WhiskyCast

Paul Hletko opened FEW Spirits in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois in 2011 as part of the explosion of small-scale distilleries around the United States. He became a leader in the craft distilling movement, and is celebrating FEW's 10th anniversary with the release of a commemorative four-grain Bourbon this week. We'll talk with Paul about balancing the art and commerce of making whisky on...

If there's one thing that whisky teaches us, it's patience. Australians Vanessa Wilton and David Whittaker have learned that lesson over the last four years since they opened the Manly Spirits Company distillery in the Sydney-area beach resort of Manly. They had planned to release their first single malt whisky late last year, but of course, the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns delayed that plan. T...

Brian Nation is best known for his work as Master Distiller at Ireland's Midleton Distillery, and he shocked Irish whiskey lovers when he stepped down nearly a year ago to join the startup O'Shaughnessy Distilling Co. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Covid kept him from making the move with his family until a couple of weeks ago, so he did much of his work remotely from Ireland with occasional trips to...

Everyone has questions about whisky. Dr. Nick Morgan knows more about whisky than most people, and his second pandemic-era book has just been published in a partnership with The Whisky Exchange. Everything You Need to Know About Whisky (but are too afraid to ask) answers many of those questions. We'll talk with Nick about his new book, along with his recent Master of Malt blog column on the role s...

Earlier this month, Nick Ravenhall and his brother Alex did something most of us would never dream of trying. They led a small team of swimmers through Scotland's treacherous Corryvreckan whirlpool as part of their Whisky and Waves campaign of open-water swims around Great Britain. The "Whisky Smugglers" are carrying small bottles of whisky during their swim that will be blended and sold later thi...

When you drink a glass of whisky, spare a thought for the lonely Quercus Alba.  Without the thousands of American White Oak trees harvested every year, we wouldn't have Bourbon or most other whiskies, since Bourbon barrels wind up at distilleries all over the world. Kentucky claims to make 95% of the world's Bourbon, so one might think the Commonwealth would honor that with its choice for the stat...

We're going into the #HappyHourLive webcast archives for this episode! Legendary distiller Jim McEwan joined us last February on the webcast, shortly before he announced his retirement from the Scotch Whisky industry, and this was one of his final interviews. He shared stories and answered your questions for nearly two hours that night, and we thought it was worth sharing with more of you. 

Jack Daniel's is arguably America's most well-known whiskey brand, but there's a lot we don't know about the history of Jack Daniel himself. The truth behind some of the mysteries around Jack Daniel's went to the grave with him when he died 110 years ago, and historians have been trying to piece together the details for years. Nelson Eddy is the distillery's official historian, and joins us on thi...

Bob Baxter distills the award-winning Two Brewers Canadian single malts with co-founder Alan Hansen at their Yukon Spirits distillery in Whitehorse, Yukon, and Todd Leopold makes equally renowned whiskies with his brother Scott at Denver's Leopold Bros. Distilling. Bob and Todd joined us on the latest #HappyHourLive webcast to talk about their whiskies, along with the unique three-chamber still no...

Nearly four years after Toby Curtsinger was released from prison after serving just 30 days of a 15-year sentence, he's telling his side of the "PappyGate" saga. Curtsinger, his wife Julie, and eight other people were indicted in connection with the thefts of thousands of dollars' worth of whiskey from Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey distilleries, but Toby Curtsinger was the only one who served any...

The reaction to last week's bonus episode with Stephanie Macleod of Dewar's was so positive that we're doing it again this week! Wes Henderson of Angel's Envy joined us Friday night for the #HappyHourLive webcast, and we talked about everything from the construction underway at the distillery in Louisville to lab-created whiskies and what defines a "master distiller." That's something Wes knows we...

The Scottish town of Dornoch has a lot of history, and the Thompson brothers are adding a new chapter to the town's legacy. Their family owns the historic Dornoch Castle Hotel, and after managing the hotel and its world-class whisky bar for several years, Phil and Simon Thompson decided to open their own distillery near the hotel four years ago. They've only bottled one cask of their own whisky so...

With many people starting to return to the office, we know you may not have as much time to watch our #HappyHourLive webcasts on Fridays. That's why we're trying something new: a podcast version starting with last Friday night's conversation with Dewar's Master Blender Stephanie Macleod. You'll hear everything as it happened on the live show, with minimal editing to remove some audio glitches that...

There are lots of things about American history that never make into the history textbooks. For instance, the Mayflower left for America with three times as much beer on board as drinking water, and while George Washington may have been the first U.S. President to become a whiskey distiller, at least two of his successors also owned whiskey distilleries. Harris Cooper digs into some of the things...

The Ayrshire farm where Scotland's legendary bard, Robert Burns, once worked the fields has now become intertwined with another Burns legacy: his love for whisky. The family-owned Lochlea Farm opened its distillery three years ago next month, taking the barley from those fields and turning it into whisky. Until now, the distillery has kept a low profile, but it's starting to bloom ahead of the fir...

Why do we drink, even though we know drinking too much isn't good for us? Is it human nature...perhaps in our DNA? Since there are people with a genetic mutation that makes them sick when they drink, why hasn't that mutation spread throughout the world? Is that a sign that perhaps evolution recognizes some benefits from the occasional dram? Those are some of the questions University of British Col...

Is Tennessee Whiskey Bourbon? That argument has divided whisky lovers for years, but Nicole Austin says it is. She's the head distiller and general manager at Diageo's Cascade Hollow Distillery, the home of George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey. To prove her point, she created the new Dickel Bourbon, and she'll make her case on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Uncle Nearest opens up the lat...

Earlier this year, Japan's whisky makers agreed on a voluntary definition for "Japanese Whisky" after decades of quietly blending their own whiskies with imported whiskies from Scotland, Canada, and elsewhere. That new definition requires "Japanese Whisky" to actually be fermented, distilled, and matured in Japan, while whiskies blended with imports are now to be labeled as "world blends." The cha...

Brendan McCarron had a safe, secure job as Dr. Bill Lumsden's hand-picked "heir apparent" on the Glenmorangie and Ardbeg whisky creation team, but he was missing something. Earlier this year, he jumped at the chance to get back to distilling when Distell offered him the chance to become master distiller for its Bunnahabhain, Deanston, and Tobermory distilleries. Brendan did his first public appear...

Before Prohibition, New York was known for its Rye whiskies distilled from locally-grown grain. Decades later, a new generation of New York State craft distillers came up with the Empire Rye concept as a way to promote both their individual rye whiskies and help encourage farmers to grow more rye in their fields. The first Empire Rye-labeled whiskies came out four years ago, and the six pioneering...

Distillers depend on the environment for every ingredient that goes into making whisky and are under increasing pressure to reduce the environmental impact of making whisky, even at distilleries that have been around for more than two centuries. Glen Garioch Distillery in the Scottish Highlands is one example where sustainability means a return to some of Scotch Whisky's traditional practices. As...

Ed Belfour has won all kinds of awards during his Hall of Fame hockey career, from the Stanley Cup to an Olympic Gold Medal. Last month, one of the Belfour Spirits rye whiskies he made with his son Dayn and daughter Reaghan won their fledgling whiskey company its highest honor yet - a Double Gold medal in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. We'll catch up with Ed and Dayn Belfour on this...

Counterfeit whiskies are becoming more of a problem, but technology might just help provide a solution in the future. Whisky makers are starting to explore the use of blockchain technology to provide a traceable record of their whiskies right down to the bottle, with increased transparency and the potential to show if a bottle has been tampered with. Chris Ratcliff will break the code behind block...

Skinner's Joe Hyman is used to seeing bottles of pre-Prohibition whiskies, and even some going back to before the Civil War. That's what he thought he was looking at when a South Carolina family decided to auction a bottle of Old Ingledew Bourbon that had been in its family for the last three generations. While the story was interesting, carbon dating testing came back with something even more unu...