By Richard Thomas One of my periodic projects is taking some of the more disappointing whiskeys that I come across and finding a way to recover them. My staple move is to try some home blending, which is especially useful in cases where a whiskey is sub-par because it is overwhelmed by one or more strong flavors. However, at The ...

By Richard Thomas This year the Fourth of July weekend is four days long, and while the fireworks wait until Tuesday, the cook-outs start on Saturday afternoon and run from there. That makes this long holiday weekend the perfect time to give cooking with whiskey a spin, because few things go together better that bourbon and barbecue. Chefs Mike Johnson ...

Garden & Gun, Ouita Michel and Woodford Reserve Mark Kentucky’s 225th Birthday By Richard Thomas If you are in the Bluegrass and ask around about local celebrity chefs, odds are pretty good that the first name to come up will be Ouita Michel, often referred to in these parts simply as “Chef Ouita.” Starting in 2000 with the Holly Hill ...

By Father John Rayls I will drink most anything once, but prefer good whiskey (and make it neat!). Insofar as cocktails go, I am only interested in two, and only one is based on whiskey: margaritas and Irish Mules, and I prefer to make my own. Living in South Texas, as I do, guarantees an argument on how to make ...

By Julia Ritz Toffoli My earliest memories of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day recall snow. A lot of snow. Whether in Boston or in Montreal, mid-March was still considered the depths of winter, and St. Paddy’s Day celebrations were conducted accordingly: winter parkas and whiskey neat. So this unusually summer-like weather we’ve been having in New York—a high of 72 on ...