiskey, hailing from Great Northern Distillery just off the Cooley Mountains and in the wee county of the Irish Republic....

This week two Whiskey Ring Podcast veterans join me for an all-out chat about tasting panels, spirits competitions, and the stupid and not-so-stupid things producers will put in a competition.  Here's the winning formula: use water you like, decide on number vs medal beforehand, and trust your palate more than the entrant - you might just know more than they do about their own product.  Make sure...

Liberty Pole Spirits - also known as Mingo Creek Distillery - is producing traditional-style bourbons and ryes with the spirit of the Whiskey Rebellion in its veins. Centered around the idea of a liberty pole, the only thing associated with the Rebellion that wasn't already copyrighted, according to founder Jim Hough. Liberty Poles are symbols of dissent, freedom, and independence, dating back at...

In episode 76, we're going back to Continental Europe, somewhere not visited on this podcast for some time. For the first time ever, Germany is now in our sights.  I first came across Eifel Whisky by pure chance about two years ago. Finding a bottle on an auction site, I tried it, liked it a lot, then put it aside. I can't really remember why I didn't pursue it, but I didn't. Then, in November, ag...