By Richard Thomas Whiskey is a quintessentially American drink, a connection that becomes clear when one sees how interwoven it is with American history. The story of American Whiskey is the journey of a rough, unaged distilled spirit made by farmers because it was cheaper to move than grain or flour growing and maturing into today’s modern, multi-billion dollar industry ...

By Richard Thomas Winter is usually a fairly sleepy time for new whisk(e)y releases. After all, it’s the autumn that is the time of year bursting at the seams with hot ticket items. Once Christmas rolls around, things quiet down. That may seem a bit counter-intuitive though, since winter weather is pretty much synonymous with winter-warmer, whiskey-drinking weather. Thankfully, “fairly ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ When Craft Barrell Spirits (aka Barrell Bourbon) released their inaugural batch of rye whiskey several months ago, it was a noteworthy groundbreaking for one of America’s most popular independent bottlers. Little did we realize at the time that the company had something even more noteworthy waiting around the corner. I say noteworthy because it’s novelty ...

By Kurt Maitland Japanese Whisky is a particular interest of mine, and a bumper crop of books covering Japanese whisky are out there for your education and reading pleasure, written by folks such as Dave Broom, Stefan Van Eycken and the man I’ve have the pleasure of interviewing today, Dominic Roskrow, the author of Whisky Japan. KM: You are deservedly ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Last year, Pittsburgh’s Wigle Distillery turned five. One of the things they did last year to mark that anniversary was release a Bottled in Bond version of their Deep Cut Rye. Thus Wigle joins a broadening group of craft distilleries that have the kind of aged stock on hand to do a Bottled in Bond ...