This has been an ongoing debate for a while now…even if the debate should have taken place in the 1930s. (Hindsight is 20/20, they say…) Disclaimer: The following information and […]
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?
The question is inevitably asked whenever a discussion about pre-Prohibition American whiskeys comes up: “We we romanticize pre-Prohibition whiskey?” Industry folks tend to be very skeptical about “the old methods.” […]
From 1925 to Repeal: How the Medicinal Whiskey Makers Changed Everything
We’ve discussed the early 1920s in the previous blog post, so let’s address what came next. We tend to think of Prohibition as the heyday of bootlegging and speakeasies…a vague, […]
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 […]
What is Rye Whiskey & Why Is It So Different Today?
Rye whiskey is very popular these days. We can clearly see the growth in market share. People talk about how unique it is, but then the occasional article surfaces that […]
Is Rye Whiskey Really that Hard to Make?
After the last blog post, I was reminded by a fellow enthusiast that I should have included that “rye whiskey is hard to make”. It gave me pause so I […]