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 […]
What is Rock and Rye?
What is Rock & Rye? Simply put, it is a rectified rye whiskey. Some Pennsylvanians may remember Rock & Rye from our childhoods as a medicinal treatment for a cold […]
What Should a “Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey” Category Look Like Today?
This has been an ongoing debate for a while now…even if it should have been a debate that took place in the 1930s. (Hindsight is 20/20 they say…) The question […]
The Halloween Tragedy that Relocated a Distillery
On Halloween night, just outside Connellsville, Pennsylvania, a man was violently murdered for the gold in his pockets. Mystery surrounded the event, and for years the townspeople spun tales and […]
How Canada Quietly Changed the American Whiskey Drinker’s Palate
The last few weeks have been spent trying to find my way back onto social media platforms. I was kicked out on October 1st when I crossed our northern international […]
The Old Monocacy Creek and Her Distilleries
I was recently asked about distilleries that would have once existed in a specific area of eastern Pennsylvania. Why not, right? It seemed a good time to post about a […]
Where Did All Those Whiskey Terms Come From?
I have been thinking a lot lately about labeling terms for whiskey that we take for granted in the United States. Bottled-in bond, straight whiskey, bourbon, pure rye, fine old […]
Do We Romanticize Pre-Prohibition Whiskey?
This question is inevitably asked whenever a discussion about pre-Prohibition American whiskeys comes up. Industry folks tend to be very skeptical about “the old methods.” Their doubts are understandable, though. […]
From 1925 to Repeal: How the Medicinal Whiskey Makers Changed Everything
We’ve discussed the early 1920s, so let’s address what came next. We tend to think of Prohibition as an era of bootlegging and speakeasies…A time between the old timey whiskey […]
The Early Years of Prohibition: The Volstead Act and the “Band-Aid Legislation” That Followed
What happened within the distilling industry during the early years of Prohibition? In short, massive upheaval and a lot of confusion. The temperance groups that pushed for National Prohibition did […]