Author name: Chuck Cowdery

The Deal that Made Me a Catholic

 Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Cowdery, July 1, 1950.My mother’s family was Roman Catholic and devoutly so. My father’s family was, as he described it, “vaguely Protestant.” They didn’t go to church and didn’t talk about religion. He had, however, been bapti…

America’s Craft Spirits Industry Grows Up

 Denver’s Leopold Bros is an example of a successful, independent craft distillery.Many new non-distiller producers want to become distillers, or at least say they do. Some eventually build or buy a distillery, but many don’t. The term “non-distil…

The Rise of Craft Distilling and “Craft-Washing"

 The former Seagram’s Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana was the source of many “craft” whiskeys.Craft distilling grew through the 80s and 90s, but slowly. It took off as the 20th century transitioned into the 21st. Other related phenomena w…

The Obscure Origin of the Craft Distilling Movement

This booklet was published by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy in 1982.According to the American Craft Spirits Association, there are 3,069 active craft distilleries in the U.S. That number has grown about 10 percent per year for the past…

The New Unicorns: a $20 Handle

 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…

My Popes

 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 …

Why Do Whiskey Makers Have Only Two Seasons?

 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…

How to Win in the Brave New Whiskey World

 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 …

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