Author name: Mark Gillespie

Colorado’s Coors family has been making beer for five generations, but it’s also been supplying many of the state’s craft distillers with malted barley for more than a decade. Now, the family has decided to make its own whiskey using a blend of Colorado single malt made with its own malted barley and Bourbons from Kentucky and Indiana. It’s part of a company goal to expand into distilled spirits, as David Coors explains on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the results from this year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition are in, and whiskies from Australia did extremely well Read More »

In all of his years as Master Distiller at MGP, Greg Metze never had to worry about the blending side of making whiskey. Now, at Old Elk, he’s added blending to his portfolio – and has just released a couple of new Master’s Blend whiskies that blend Old Elk’s unique mashbills. He’s also had to learn the marketing side of the business as well, and he’ll join us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, it’s last call for tours at Kentucky’s Barton 1792 Distillery even as other distillers continue to ramp up their visitor experiences. We’ll have the Read More »

Midleton’s Kevin O’Gorman was tapped two years ago to take over for Brian Nation as Master Distiller, and the results of Whisky Magazine’s 2022 Icons of Whisky Awards show he’s succeeded in his new role. O’Gorman was named Master Distiller/Blender of the Year, and combines both roles with his annual release of Midleton Very Rare. WhiskyCast’s Mark Gillespie sat down over drams with Kevin in Dublin just days after the announcement, and you’ll hear their conversation on WhiskyCast In-Depth. Mastering also comes into play with the latest Jameson release, a “remastered” version of the old Jameson 15 Single Pot Still Read More »

The market for vintage whiskies is hotter than ever, but there are few retailers that can carry things like pre-Prohibition whiskies. One of the exceptions is Justins’ House of Whiskey. Justin Sloan and Justin Thompson opened their first store in Lexington, Kentucky after state lawmakers made it legal for retailers to buy vintage bottles from individuals, and later opened a second store in Louisville because of the demand. They’ve also expanded into producing whiskies of their own, such as the Blackwood Bourbon brand they consulted on with Kentucky Derby-winning horseman Guinness McFadden. We’ll talk with the three of them on Read More »

This weekend, Kentucky’s historic Castle & Key Distillery will release its first Bourbon since the revived distillery opened several years ago. It’ll be the first distillery-released Bourbon since what was then known as the Old Taylor Distillery was closed by National Distillers in 1972 and abandoned several years later. We’ll tour the restored distillery with founder Will Arvin and master blender Brett Connors this week on WhiskyCast In-Depth, and taste not only Batch #1, but the upcoming Batch #2 from Castle & Key in the What I’m Tasting This Week Department. In the news, Russian whisky lovers are feeling the Read More »

This Thursday will be Brian Nation’s first St. Patrick’s Day outside of Ireland. The veteran distiller joined O’Shaughnessy Distilling in Minneapolis last year after years at Ireland’s legendary Midleton Distillery, and as he tells us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth, “it was a cold winter.” Brian and his family survived the cold, though, and he joined us from their spring break vacation in a much warmer Arizona. In the news, Kentucky lawmakers are a step closer to protecting private barrel picks, while Bardstown Bourbon’s founders have cashed out in a private equity sale. Diageo will invest millions to build a Read More »