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WhiskyCast

1,069 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 223 ratings

Each week's episode features the latest whisky news, a calendar of upcoming events, and interviews with whisky experts. For more information, links, and a complete archive of past episodes, visit www.whiskycast.com.

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Episodes

A Sustainable Future for Whisky Distilling

April 05, 2021 22:58 - 55 minutes - 25.8 MB

Distillers are always looking to the future. After all, many are laying down casks of whisky for future generations to bottle. Now, more distillers are looking ahead for a different reason...to make sure their distilleries have a minimal impact on the environment. Scotland's Nc'Nean Distillery was named "Sustainable Distillery of the Year" in Whisky Magazine's 2021 Icons of Whisky Awards, and we'll talk with Nc'Nean founder Annabel Thomas on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Scotland's gover...

Live Whisky Events Are Returning...Are We Ready?

March 29, 2021 18:28 - 54 minutes - 25.2 MB

Virtually every major whisky event worldwide in the past year has been cancelled, postponed, or gone virtual because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, live events are returning in Florida, Texas, and Nevada over the next month as vaccination rates in the U.S. rise, and more event promoters are preparing to return later this year. Is it too soon, and can live whisky events be done safely? Dave Sweet's Whiskey and Barrel Nite event last September in New Jersey was one of the few in-person events ...

Is Whisky Art or Science? Roe & Co.'s Lora Hemy Says "Yes"

March 22, 2021 20:13 - 52 minutes - 24.3 MB

Distilling is one of the oldest chemical processes we know of, and many people have made great whiskies without formal training in chemistry. That doesn't necessarily make it an art, though...and Diageo's Lora Hemy recognizes elements of both art and science in her work. She's the head distiller at Roe & Co. in Dublin, but started out as an art student in college and sees a lot of similarities between art and chemistry. We'll talk with her on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth and answer anothe...

A More Inclusive Whisky World? Not Quite Yet...

March 15, 2021 04:48 - 54 minutes - 25.4 MB

Women make up a growing percentage of whisky industry leaders, from distillers and blenders to spirits company executives. However, a new study from OurWhisky.com shows that women still have a long way to go when it comes to equal treatment in whisky marketing -- especially in social media. OurWhisky.com co-founder Becky Paskin joined us this week on the #HappyHour webcast to discuss the findings as part of our writers' roundtable with Jonny McCormick of Whisky Advocate, and we'll share part...

New Zealand's Whisky Boom

March 08, 2021 04:37 - 58 minutes - 27.1 MB

It's been a year since we took WhiskyCast to New Zealand for the first time to do the show from Whisky Galore's DramFest in Christchurch just before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down worldwide travel. Since then, more distilleries have come on line in New Zealand, with 19 distilleries now making whisky. Now, the distillers have come together to create a set of standards defining New Zealand whisky - with an eye to both protecting the whisky and the country's indigenous culture. Tash McGill of ...

Silicon Valley's Single Malts

March 01, 2021 19:29 - 50 minutes - 23.4 MB

Silicon Valley is the technology center of the world, but Virag Saksena has made the switch from mashing together code to mashing barley. He's a former software engineer and Oracle executive who founded San Jose's 10th Street Distillery in 2017 with his partner, chemical engineer Vishal Nauri. They're exploring a shared passion for single malt whiskies...especially peated single malts, with the goal of creating a "great" California single malt whisky. We'll meet Virag Saksena on this week's ...

A Solution to Japan's Whisky Conundrum

February 22, 2021 07:04 - 45 minutes - 21.2 MB

Japan's whiskies have been getting more attention on the world stage. While some "Japanese Whiskies" are rightly winning awards in major competitions, others with the same label are often Scotch or Canadian whiskies imported into Japan - where there's no legal definition for what is a "Japanese Whisky" and what isn't. Now, Japan's whisky makers are stepping in where the government has so far failed to act, creating an industry-wide definition requiring that whiskies labeled as "Japanese Whis...

Another New Distillery for Islay

February 15, 2021 06:30 - 1 hour - 31.3 MB

Scotland's legendary whisky island is getting yet another new distillery. Local officials have approved the plans for the new Elixir Distillers project just east of Port Ellen, making it the third new distillery to be built on Islay in the last five years and the 11th overall. Elixir Distillers co-founder Sukhinder Singh has been trying to get the project past the planning stage for nearly three years, and gives us his first interview on the distillery in this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'...

Ardbeg's Pirate Captain Sails Into the Sunset

February 08, 2021 05:29 - 48 minutes - 22.5 MB

Mickey Heads retired recently after 13 years as Ardbeg's distillery manager and four decades of work at distilleries on Islay and Jura. Now, Ardbeg has released a special whisky in Mickey's honor, and the label for Arrrrrrrdbeg features him as a pirate! We'll catch up with Mickey Heads on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth and share tasting notes for his whisky, too. In the news, U.S. tariffs on single malt Scotch whiskies have cost Scotland's distillers £500 million in lost sales, and industry...

Asia's Whisky Capital

February 01, 2021 05:58 - 1 hour - 29.3 MB

Hong Kong has become a key center for the world's whisky makers, and we had more evidence of that this week. Gordon & MacPhail's new 72-year-old Glen Grant single malt won't hit the market until the end of March, but one bottle went on the auction block Friday at Bonhams in Hong Kong. We'll talk with Hong Kong whisky importer and retailer John Rhodes about that whisky and the growing role Hong Kong plays in the whisky business on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the Spirit of Speyside Whisk...

A Fèis-Less Islay Again in 2021

January 26, 2021 04:16 - 47 minutes - 22.1 MB

For the second straight year, Islay's biggest party of the year has been cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fèis Ile, the Islay Festival of Malt & Music, will be replaced this May by a series of virtual events because of the uncertainty created by the pandemic and travel restrictions within the United Kingdom. We'll talk with Ben Shakespeare of Islay's Fèis Committee about the decision to cancel five months before festival week, along with the threat going ahead with the festival co...

A Bright Future for The GlenAllachie

January 18, 2021 06:25 - 1 hour - 29.1 MB

It's been a little more than three years since Billy Walker and his partners acquired Scotland's Glenallachie Distillery from Chivas Brothers. What had previously been single malts destined for blending use are now on store shelves and bars around the world...with Walker's own unique touch honed by years of making and blending whiskies. Now, the GlenAllachie team is turning to two legacy brands that were part of the distillery deal, McNair's and White Heather, with plans to make them relevan...

Distilling Irish Whiskey History

January 11, 2021 06:42 - 1 hour - 28.3 MB

Irish Whiskey makers once dominated the world with their single pot still whiskies, but the collapse of Ireland's whiskey industry a century ago   closed dozens of distilleries and consigned their unique recipes to history. Irish Whiskey historian Fionnán O'Connor has been working with Boann Distillery in County Meath to produce spirit using many of the recipes he's uncovered as part of his doctoral degree research at Dublin's Trinity College. Those recipes will be put to the test in the com...

New Year, More WhiskyCast!

January 04, 2021 01:53 - 54 minutes - 25.2 MB

Welcome to a new year, fans of the Water of Life! That's exactly what we'll be talking about on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. "The Water of Life" is a new Scotch Whisky documentary film that will debut later this month online after having its premiere delayed because of the pandemic. Director Greg Swartz joins us to discuss plans for the premiere, including tasting kits geared to specific parts of the film. In the news, 2020 ended with a busy week whisky-wise as the U.S. Food & Drug Admin...

Ending 2020 On a High Note

December 28, 2020 06:49 - 1 hour - 30.1 MB

2020 will not be remembered well by many people, but there have been a few bright spots for whisky lovers. One is the arrival of the first official distillery bottling from Kentucky's Castle & Key Distillery, the 3-year-old Restoration Rye. The historic Old Taylor Distillery had been closed since 1972 and left to fall into ruins when Will Arvin and Wes Murry bought the 113-acre site in 2014. Six years, millions of dollars, and a new name later, one of the early landmarks of Kentucky Bourbon ...

Walking Through 200 Years of Johnnie Walker's History

December 21, 2020 08:19 - 1 hour - 30.7 MB

We have breaking news heading into the holiday week, as it appears the U.S. Congress will make a federal excise tax break for distillers permanent. The details are still tentative, and we have the latest as of air time. On this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth, Dr. Nick Morgan joins us to discuss his new book on the 200-year history of Johnnie Walker, "A Long Stride." We'll also have tasting notes and the answer to a trivia question - which country has more whisky distilleries: Ireland or France!

Heaven Hill Celebrates 85 Years of Whiskey

December 14, 2020 06:31 - 1 hour - 28.9 MB

85 years ago today, the five Shapira brothers and their partners opened Heaven Hill Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky. The Shapira family is still in charge today, with second-generation company president Max Shapira leading the company. We'll talk with Max about Bourbon then and now, including the company's recent expansion into Canadian Whisky with last year's purchase of Black Velvet and its distillery in Lethbridge, Alberta. In the news, the clock is ticking more loudly as the deadline g...

Auction Houses Bid for Whisky Collectors' Business

December 07, 2020 06:24 - 1 hour - 30.8 MB

With more people looking at rare whiskies as investments, more of the world's top auction houses are adding spirits experts to their in-house wine teams. That was just one of the moves Sotheby's made over the last two years after whiskies and other spirits started making up a larger share of bidding at its wine auctions around the world. Now, Sotheby's holds separate whisky auctions in London, New York, and Hong Kong - with three auctions last month combining for more than $4.6 million in bi...

Buying Whisky by the Barrel...or the Bottle

November 30, 2020 05:15 - 49 minutes - 23.1 MB

It's never been easier to buy an entire cask of whisky...at least in theory. While more distilleries are offering the opportunity to pick a special cask of whisky, the demand for casks far outpaces the supply - especially when it comes to casks of mature whisky from long-closed distilleries. Chris Ratcliff looks at the cask sales market on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, distillers plan a campaign of their own in Washington this week as the deadline for Congress to extend a fed...

A First for Craft Distilling

November 23, 2020 06:23 - 57 minutes - 39.7 MB

Craft distillers dream of not only having their whiskies alongside those of the major global brands, but outselling them. For the Quint family of Iowa's Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery, that dream has become a reality. Earlier this month, Iowa's state liquor agency released sales data showing that Cedar Ridge Iowa Straight Bourbon was the top-selling Bourbon in the state over the previous 12 months - beating the big Bourbons for the first time. We'll talk with Murphy Quint, who was a teenage...

Ending the Whisky Trade War

November 16, 2020 04:41 - 55 minutes - 25.8 MB

There's a lot of political turmoil these days, and European Union leaders threw gasoline on the fire with this week's decision to impose new import tariffs on American-made rum, vodka, brandy, and vermouth to go along with the existing 25% tariff on American whiskies. The Trump Administration had previously pledged to respond with additional tariffs on European goods, and that could mean more whiskies are under the threat of new tariffs - in a dispute between allies that has nothing to do wi...

Blind Faith Leads to Blind Bourbon Tastings

November 09, 2020 02:18 - 53 minutes - 25.1 MB

Marianne Eaves had a bright career path in her future as the first female master distiller at a Kentucky Bourbon distiller when she suddenly decided to leave Castle & Key Distillery 18 months ago - a year before the first whiskies she made there would be ready for bottling. It was a leap of blind faith, and now, she's living in Oregon with her young family, consulting with makers of whiskies and other spirits, and launching another venture - blind Bourbon tasting kits for whiskey lovers. We'...

Washington & Whisky

November 02, 2020 02:35 - 1 hour - 30.5 MB

OK, we're not going talking about politics this week, but whisky has been made in and around Washington, DC for 400 years, including a distillery owned by George Washington himself. There may not be quite enough local whisky available to calm the nerves of politicians awaiting the results of Tuesday's presidential election, but it's a good start. We'll talk with Sid Dilawri of the appropriately-named Filibuster Distillery just outside Washington and Ali Anderson of Joseph A. Magnus & Co., wh...

Old Forester Bourbon Celebrates 150 Years

October 26, 2020 03:59 - 55 minutes - 25.8 MB

Very few Bourbon brands can claim much of a pre-Prohibition heritage, but Brown-Forman's Old Forester can. George Garvin Brown created Old Forester in 1870 in the same way many of today's whiskey entrepreneurs got started - by buying bulk whiskey from several distilleries and blending them together to create his own unique flavor. His great-great grandson Campbell Brown is the managing director of Old Forester today, and joins us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also have the week's...

20 Years As a Whisky Maverick

October 19, 2020 04:58 - 1 hour - 29.8 MB

John Glaser and his team at Compass Box Whisky Company are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. While Glaser has had his disagreements with the Scotch Whisky establishment over the years, he's gone from being a rebel to being one of the industry's most respected whisky makers. He'll join us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth to discuss the last 20 years of challenging hidebound traditions and what the future holds. In the news, The Macallan now has the distinction of having bottled ...

The English Whisky Scene

October 12, 2020 04:32 - 1 hour - 32 MB

England's modern whisky scene only goes back to 2006, when the English Whisky Company started distilling at St. George's Distillery in Norfolk. Since then, it's grown by leaps and bounds, and the first-ever English Whisky Festival will take place this coming weekend online featuring 13 different distilleries. We'll look at not only the growth of England's whisky scene, but how Covid-19 has affected whisky bars and distillery tourism as Chris Ratcliff makes his debut on WhiskyCast as a contri...

Whisky's Need for Diversity and Inclusion

October 05, 2020 04:15 - 1 hour - 30.5 MB

Whisky is a universal drink, a pleasure that can be shared by all regardless of gender, color, national origin, disability, age (as long as one is legally old enough to drink), and so on. The trouble is, too many people still hold the stereotype of whisky drinkers as older, male, and White - and that includes some people within the whisky industry. While the recent Whisky Bible controversy brought the issue of diversity and inclusion in the world of whisky into the spotlight, the desire for ...

Uncovering Whisky's Past with the "Bourbon Archaeologist"

September 28, 2020 01:00 - 50 minutes - 23.6 MB

There are literally hundreds of old distillery sites around the eastern half of the United States dating back to the early colonial days. While their stories have largely been lost over time, bits and pieces still exist - and Nicolas Laracuente's mission is to uncover the artifacts, the stories behind them, and put them together in historical context. The "Bourbon Archaeologist" specializes in Kentucky's distilling history, from uncovering distillery ruins to researching the history of ensla...

Unique Whisky…From An Even More Unique Distillery

September 21, 2020 00:47 - 55 minutes - 25.9 MB

Every distillery is unique, but there's one in Australia that could redefine your concept of "unique." Belgrove Distillery is on Peter Bignell's farm near Kempton, Tasmania, and he not only grows the grain that goes into his whiskies - but he built the distillery himself, too. There's no other distillery quite like it, and we'll visit Belgrove on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, U.S. craft distillers may get caught in the political crossfire on Capitol Hill between budget talks,...

Yeast's Impact on Whisky

September 14, 2020 03:54 - 1 hour - 29 MB

Yeast is one of the three main ingredients in whisky, along with grain and water. While we understand what grain and water contribute to the taste of a whisky, yeast's contributions are far more mysterious. In fact, people were distilling whisky from fermented mash hundreds of years before scientists even figured out that yeast exists, let alone how it works. After our deep dive into the science of oak trees last month, we had requests to do something similar with yeast - and Indiana Univers...

Laws That Might Make You Want a Drink

September 07, 2020 03:56 - 1 hour - 31 MB

Whisky and other alcoholic beverages are some of the most regulated consumer products in the world, and let's be honest...not all of those laws and regulations make a lot of sense. In fact, some of them might make you want to pour yourself a dram. Jarrett Dieterle of the R Street Institute in Washington, DC has compiled some of the finest examples of legislative legerdemain and matched them up with cocktail recipes in his new book, "Give Me Liberty, and Give Me a Drink!" He'll join us to exp...

Whisky and White Oak: A Match Made in Heaven

August 31, 2020 03:39 - 49 minutes - 23.2 MB

There are hundreds, if not thousands of species of trees around the world. Why is White Oak - whether from America or Europe, the preferred wood to use for whisky barrels? What makes it so special, and how do we protect the resource for future generations of whisky lovers? Forestry scientist Tom Kimmerer, PhD. is one of the leading experts on White Oaks, and was a guest on our #HappyHour webcast earlier this month. The reaction was so positive that we've brought him back to discuss White Oak...

Ireland's Slane Distillery Coming of Age

August 24, 2020 04:55 - 48 minutes - 22.2 MB

It's been almost three years since Brown-Forman and the Conyngham family fired up the stills at Slane Distillery on the family's Slane Castle estate near Dublin. While their flagship Slane Irish Whiskey has been made using sourced whiskies since its debut in 2017, the day is coming closer when some of the distillery's own maturing whiskey will be blended into the final product. We'll check in with Alex Conyngham on the distillery's progress in a summer that would have normally been filled wi...

200 Years, 6 Master Blenders

August 16, 2020 23:14 - 57 minutes - 26.8 MB

Johnnie Walker is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2020, and in all that time, there have been only six master blenders. Jim Beveridge is the latest in a line that goes all the way back to founder John Walker, and he leads the team that created four new whiskies for the anniversary. We'll talk with him on WhiskyCast In-Depth about the pressure of blending rare whiskies, setting up a blending lab at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, and which of Scotland's historic distilleries he'd choo...

Pandemic Leaves Whisky Festivals in Critical Condition

August 09, 2020 04:24 - 41 minutes - 19.5 MB

This week saw upcoming whisky events in the U.S., England, Ireland, Canada, and Australia either postponed or cancelled outright as the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths continues to rise in many parts of the world. The list includes the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, the Whisky Show in London, and Whisky Live events in Dublin and Adelaide. The pandemic is forcing event organizers to take not only local health restrictions into account, but the bans many whisky makers have imposed on travel an...

A Whiskey Passion Project & A Story for the Ages

August 03, 2020 05:38 - 1 hour - 28.1 MB

There's something about whisky that brings out the passion in many people. For David Jennings, his passion for Wild Turkey led him to start a blog and then write what may well be the definitive story of Wild Turkey. His book "American Spirit: Wild Turkey Bourbon From Ripy to Russell" was published this summer and demand from other Wild Turkey lovers has forced his publisher to start working on a second print run. He'll join us to talk about what fueled that passion on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In...

Betting on Horses and Bourbon Pinhook-Style

July 27, 2020 05:12 - 1 hour - 29.4 MB

Among horse racing enthusiasts, "pinhooking" is the name for investing in a young horse based solely on its pedigree and potential for success, then cashing in when the horse is mature and ready to race. If you can see the parallels between pinhooking with horses and with barrels of young whiskey, then you'll want to listen to our interview with Pinhook Whiskey co-founder Sean Josephs. 10 years ago when he was the owner of Char No. 4 in Brooklyn, he and his partners decided to start buying b...

Scotch Whisky Puts Out the Welcome Mat...Slowly

July 20, 2020 15:11 - 53 minutes - 24.8 MB

Tourism has become a major part of the Scotch Whisky industry, with two million people visiting distilleries in both 2018 and 2019. 2020, the "Year of the Pandemic," will be much different after distilleries had to shut down their visitors centers for nearly four months because of coronavirus-related public health restrictions. As of July 15, they can reopen with strict limits to prevent a flareup of new Covid-19 cases, but only a handful have put out the welcome mat so far. The Scotch Whisk...

A Bonny Wee Distillery in Edinburgh

July 13, 2020 03:47 - 1 hour - 28.3 MB

Edinburgh's newest malt whisky distillery opened with a bang - or perhaps, a cough. That's because the Bonnington Distillery had barely filled its first few casks with new make spirit before the Covid-19 pandemic forced Halewood Wines & Spirits to close the place down for a deep cleaning to comply with public health restrictions. Bonnington is the home for Halewood's revival of the venerable John Crabbie & Co. Scotch Whisky brand, and we'll talk with Marc Watson on WhiskyCast In-Depth. He ov...

Opening Pubs in a Pandemic...or Not

July 06, 2020 03:59 - 55 minutes - 25.6 MB

Bars and pubs have reopened in some areas after lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19, only to be closed again when the number of cases spikes as people try to resume a normal life that includes having a drink at the local pub. Public health officials see bars as a prime vector for the spread of the virus, and that will have a long-term impact on bar owners as well as their customers. H. Joseph Ehrlich has owned Elixir, the popular San Francisco whisky bar, for 17 years and is waiting ...

Jim Beam's Fred Noe: Stuck at Home and Planning a Farewell Tour

June 29, 2020 03:48 - 55 minutes - 32.4 MB

Fred Noe became Jim Beam's seventh master distiller in 2007 when his father, the legendary Booker Noe, retired. 13 years later, he's getting closer to the day when he'll hand things over to his son Freddie - but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed his plans for a "farewell tour" with Freddie this year. Instead, Fred's been cooped up at home in Bardstown, Kentucky, wearing a mask when he leaves the house at the insistence of his family and hoping to be able to go on that tour of Australia and Europ...

Rising From the Ashes: Du Nord & Minneapolis

June 22, 2020 03:57 - 1 hour - 35 MB

It would have been easy for Chris and Shanelle Montana to close Du Nord Craft Spirits after arsonists set fire to the distillery's warehouse during riots in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis Police four weeks ago. It would have been even easier after more arsonists set fire to their apartment building the next night. They underestimated the Montanas, who not only plan to rebuild their distillery, but their neighborhood as well - and have already raised more than $5...

Calls for Change & Diversity in the Whisky Community

June 15, 2020 03:34 - 1 hour - 33.3 MB

Recent protests over racism and police brutality against African-Americans have led to greater calls for diversity throughout American society, and the whisky industry is no exception. American whiskey’s history with diversity has not been a good one, going all the way back to the pre-Civil War era when many distilleries were run with enslaved labor – including the one owned by George Washington after his presidency. We’ll have details on several initiatives announced this week that focus on...

Malting Barley for Future Generations of Whisky Lovers

June 08, 2020 04:54 - 1 hour - 33.1 MB

This week, we'll wrap up our two-part tour of Gladfield Malt in New Zealand, where Gabi and Doug Mitchell have turned the family's barley farm into one of the country's leading malt suppliers. The Mitchells think a lot about the future, one in which they hope to see their three kids take on key roles in the family business. Gabi Mitchell will share that part of their story with us on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, fundraising campaigns for the Minneapolis distillery and its neighbors deva...

Making the Malt that Makes the Whisky

June 01, 2020 01:28 - 1 hour - 32.8 MB

Malted barley is critical to the making of many whiskies around the world, and this week, we'll take you inside the malting process with a visit to New Zealand's Gladfield Malt. Gabi and Doug Mitchell founded the maltings 16 years ago as an outgrowth of the family's Gladfield Farm, and has become a key supplier of malted barley for the country's growing craft distilling industry. There's so much to learn that we'll be splitting the tour between this episode and next week's WhiskyCast. In the...

Opening the Distillery Doors Slowly

May 25, 2020 02:35 - 58 minutes - 27.2 MB

As governments start to relax lockdown restrictions in the fight against the Covid-19 virus, some distilleries are slowly starting to welcome the public back. While tours and tastings are still widely banned, Ireland's Teeling Whiskey Company opened the doors to its distillery shop and cafe this week, and we'll talk with Stephen Teeling about the decision and what it means to be able to get out of the house again. Meanwhile, at least four Kentucky distilleries have also opened their gift sho...

Whisky Bars in a Post-Pandemic World

May 18, 2020 05:39 - 1 hour - 31.9 MB

As parts of the world begin to reopen following lockdowns to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, bars are likely to be among the last businesses allowed to reopen. The social nature of bars doesn't quite work in an era of social distancing, and that will mean major changes for bar owners - and patrons. Jon Taffer is the host of the reality show "Bar Rescue" and a longtime bar industry consultant. He's been thinking about what the post-pandemic future holds for bars, and it's not ...

Creating a Sustainable Future for Whisky

May 11, 2020 03:57 - 39 minutes - 18.7 MB

While world leaders have rightly been focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue of climate change has its own long-term impact on the whisky community worldwide. This week, we'll look at two projects trying to create a sustainable climate for the whisky industry in the future. The "2100 Plan" is a project between the Kentucky Distillers Association and the state's universities to come up with solutions that solve sustainability issues, while Scotland's Bruichladdich Distillery has launched...

WhistlePig's Great Beer Rescue of 2020

May 04, 2020 05:17 - 55 minutes - 25.9 MB

Whisky is what beer dreams of being when it grows up, but the Covid-19 pandemic has left craft brewers with tens of thousands of gallons of beer and no place to sell it with bars across the U.S. closed. Vermont's WhistlePig Farm has been working with brewers from as far away as Texas to give some of that beer a chance to fulfill a higher purpose: being distilled into whiskey! While we're approaching this from a humorous perspective, it's actually cheaper for the brewers and better for the en...

The Whisky World Copes With Covid-19's Impact

April 27, 2020 05:59 - 1 hour - 32.3 MB

With tens of thousands of bar and restaurant workers around the world laid off because of mandatory bar and restaurant closings due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some bar owners are resorting to drastic measures to support their teams during the crisis. Bill Thomas of Washington, DC's Jack Rose Dining Saloon and his partners have been selling off the whiskey bar's legendary library of nearly 3,000 bottles - either by the full bottle or single-serving drams - while they evaluate their persona col...