Pernod Ricard Forms North American Distillers Unit

Pernod Ricard, the number-two spirits company, is creating a new unit to manage its North American Whiskey brands and production. Veteran Pernod Ricard executive Richard… Read More

Pernod Ricard, the number-two spirits company, is creating a new unit to manage its North American Whiskey brands and production. Veteran Pernod Ricard executive Richard Black will head up the new company, to be called North American Distillers.

The company will exist within Pernod Ricard much as the Chivas Brothers and Irish Distillers units operate, with responsibility for both production and marketing of the Pernod Ricard North American portfolio. Until now, Jefferson’s Bourbon, Smooth Ambler, Rabbit Hole, Skrewball, and TX Whiskey had operated independently of each other within Pernod Ricard USA’s umbrella.

In a statement announcing the move, Black said “American whiskey is a dynamic spirits category, and our portfolio shows immense potential for future growth. Our investments made in Jefferson’s, Rabbit Hole, Smooth Ambler, Skrewball and TX, underscore our ambitious commitment. My mission is to harness this potential and drive a singular focus on these brands and our operations, driving us towards our goals and creating a top-tier marketing and sustainable operations team on the back of our peoples’ deep-rooted expertise.” 

Rabbit Hole founder Kaveh Zamanian will transition to a new role overseeing liquid strategy for the entire group as part of the move.

WhiskyCast has requested an interview with Richard Black, and this story will be updated with additional information.

Brother’s Bond: A Bourbon “Bromance”

Actors Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder discovered their friendship and a mutual love of Bourbon on the set of “The Vampire Diaries” television series. Once the show ended, they decided to launch their own Bourbon brand, Brother’s Bond, and it’s become one of the fastest-growing new Bourbon brands on the market over the last 18 months. While Wesley’s acting career now has him portraying the iconic character of James T. Kirk on “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” Somerhalder is practically a full-time whiskey blender. The Bourbon “brothers” join us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the Kentucky Bourbon Read More »

Actors Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder discovered their friendship and a mutual love of Bourbon on the set of “The Vampire Diaries” television series. Once the show ended, they decided to launch their own Bourbon brand, Brother’s Bond, and it’s become one of the fastest-growing new Bourbon brands on the market over the last 18 months. While Wesley’s acting career now has him portraying the iconic character of James T. Kirk on “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” Somerhalder is practically a full-time whiskey blender. The Bourbon “brothers” join us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 has been unveiled, while the state’s Bourbon distillers are raising more than a million dollars to help Kentucky flooding victims through a series of auctions and special bottlings. We’ll also explain what “a fifth” means in whiskey terms on Behind the Label, too.


Links: Brother’s Bond Bourbon | Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame | Kentucky Bourbon Benefit Auction | Buffalo Trace Flood Relief Auction | Four Roses | Ardbeg | Sliabh Liag Distillery | Booker’s Bourbon

Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2022

August 17, 2022 – Six inductees will join the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame next month in the first induction ceremony since 2019. The honorees were announced today, including the late Stephen Thompson of Kentucky Artisan Distillery, this year’s recipient of the Parker Beam Lifetime Achievement Award. Thompson passed away last year at the age of 79 following an accident. “He’s another one that everyone misses,” said Kentucky Distillers Association president Eric Gregory. “He was such a resource and an advocate for the craft distilleries…he had almost an encyclopedic knowledge of production facilities and what to do, and if you Read More »

August 17, 2022 – Six inductees will join the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame next month in the first induction ceremony since 2019. The honorees were announced today, including the late Stephen Thompson of Kentucky Artisan Distillery, this year’s recipient of the Parker Beam Lifetime Achievement Award. Thompson passed away last year at the age of 79 following an accident.

“He’s another one that everyone misses,” said Kentucky Distillers Association president Eric Gregory. “He was such a resource and an advocate for the craft distilleries…he had almost an encyclopedic knowledge of production facilities and what to do, and if you knew Steve, man, he was a straight shooter. He told you what was on his mind and he was very candid and that was a breath of fresh air in meetings that could sometimes get a bit stodgy.” Thompson will be presented for induction by another Hall of Fame member, longtime master distiller Jim Rutledge, during the invitation-only luncheon in Bardstown on September 13.

The rest of the Class of 2022 includes Andrea Wilson of Michter’s in Louisville. In addition to being the distillery’s longtime master of maturation, she was the first woman to serve as the KDA’s chairperson in 2009. Julian P. Van Winkle III joins his legendary grandfather, “Pappy” Van Winkle, in the Hall of Fame, along with Rabbit Hole Distilling founder Kaveh Zamanian and two retiring Kentucky political leaders, U.S. Representative John Yarmuth and Kentucky State Representative Chad McCoy. Both men were cited for their legislative work to help the Bourbon industry, with Gregory describing Yarmuth as a global ambassador for Kentucky Bourbon and McCoy as one of the most effective state lawmakers in recent years for his work on spirits legislation at the state level.

This year’s class will be the first since 2019, with no classes inducted in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. The hiatus gave KDA leaders the chance to take a new look at how Hall of Fame members are selected, with an eye toward giving previous inductees more of a say in the process. As in the past, nominees were proposed by the KDA board and member distilleries, but instead of the board also voting on inductees, a new selection panel was given the final say. That panel included all four living recipients of the Parker Beam Lifetime Achievement Award: Jimmy Russell, Bill Samuels, Jr., Max Shapira, and Even Kulsveen. In addition, KDA chair Kevin Smith, KDA board member and Hall of Fame inductee Chris Morris, and Dixie Hicks, the former Bardstown mayor and also a Hall of Fame inductee, served on the panel.

“Once they started looking at all the nominees to the Hall of Fame, they went in depth and talked about the person and the personalities, and what it means to be in the Hall of Fame and what an honor it is,” Gregory said. “It was a three or four hour meeting…the process worked great, and I’m looking forward to continuing that in the future,” he said.

Links: Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame

Happy Hour Live at the American Whiskey Convention (Episode 898: September 15, 2021)

Live broadcasting is sort of like walking a tightrope…most of the time, it works. Then, there are those times when one’s walking the tightrope while juggling chainsaws, and that’s what happened during our #HappyHourLive webcast Friday night at the American Whiskey Convention. While the live video stream was plagued with technical glitches, our audio backup made this episode possible! Thanks to all of our guests who joined us Friday night, as well as those of you who watched the live video stream. Links: Catoctin Creek | Kentucky Artisan Distilling | Jefferson’s Bourbon | Cooper Spirits | Altered State Distillery | Read More »

Live broadcasting is sort of like walking a tightrope…most of the time, it works. Then, there are those times when one’s walking the tightrope while juggling chainsaws, and that’s what happened during our #HappyHourLive webcast Friday night at the American Whiskey Convention. While the live video stream was plagued with technical glitches, our audio backup made this episode possible! Thanks to all of our guests who joined us Friday night, as well as those of you who watched the live video stream.


Links: Catoctin Creek | Kentucky Artisan Distilling | Jefferson’s Bourbon | Cooper Spirits | Altered State Distillery | Widow Jane | Uncle Nearest | New Liberty Distillery | George Washington’s Distillery at Mount Vernon | Wild Turkey | Limestone Branch Distillery