Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i American Whiskey Magazine

Whenever I go on vacation, I am obsessed with creating a spreadsheet. Every day of the trip is rigorously organized into different columns, with details on where to eat for dinner, what time the dinner reservation is, directions to the hotel, transport times, and a whole lot more included. There are two main reasons why this is the case: firstly, it helps me get excited for the trip ahead. By immersing myself in the day-to-day, I can start to picture it in my head, and suddenly the vacation feels more real. But, secondly, and more importantly, I do this because I don’t want anything to go wrong. The worry is that if I don’t write down transport times, I’ll miss an important bus that suddenly derails a whole day. Or,…

There are a number of Kentucky families that have made a lasting impact on Kentucky bourbon. Some familiar names might be Beam, Weller, and Crow, but a less familiar name is Bullitt, a Louisville family that has a nearby county named for them. The Bullitt family farm is in trust in the suburbs of Louisville and boasts the largest private library in the region, and their ties to the bourbon industry might surprise you. The Bullitt family came to Kentucky before it was a state. Alexander Scott Bullitt, the first of the Bullitt family in Louisville, helped to write Kentucky’s constitution and there’s evidence that he sold his corn crop and received corn whiskey as a payment. His son, William Christian Bullitt, was also involved in state politics and also…

Born from a deep commitment to agriculture, from grapes to grains, Daylight Wine & Spirits, through the Ammunition brand, is forging a new path in America’s wine country, leading the charge with whiskey. What happens when two individuals, one from the rich agricultural community of Sonoma and the other from Nebraska, where farming is deeply embedded in the culture, come together with a shared passion for winemaking and decide to explore the world of whiskey blending? Andy Wahl and Bill Kerr, the visionaries behind Daylight Wine & Spirits, have seamlessly transitioned their expertise from crafting world-class wines to meticulously blending award-winning whiskey. Their journey began amidst the picturesque landscapes of wine country, where they cultivated a profound appreciation for agriculture and an unwavering commitment to achieving excellence in every endeavor.…

SPONSORED BY GLENCAIRN CRYSTAL In 2025, Whisky Live London marks a major milestone. The flagship whiskey show will celebrate its 25th anniversary of bringing together whiskey lovers from all over the globe. Whisky Live London will take place on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29, 2025, making its much-anticipated return to the Fireworks Factory at Woolwich Works. Attendees to the silver-jubilee event will have the chance to sample an unlimited array of drams — from limited-edition releases to rare and exceptional whiskeys. They can also visit the World Whiskies Awards 2025 stand, which offers all ticket holders the chance to taste whiskeys from around the world. Premium Experience ticket holders will also have two tokens to redeem at the World Whiskies Awards Premium Stand, which includes rare and limited…

Welcome to the American Whiskey Magazine tasting pages. We guide you through a 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 information given to the experts. In this edition, Peggy Noe Stevens and Susan Reigler give their palates a workout. Peggy Noe Stevens Peggy Noe Stevens became the world’s first female master bourbon taster and can trace her lineage back to some of the great bourbon-making families in Kentucky. In 2011, she created the Bourbon Women Association. Susan Reigler Susan Reigler is the author of several bourbon books, including Kentucky Bourbon Country: The Essential Travel Guide, and is a former restaurant critic and beverage columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal. She…

If there’s one thing that has been repeatedly pounded into my head over the last decade, it’s that strategic planning for whiskey is a long game. Back when I was still working at the liquor store in 2013, Maker’s Mark announced it was running short on mature whiskey and that the proof would be temporarily dropped to manage the shortfall. Consumer backlash was swift, and Maker’s Mark announced just a few weeks later that they were done messing around with their bourbon. This shortfall in projected barrels needed eventually hit the whole Kentucky bourbon industry. Overnight, everything was on allocation. Bourbon’s popularity had swelled so rapidly that the projections made a decade earlier had missed by a lot. Whiskey can’t be made today and sold tomorrow, as so many master…

When I first started writing about pairing whiskeys and cigars a decade ago, it was because I couldn’t get a legitimate, wellthought-out answer to my question about what whiskey to pair with what cigar. In city after city, cigar lounge after cigar lounge, I’d always hear the same thing: pair a full-bodied cigar with a full-bodied whiskey and pair a light-bodied cigar with a light-bodied whiskey. I eventually learned that this advice was a misguided extrapolation of how to make a cigar recommendation: if you are a black coffee drinker, you’ll probably like a full-bodied cigar, whereas if you like fruity drinks you’ll probably like a light-bodied cigar. It’s easy to understand why this concept went unchallenged for so long. Around the world, whiskey means Scotch, and cigars mean fullbodied…

On September 13, 2023, ground was broken for the Potter Jane Distilling Company. Exactly one year later, on September 13 2024, the Vendome Copper still was installed in the building. Distilling is expected to begin in January of 2025. Denny Potter and Jane Bowie are industry veterans. Potter has an extensive resume in the distilled spirits industry, starting as a lab supervisor at Jim Beam in 1998 and moving around to Maker’s Mark, Cruzan Rum, back to Jim Beam, then to Heaven Hill, and finally back to Maker’s Mark where he was the master distiller for four years. Bowie started her career at Maker’s Mark in 2007 as a global brand ambassador before becoming the master of maturation and head of blending and innovation. All of the special releases that…

Pretty much everything in Bryan Smith’s upbringing contributed to becoming a master distiller. The product of Dutch and German immigrants, settling in southern Indiana, who passed on their passion and recipes for making sausage, beer, and whiskey, Smith also inherited a healthy curiosity for how these things are made. According to Smith, it is the scientific and creative process behind shaping the flavor of a great whiskey that drives him today. Smith is the first and only master distiller at Hard Truth Distilling since the company’s inception in 2015. He oversees Hard Truth’s diverse product portfolio and a distillery that is currently in the midst of a major expansion. WHISKEY #1 Wilderness Trail  Single Barrel Rye Whiskey This is the whiskey that forever altered my path as a maker. In…