There Is Much More To Whiskey-Making In Iowa Than Just Rye By Richard Thomas One of the peculiar features of the craft whiskey picture in the Hawkeye State is just how big a presence rye has in it. This is because of Templeton Rye, the notorious bottler that preceded the emergence of Iowa’s first micro-distilleries by several years. Templeton sourced ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: Phoenixville, Pennsylvania is home to Bluebird Distilling, a prime example of one of the branches the rapidly expanding craft distilling scene is following. With well over a thousand micro- and nano-distilleries operating in the United States, many newcomers are either becoming very specialized or setting up not in major cities, but picturesque, oft-visited locations. In my ...

By Richard Thomas Encouraged by its recent success in finalizing a new trade deal with Japan, the European Union (EU) has responded to talk of new tariffs to protect American steel by U.S. President Donald Trump with warnings that such measures would provoke immediate counters against American exports to the European free trade zone. One class of exports that would ...

By Debbie Shocair I’ve been writing about whiskey for approximately a bazillion years. Sometimes I enjoy thinking of myself as, in the way I put it, “sort of a big deal” in whiskey circles. That’s what I like to think. And then I knew better. I met a real “big deal.” Fred Noe, seventh-generation master distiller at Jim Beam and ...

By Father John Rayls Rating: B The Watkins Select Bourbon Whiskey is a “bottom shelf” winner.  Bottled at 80 proof, it’s a surprise find and an interesting sample of sourced bourbon from Kentucky. It’s readily available and probably much overlooked, but very little information is available for Watkins Select, and it definitely isn’t a top tier bourbon. Still, it’s good ...