By Kurt Maitland Earlier this summer, I got to meet Malcolm Waring, the distillery manager of Old Pulteney. He graciously gave up some time to discuss some of the changes going on at Wick as well as discuss the first release in Old Pulteney’s upcoming Coastal Series. KM: Malcolm, it was a pleasure to meet …
One thing about Bo Garrett is that he’s never short on the kind of stories that add depth to the allure of Wild Turkey, but also exist outside of the purview of most whiskey enthusiasts.
The post Wild Thoughts: An Interview With Bo Garrett appeared fi…
By Kurt Maitland I was able to speak to Frey Ranch Whiskey Farm and Distillery co-founders Colby and Ashley Frey about the amazing farm to glass whiskey they are making at Frey Ranch in Nevada. KM: Please tell us the story of Frey Ranch before their entry into distilling. The Freys: In 1944, Colby’s grandfather …
By Richard Thomas When I broke into whiskey journalism, Irish Whiskey was on the cusp of its renaissance. The number of distilleries in Ireland had increased just a few years before from three distilleries to four. Since then, the count has increased ten fold. Nowhere has that distillery building boom been more in evidence than …
By Richard Thomas More than a decade ago, I wondered in print that if Kentucky and Tennessee were America’s first and second whiskey states, who was the craft scene propelling to become number three. It took years for the issue to resolve itself, but by the time the Pandemic was clearing up, it had in …
By Richard Thomas That I’m a devoted dog lover will probably come as a surprise to you, despite that devotion rising to such a level that I jokingly affirm my “dog nut” status is a minor mental illness. The only time whiskey and dogs have ever crossed paths in such a way as I could …
By Richard Thomas Much of the DNA of Teeling Whiskey comes from Cooley Distillery. When John Teeling started this plant in 1989, it was only the third operating distillery in Ireland, and it’s only independent one. Nowadays, Cooley is owned by Beam Suntory, and the Teelings have all moved onto other projects. John Teeling’s sons, …
By Richard Thomas Often commented upon in the media is how the complexion of whiskey-making is changing, and that more women and people of color are taking leading roles in this. It’s true, but I often think that the focus on folks occupying big corporate positions or those who left big corporate careers to do …
By Kurt Maitland Today, we talk to friend and fellow author, Amanda Schuster about her latest book–Drink Like a Local: New York. As cities have opened up and we continue to venture out, we are finding that the drinking landscape has changed. Some old favorites are now gone, and new places have sprouted up. Here …
By Richard Thomas I observed a few years back that whisk(e)y enthusiasts were living in a time of the changing of the guard, when well-established whiskey-makers were retiring from long-held posts. The best examples of this lately were in 2020, with Chris Fletcher succeeding as Master Distiller at Jack Daniel’s and Kevin O’Gorman rising from …
