By Richard Thomas Rating: B Whisky-making is a feature of the Anglophone world, forming a complete circle when Australia changed its laws in the 1990s and allowed whisky distillation. Across a deceptively vast expanse of ocean in New Zealand, however, they had been up to it off and on since the 1860s. Ironically, the last distillery in New Zealand, Willowbank, ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ A month ago the summer custody of my son had ended, I was at the airport seeing him off. As I was checking him in, there was a college student sitting at the next set of counters over, busy reorganizing her luggage. Her hat read “Traverse City, Michigan.” This had narrowly missed becoming my first ...

By Emma Briones Rating: B New blends are joining the whisky line of the family run, independent bottler Wemyss Malts. Under the guidance of industry experts, including the beloved Charlie Maclean, the Wemyss family has hand picked casks that show the perfect balance between wood and whisky to craft the blends of its new collection. It is named the “Wemyss ...

By Father John Rayls Rating: B If you’ve ever listened to someone with passion trying to start a business, you’ve heard the tales of excitement, challenge and fulfillment. If you listened closely, you also heard the tales of fear, inadequacy and failure. Thomas Edison once said “I have not failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  Edison’s message there ...

By Richard Thomas Rating:B+ Product placement of whiskey is nothing new, but it’s still rather novel to concoct a new product for such a purpose. Yet that is what was done not once, but twice for the recently released sequel to the spy parody/bro film Kingsman. In this film, the British spooks cross the Atlantic and meet their American counterparts, ...