By Richard Thomas When Maker’s Mark says they love having visitors stop by the distillery, that isn’t a modern thing. My first visit was in 1992, when even Jim Beam’s Small Batch Collection was new. At that time, it was the only distillery in the state that could be called a proper tourist destination, that due in large part to ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B I used to refer to New York, Texas and Colorado as the three states contending to become “America’s Third Whiskey State.” I’m beginning to rethink if it’s still just those three, but a big part of why I originally put Colorado on the list was Stranahan’s, one of the early entrants in the micro-distillery movement. ...

By Richard Thomas Although most headlines about the American micro-distilling movement tend to focus on its explosive growth, a boom that now has well over 1,000 small distilleries in operation with more on the way, as a serious observer of the whiskey part of that movement I prefer to monitor a different aspect: the gaining maturity of craft whiskey. Seven ...

Your Favorite New Bourbon Brand Was Probably Bought Out. What Does That Mean? By Richard Thomas If you pay attention to the American whiskey news from a business angle, or perhaps just keep an eye on your favorite brands, you can’t help but have noticed a series of big outside investments and buy-outs over the last couple of years. Any ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Uigeadail was launched by Ardbeg in 2003, back when the Iraq War was new. To many who have come lately to the wonders of world whisk(e)y, that is a long time ago indeed, so it’s worth mentioning that Uigeadail was Ardbeg’s first no age statement (NAS) release in what became a succession of them, so ...