By Richard Thomas In Portugal, it often seems like half the people with even so much as one back acre of land don’t use it to put in a swimming pool or plant a flower garden, but instead plant a vineyard. Those who do almost invariably make their own wine, and some of them take it a step further. Using ...

By Richard Thomas Tennessee is not just the Volunteer State, but also America’s second whiskey state. Kentucky’s sister state was one of the survivors of Prohibition and the 1970s whiskey slump, making Jack Daniels, George Dickel and the Lincoln County Process (LCP) fixtures in the story of modern American whiskey. Yet the very fact that for decades it was just ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B- As the story goes, Lovell Brothers is the product of a reformed Georgia moonshiner. Founder Carlos Lovell, now well in his 80s, reportedly started in the family ‘shining business at the age of 16. In 2012, Mr. Lovell started Ivy Mountain Distillery, and they have two products out: an aged and an unaged corn whiskey. ...

The American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA) today announces the appointment of Paul Hletko, founder of FEW Spirits in Evanston, IL, as the President of the Board of Directors. He succeeds Thomas Mooney, who served as the organization’s inaugural President since 2014. Together, Hletko, who has served as a key member of ACSA’s Board of Directors since the organization’s founding in ...

By Richard Thomas When I wrote the last installment of our periodic series on shoddy whiskey journalism in May, I had hoped that it would be at least 2016 before I had enough examples to compose a new chapter. Alas, it took only four months, and the blame starts with Men’s Journal and Elon Green’s “A Beginner’s Guide To Corn ...