Being pulled over by а cop for DUI is frightening. Stressful. For anyone. You’ll feel scared and overwhelmed. Even more, most of us don’t know what to do in situations like these. You won’t think straight. You could even do or say things you wouldn’t if you were thinking straight. Five minutes later, you’re arrested and charged with DUI (Driving ...
Read More »Opinion
What Is Craft Whiskey 2.0?
By Richard Thomas A few years ago, I coined the phrase “Craft Whiskey 2.0” to describe new and evolved features that defined small whiskey-makers relative to what they were in 2005 or 2010*. However, I never codified everything I meant by that anywhere, not even in my book American Whiskey, preferring to focus on the specific issue at hand. It’s ...
Read More »Who Is Behind The Great Price Gouge?
The Problem Isn’t The Secondary Market Anymore. It’s The Retailers. By Richard Thomas Whenever the subject of the spiraling cost for limited edition whiskeys has come up during the last decade, someone always curses “the secondary market.” Lately, it has even become the villain for why brands like Blanton’s are no longer available on store shelves. So what, exactly, is ...
Read More »Why The Trade War Didn’t Put Pappy Back Within Reach
Trump’s Trade War Didn’t Help Bourbon Consumers At All, But It Could Have Crippled The Goose Laying The Golden Eggs By Richard Thomas Between March and June 2018, President Trump enacted tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum for certain countries, and then extended those tariffs to imports from the European Union. While many targets of Trump’s controversial ...
Read More »Wait, Wasn’t Craft Whiskey Supposed To Go Bust?
By Richard Thomas No sooner was the craft distilling boom a clear phenomenon in the United States than certain pundits began to wonder aloud and in print “when is the craft spirits bust coming?” That line of thinking wasn’t necessarily hostile, seeing as how the boom and bust cycle of business is an axiom. It’s a fair question. Indeed, it ...
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