By Richard Thomas Often commented upon in the media is how the complexion of whiskey-making is changing, and that more women and people of color are taking leading roles in this. It’s true, but I often think that the focus on folks occupying big corporate positions or those who left big corporate careers to do …
By Richard Thomas Although some magazines and websites revisit the subject of best whiskeys annually, I prefer to wait at least five years before tackling the subject again, at least under my own banner. It’s been almost five years for this particular round-up, so I am jumping the gun a little bit, but I have …
By Kurt Maitland Today, we talk to friend and fellow author, Amanda Schuster about her latest book–Drink Like a Local: New York. As cities have opened up and we continue to venture out, we are finding that the drinking landscape has changed. Some old favorites are now gone, and new places have sprouted up. Here …
By Richard Thomas Wild Turkey’s most important contribution to the realm of annual limited edition whiskeys has been Master’s Keep, which has put several noteworthy spins on Wild Turkey’s bourbon, plus one rye installment in the form of Master’s Keep Cornerstone. This year, Master Distiller Eddie Russell decided to look back to something he created …
By Richard Thomas I observed a few years back that whisk(e)y enthusiasts were living in a time of the changing of the guard, when well-established whiskey-makers were retiring from long-held posts. The best examples of this lately were in 2020, with Chris Fletcher succeeding as Master Distiller at Jack Daniel’s and Kevin O’Gorman rising from …
By Richard Thomas As American enthusiasts are left scratching their heads over exactly why even Sazerac Rye is so scarce that it’s now kept in locked cabinets at the liquor store, retail prices for limited edition whiskeys that should be scarce continue to spiral. Leaving inflation out of it, the kind of bourbon one would …
By Richard Thomas My approach to doing a review of the hot autumnal releases this year differs from previous years, and in more than just my blunt, to-the-point title. Fall is the season for those engaged in bottle-hunting for bourbon. Most of the well-established, annual, limited edition series see their new expressions come out at …
By Richard Thomas For many enthusiasts, summer is a sleepy time. If a whiskey hobby is being expressed, it is more often in distillery travel and chilly summer cocktails than bottle-hunting. This is because the prime release season on both sides of the Atlantic, encompassing the U.S., Canada, Ireland and Scotland, is around Autumn. Late …
By Richard Thomas An inside joke in the booze writing trade is how made-in-America single malt whiskeys have been the “next big thing” for …., oh, the last several years. Don’t get me wrong: American-made malts have become a vibrant part of the national whiskey scene, and I for one applaud how it is a …
By Richard Thomas When the legendary Master Distiller Barry Crockett hatched the idea for Midleton Very Rare in 1984, I doubt he knew it would be the start of a truly seminal brand, one of the earliest examples the modern class of annual limited edition whiskeys. New Midleton Distillery had only been in operation for …
