By Richard Thomas Listing the mass market, budget Irish whiskeys you might want to pick up for St. Patrick’s Day sipping is largely unnecessary. While I could draw up a list with Kilbeggan, Jameson, Powers, Paddy, Slane, Tullamore Dew and other brands on it, I believe it would be more valuable for the reader if I suggested what bargain Irish ...
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Q&A With Tri Vo, Fierce Whiskers Distillery Co-Founder
By Richard Thomas As the craft whiskey explosion brought whiskey-making to places across the American where it had never been known before, I debated in print who would become America’s third whiskey state. For the second edition of my book, American Whiskey, I finally settled on Texas, and the Lone Star State has gone on to confirm that opinion in ...
Read More »Seven New Irish Whiskeys To Try For St. Patrick’s Day
By Richard Thomas St. Patrick’s Day has grown from being the feast day commemorating the death of Ireland’s patron saint into an international (often unofficial) holiday celebrating all things Irish. There is no better time to expand your knowledge of the surging Irish Whiskey scene and get acquainted with some new expressions. I’ve drawn up a list of seven such ...
Read More »Q&A With Maureen Robinson, Kentucky Owl Master Blender
By Richard Thomas The last time I had the opportunity to interview Maureen Robinson was five and a half years ago. Robinson was working at Diageo and a trailblazing woman in the industry, as a four decade veteran in the liquor trade and one of the first women to be named as Master Blender. She was working in the UK ...
Read More »The New Sober? More New Age Narcissism
By Richard Thomas My initial reaction upon first reading about the emerging California Sober movement was thinking “You have got to be f***ing kidding me.” My disbelief was that even in an era when people love to cloak their bad behaviors behind a thick layer of phony moral superiority, disinformation and deflection, the hypocrisy of this particular trend was so ...
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