Blends – Dram Devotees

Why Don’t Distilleries Re-Use Barrels?

I have always found it odd that American distillers are prohibited from re-using barrels. It’s not as if the practice of “secondary aging” with used barrels isn’t completely commonplace today! […]

Claims of False Advertising in 1871 Provides Insight into the History of Rectifiers.

Posted on: October 3, 2025October 4, 2025American whiskey , Blends , History , Pre-Prohibition

July 1871- Trouble was brewing in Lancaster, PA between competing rectifiers, and one of the rivals took his grievance to the local paper- the Intelligencer Journal. These clippings reveal that […]

What is the “Correct Whiskey”?

Posted on: September 7, 2025Blends , History , Scotch , whiskey politics

A little excerpt from a discussion in British Parliament in 1909- debates over whether blends should be considered legitimate, “correct whiskies.” American blenders using Islay malts to blend out American […]

History of Carstairs Rye Whiskey – A Philadelphia Story.

Posted on: April 5, 2024October 6, 2024American whiskey , Blends , Canadian Whisky , History , Influential men in whiskey , Maryland Rye , Pennsylvania rye whiskey , Pre-Prohibition , Prohibition , rectifiers , Reference , Uncategorized , Whiskey Trust

Carstairs “White Seal” Blended Whiskey has become a bit of a sad, bottom shelf brand, but when people realize that it’s a whiskey with a bourbon base made by Barton […]

What happened to Maryland’s Hunter Rye?

Posted on: January 9, 2023March 25, 2025Aging Techniques , American whiskey , Blends , Canadian Whisky , Distillation , History , Maryland Rye , Pre-Prohibition , Production , rectifiers , Reference , Rye , Uncategorized , Whiskey Facts

Once one of the most popular brands of rye whiskey in the country, if not the world, Hunter Rye Whiskey, was a product of Maryland. The brand was first introduced […]

When Bottled in Bond Was Not Actually “Bottled in Bond”

Posted on: September 3, 2022March 4, 2023Blends , Production , Prohibition , Reference , Rye , Uncategorized , Whiskey laws and regulations , Whiskey Trust

The Bottled in Bond Act is something that most whiskey enthusiasts can recite the basics on fairly easily. A whiskey that’s bottled-in-bond is a 100 proof, four-year-old whiskey that’s been […]

Why Was the Taft Decision Necessary?

Posted on: June 1, 2022July 20, 2025American whiskey , Blends , History , Reference , Uncategorized , Whiskey laws and regulations , Whiskey Trust

(Hint: It’s Not Necessarily Why You’d Think…) Rectifiers VS. Straight Whiskey Interests To understand why the Taft Decision was so important to the whiskey industry, one must first understand why […]

An Opinion on Metallica’s Blackened American Whiskey

Posted on: September 8, 2018September 11, 2018Aging Techniques , American whiskey , Barrels , Blends , craft whiskey , Distillation , Master Distiller , Whiskey Science

So…Metallica has its own whiskey now. Ugh. Everyone has their own whiskey, it seems. Nothing new, of course. Celebrity sells. There have been celebrities moving distilled products since advertising’s […]

Texas and Its Whiskey

Posted on: December 30, 2015December 30, 2015American whiskey , Blends , Bourbon , Canadian Whisky , craft whiskey , Distilleries , Non Distiller Producers

Yesterday, Dec 29th 1845, Texas became the 28th state in the union. Texan citizens have always been fiercely loyal to their state and to the products produced there. There are now about […]

Why So Defensive About Sourced Whiskey?

Posted on: December 12, 2015December 12, 2015American whiskey , Article link , Blends , Bourbon , craft whiskey , Distillation , Distilleries , Non Distiller Producers , Packaging , Production , Reference , Rye , Whiskey Facts

I was asked at the Dram Devotee’s Whistle Pig tasting on Thursday, “Why do you sound so defensive when you are speaking about sourced whiskey?” It must be true that […]