By Richard Thomas The new distillery of Walsh Whiskey, the company behind The Irishman and Writer’s Tears, is now up and running, having completed its first run of new make whiskey on March 27, Easter Sunday. Now Walsh Whiskey has set a date for the formal, grand opening: June 21. Unlike some of the recent distilleries opened in Ireland, the ...

By Richard Thomas Only a few years ago, a controversy raged in American whiskey circles about the use of small barrels in the craft whiskey sector. A big part of why the issue caught on among bourbon enthusiasts for a time is because, until the craft distilling movement started, the 53 gallon American Standard Barrel (ASB) was the beginning and ...

Irish Distillers, the company behind Jameson, Redbreast, Midleton and many other Irish whiskeys, had created a new premium Irish whiskey for its Jameson line, Jameson Crested. This new expression will be launched next month, in April. Billed as a celebration of the first whiskey bottled at the Old Jameson Distillery in Bow Street, Dublin, Jameson Crested marks when the Jameson ...

Why Bourbon Barrels Dominate Not Just American Whiskey, But Irish, Scotch And Japanese Too By Richard Thomas When it comes to whiskey and wood, two basic facts stick fast. First is that barrel maturation, that intricate dance of cask, climate and clock, often accounts for half or more of how a whiskey tastes by the time it reaches the bottle. ...

Top 5 City Distilleries For Tourists Worldwide By Richard Thomas The zeitgeist is blowing for whiskey, and one part of that is whiskey tourism. A generation ago, few distilleries were equipped to offer much in the way of a tourist experience, assuming they offered tours at all. Now those that haven’t undergone extensive renovations to welcome visitors either are or ...