Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i American Whiskey Magazine

There is no better time to be launching a magazine about American whiskey; to say the industry is booming is frankly an understatement. From the big established producers, some of whose roots reach back in to the creation stories of the nation’s whiskey, to the small nascent artisan producers, stills of all shapes and sizes across the land are humming away producing quality spirit. I have been covering and commentating on the American whiskey world for more than a decade now, traveling from some of the nation’s finest bars, hotels and whiskey restaurants, to start up distillieres in various states to the home of Bourbon, Kentucky. It’s always nice to be back in Kentucky, the rolling countryside, horses and of course whiskey in its many guises. But now my travels…

It seems appropriate to talk about very basic premises in a writer’s first column; even more so when it’s in the first issue of a new magazine. I can’t think of any more basic a premise than this: What is American Whiskey? You can be pedantic, and trot out the [Code of Federal Regulations, Title 27, Section 5.22: the standards of identity for distilled spirits in America]. This is federal law about what spirits must, may, and may not be labeled as particular types. There is a large section on “Whisky.” Yes, that’s right: the American federal regulations actually do spell it without an ‘e’. Do what you want with that, it’s only a letter. The standards of identity are the playing field, the rules everyone has to exist within…

I’ve talked to more than a few people over the years who have bought a humidor online and just stuck their cigars in, oblivious to the fact you’re supposed to season it first. Your cigars want to live at the humidity where they were made, and if they don’t they will crack and go stale. The best way to prevent this is to keep them in a properly humidified wooden box designed to hold a tight seal. This is one of the many reasons it’s important to develop a relationship with your local tobacconist, that person is knowledgeable not only about which humidors work the best, but also about seasoning methods to keep your cigars in good shape. When you select a humidor you’ll want one with a tightly fitting…

Wild Turkey is situated on a deep limestone shelf on the Kentucky River. When you visit you may find one half of the legendary father and son master distilling team of Jimmy and Eddie Russell, who have nearly 100 years of collective experience working at the distillery, in the visitor centre greeting fans. The Wild Turkey brand name first came about back in 1940 when distillery executive Thomas McCarthey took a few warehouse samples on a wild turkey hunting trip with a group of friends. The following year, his friends asked him for “some of that wild turkey whiskey” and the brand was born. When it comes to family and friends’ ties there are a lot of distilleries that claim father to son legacies, however at Wild Turkey in Kentucky…

When we meet at the World Whiskies Awards in New York, brand ambassador, Winston Edwards is coy. Perhaps the armload of plaques Balcones has won distracts him. Or maybe he simply wants to heighten the tension. Balcones has just bottled two 100 per cent rye whiskies to commemorate their decade of distilling, and darn it, I want a taste. “Jared has some in his room,” Winston teases, but that sample keeps eluding me. Two weeks later we meet again in Waco, Texas. Waco is the home of Dr. Pepper soda, some rare Tex-Mex treats, and Balcones Distillery. We are here to mark Balcones’ tenth anniversary. Hundreds of fans are driving in from all over the state for the celebration, and it’s going to be a full house. People are keen…

I call it the craft ‘movement’ because once thought of as a sleepy little hobby, over the past decade, has become big business and an economic boom across the United States. Just as the folklore of Kentucky claims many authors of the first Bourbon, so does the craft movement. It can date back to the 1980’s when several distilleries in the west began producing distilled spirits. Fast forward to 2003, when the American Distilling Institute (ADI) began and held their first conference, there were 80 craft distilleries across the country. Today, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has well over 2,000 DSP’s listed and represented in all 50 states. The hot bed of the craft movement’s geographic concentration appears to flow through Oregon, Washington, New York, Colorado,…

It’s been 20 years since I started visiting the great whiskey producing parts of the nation, where I have found the warmth of the welcome and the quality of the whiskey so enticing. Now the great American boom is truly underway and we no longer need battle to save Four Roses, nor struggle to find a whiskey aged over five years. The American whiskey landscape has been transformed forever, and American Whiskey Magazine seeks to capture every drop of news, fact, fable and tastings as they become available. When we started Whisky Magazine in 1998, many asked us, “What will you have to write about?”. The birth of American Whiskey Magazine answers that question fair and square. American whiskey is innovative, exciting, surprising, and plain delicious. It’s made in some…

CIVIL CIGAR LOUNGE 5335 WISCONSIN AVENUE NW WASHINGTON, DC 20015 CIVILLOUNGE.COM In Washington, DC W. Curtis Draper is the oldest tobacconist in the area, serving customers since 1887. This company has a major footprint in the area cigar scene, supplying premium cigars to local bars and restaurants as well as branching out to satellite businesses like Civil Cigar Lounge. At Civil the focus is on Bourbon and cigars, though a wide variety of other spirits is available. The crew has traveled to Kentucky many times to choose private barrels including a Maker’s Mark Private Select and a Weller Antique 107 among several others. Patrons can dine at tables in a private dining room, enjoy cocktails and small plates in cozy club chair seating, and rent lockers to keep their private…

When Marianne Eaves (Barnes) was attending the University of Louisville to earn a degree in Chemical Engineering her mind was on biofuels and green energy. The thought of becoming the first female master distiller in Kentucky since Prohibition never crossed her mind. At a career fair she learned about an internship at Brown-Forman and ended up working all over the world, from a tequila plant in Mexico to Jack Daniel’s in Tennessee, learning the ins and outs of distillation and the spirits business for one of the largest and oldest spirits companies in Kentucky. Then, when she was master taster and second in line to become the master distiller of Woodford Reserve behind Chris Morris, she was approached by Will Arvin and Wes Murry. The duo had purchased a dilapidated…

Welcome to the American Whiskey Magazine tasting pages. We guide you through the plethora of whiskeys so you are equipped to make your next purchase, whether something new or an old favorite. Whiskeys are tasted blind, with only proof and style given to the experts. This edition, the managing editor and tastings coordinator have set the tone, before Lew and Peggy take the reins across for issues. Rob Allanson Editor of American Whisky Magazine and formerly an ambassador for William Grant & Sons' whiskey portfolio. His experience has given him a well-versed palate and a passion for great American whiskey. Sam Coyne Tastings co-ordinator for bothWhisky Magazine and American Whiskey Magazine. Editor of TheDrinksReport.com, Sam is enthusiasic about whiskeys and cocktails from across the globe. Lew Bryson Lew Bryson is…

As the smoke cloud hovered over Bardstown, burning whiskey flowed. Witnesses said it looked like molten lava. Barrel after barrel burned. “Everyone was fearful that the whole town was going to burn up,” Sandra Spalding, wife of the Bardstown mayor, told the Associated Press in 1996. Heaven Hill seemingly lost everything. Their still, barrels, warehouses. All gone. But nobody was hurt. “And nobody lost their jobs,” says Charlie Downs, retired master distiller for Heaven Hill. Downs worked with master distiller Parker Beam to ensure everybody’s safety. To this day, that horrid time is tough to recall for all involved. But the fire bonded the Bourbon industry together unlike anything before. Kentucky distillers worked to provide Heaven Hill with whiskey and still time, so they’d never lose a customer due to…

Some Scottish distilleries are still in the hands of descendants from the original founding family. Alas, that cannot be said about American distilleries. Prohibition wreaked havoc on the American whiskey industry and many distilling dynasties were destroyed. Only a handful emerged from the ‘Noble Experiment’ as the government at the time dubbed it. Today only seven or eight pre-Prohibition distilleries survive, excluding the numerous micro-distilleries and recent revivals that have become en vogue. Among them they make 100s of different Bourbons and American whiskeys. In some cases however there are still slender ties with the original families and even between both whiskey-making nations. It is generally acknowledged that the Irish invented whiskey making and the Scots are credited for marketing the drink worldwide. European immigrants took their distilling habits with…

Ancient Oak Road, Wilkesboro NC – a North Carolina State Police cruiser swings round bend on the two-lane highways heading toward us. We blast past in the opposite way. No sense him even thinking of giving chase, I’m riding with Brian Call whose driving a 1961 Dodge, leading three original “liquor cars”. We are zooming past the abandoned Wilkesboro Speedway track, where stock car racing was born, then down the real “Thunder Road” again shaking to the roar of liquor cars blasting in days from a vanished but not so distant past. Moonshine legend Willie Clay Call taught his 12 year old son Brian how to drive a moonshine car, and teach him well he did. In a scene straight out of Robert Mitchum’s classic movie Thunder Road, we relive…