By Richard Thomas During the more than a decade I spent living in Washington, DC, I learned to have one more reason to anticipate the coming of autumn: oysters were in season in the Chesapeake Bay. As I learned in year after year of gorging on oysters on the half shell, the best drink to pair with them is whisky. ...

By Richard Thomas As I’ve established pursuing my cooking with whiskey beat, bourbon and apples go together. Bourbon and barbecue go together. There is also a tradition that says apples go with barbecue, whether it be applewood in the smoker or apples in the sauce. In this recipe, we’re putting all three together for some sweet pulled pork. Ingredients A ...

The clouds parted and the sun shone just as crowds gathered in front of Dueling Barrels Brewery & Distillery for a look at Eastern Kentucky’s first combined beer, bourbon and moonshine operation. Gleaming copper pot stills towered in the background as Alltech officials and community leaders cut the ribbon on the highly anticipated project, which will open for public tours ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B I can recall more than a decade ago, when bourbon barrel-aged beer was an in-house fixture of just a few craft brewers, and the only one bottled and in distribution was Alltech’s Bourbon Barrel Ale. Now they are just about everywhere, and that includes Sun King Brewery in Indianapolis. Diddy Muckle is the bourbonized version ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Oregon-based Rogue Ales is one of the best established and widely known brands in American craft beer. Founded in 1988, one of the craft beers I recall seeing in wide distribution in the ’00s was their Dead Guy Ale. They’ve been such a prominent fixture on the national scene, in fact, that when I find ...