Screenshot from the Binny’s website, 5/2/2025.Traditionally in the whiskey world, a “unicorn” is a whiskey that is highly sought but rarely seen. Usually, the term is applied to high end limited releases like the Van Winkle line, Buffalo Tra…
The seven popes so far in my lifetime.My first pope was Pius XII. He died a few months after I took my First Communion. Our catechisms were old and the picture on the title page was of Pius X (1903-1914), but we also saw pictures of Pius XII and …
American malts from the biggest producers.America has always been able to make malt whiskey, we just didn’t. But with the bourbon boom maturing, American distillers have branched out. One branch, rye whiskey, nearly dead when the bourbon boo…
The New Reader is on its way to the Post Office.The Bourbon Country Reader is a one-of-a-kind newsletter from the same source as this blog. But it is not the same content. The Reader is news, history, and analysis of American whiskey yo…
Spring is one of whiskey’s two seasons, fall is the other one.One little-known aspect of the bottled-in-bond rules is that the whiskey must be made by one distiller at a single distillery in one season. One distiller and single distillery are pre…
As seen on the TTB website.When approved labels appear on the website of the Treasury Department’s Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), that doesn’t necessarily mean those products will be released. This one, however, with the bottling date right …
The digital version.On Christmas morning of 2011, the front page of Section BU of the New York Times featured a 2,500-word article about a phenomenon it called “the bourbon boom.” “…today’s bourbon boom represents a triumph of s…
The colony of New Amsterdam (1664 map).The earliest report of a commercial whiskey distillery in what is now the United States places it on Staten Island, in the colony of New Netherland, in 1640. It says they distilled using “Indian corn” and ry…
“Moonshine Still 1” by Daniel EskridgeWhen the livelihood of most people is subsistence farming, as it is on the frontier, communities are important, but households must be self-sufficient in food production and other basic needs. Survival is oft…
John Barleycorn headed for the still.Whiskey plays an outsize role in American history, especially during the late colonial period. Not that alcohol wasn’t part of American life from the beginning. Beer, cider, and wine were as ubiquitous as brea…
