By Richard Thomas When I first started writing professionally about whiskey, Tennessee had just four distilleries making whiskey that wasn’t classed legal moonshine and it didn’t have a whiskey trail. Now it does have an official trail with over two dozen distilleries listed. Yet despite the growth, the fixtures remain the same: some 60 miles …
By Richard Thomas The first time I called on Wilderness Trail was early summer 2016. Located in picturesque Danville, a college town on the southern boundary of the Bluegrass that is an example of “ye can’t get thar from here!” (whatever direction you come from, it seems you must go somewhere else first to get …
By Richard Thomas Being something of a whiskey generalist, one of the problems I grapple with regularly is how to overcome preconceived notions and deeply ingrained preferences. Enthusiasts have a tendency to be nerdy about whiskey, and nerds have a tendency towards blinkerdom. So, even though Scotch whisky present a wide, deep palate of flavors …
By Richard Thomas One of the ugly little secrets of sensory science is just how much the senses of taste and smell can be influenced by preconceptions. Ideally, this reality can be guarded against, and it’s what makes the notion of the blind taste test so interesting. The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 was the …
New Economic Numbers And Tax Breaks Leave More Questions Than Answers By Richard Thomas February saw the release of a key economic report from the Kentucky Distillers Association (KDA), the trade group that represents the Commonwealth’s bourbon industry. The statistics presented in the report were held up as a cause for celebration, billed as a …
At The Whiskey Reviewer, we have a more informal way of dealing with the question of annual awards. Instead of handing out medals or drawing up a conglomerated list, every member of the team who wishes to opine on the subject keeps her or his own voice, naming their personal choice in three categories. Best …
By Richard Thomas Earlier this year, bourbon fans on both sides of the United States were rocked by news of alleged corruption, in what was the biggest news of its kind since Pappygate. In February, it was revealed that managers of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) had been under investigation for several years …
The Collaboration of Blade & Bow and Garden & Gun Has Given Bourbon Fans Ways to Raise Their Bluegrass Experience A Notch By Richard Thomas When Blade & Bow Bourbon first started their collaboration with Garden & Gun magazine, that authoritative guide to all things tasteful, upscale and Southern, it was in a standard exercise …
By Richard Thomas Some ideas die slow, hard deaths, and as recently as last year I found myself reading yet another magazine article warning consumers that their bottle of supposedly craft whiskey really came from the big distillery in Indiana, MGP. Moreover, I continue to hear this notion virtually every time I engage with enthusiasts, …
By Richard Thomas One of the idealized features of an artisanal movement–whether it be craft beer, craft whiskey or craft gin–is the spirit of independence. That ideal has existed more often in the imaginations of the imbibers than at the company making the booze, but it’s easy to understand how it got there: the little …
