WhiskyCast

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A Milestone for The Dead Rabbit Feb 06, 2023

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It's hard to believe, but the iconic New York City pub The Dead Rabbit is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. In that time, it's built a reputation as one of the world's best cocktail bars. We'll talk with co-founder and managing partner Jack McGarry about the first ten years and what the future holds for The Dead Rabbit - including expansion to Austin, New Orleans, and other cities. On Your Voice, listeners like you tell us what makes a pub great, and in our Behind the Label segment, we'll answer a question about the difference between a peaty whisky and a smoky one.

What's Authentic? Jan 30, 2023

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Distillers like to claim the "authentic" label for their whiskies, but how does one define "authenticity" in whisky? Is a "grain to glass" whisky more authentic than one that's mass-produced? Stanford business professor Glenn Carroll and Tulane business professor Cameron Verhaal teamed up to study just what whisky drinkers consider to be authentic, and they join us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth to discuss their findings. In the news, Irish Whiskey tourism rebounded strongly during 2022 with a 425% gain over the pandemic-affected year of 2021. Diageo shares took a plunge on softness in U.S. Scotch Whisky sales, and a small North Carolina distillery hopes to send barrels of whiskey where no barrels have gone before.

A Big Victory for Small Distillers Jan 23, 2023

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This week's episode comes from the Victoria Whisky Festival in Victoria, British Columbia...where a small Vancouver distillery shocked the Canadian whisky world the other night. Sons of Vancouver won Canadian Whisky of the Year honors at the Canadian Whisky Awards with their "Palm Trees and a Tropical Breeze" rye whisky. It was the highest-scoring whisky in the competition, and it wasn't even close. We'll talk with the distillery's Jenna Diubaldo, James Lester, and Max Smith on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth, along with Canadian Whisky Awards founder and chairman Davin de Kergommeaux. In the news, an explosion rocked Alberta Distillers in Calgary this week, while a long-running legal saga has come to an end in Vancouver.

Sarah Burgess Joins The Lakes Distillery Jan 16, 2023

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Sarah Burgess has held a lot of different positions during her 25-plus years in the whisky industry, from serving as a seasonal tour guide to running three different distilleries and being a whisky maker for The Macallan. Now, she's taking on a new challenge as the lead whisky maker for The Lakes Distillery in England. We'll talk with Sarah on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, a Scottish government consultation on alcohol sales and marketing has the Scotch Whisky industry crying foul, while Irish Whiskey exports set a new record during 2022.

Exploring the Luxury Whisky Market Jan 09, 2023

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Whiskies are being released at staggering prices with an eye to investors as well as collectors, but what is the market for these rare whiskies? Duncan Taylor & Co. has just released a £75,000 1969 Macallan, and we'll talk with Peter Currie of Shand Imports about this whisky and its intended market on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth.

A Collaborative Spirit in Bardstown Jan 02, 2023

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Distillers are known for helping each other out, but the team at the Bardstown Bourbon Company is taking that collaborative spirit to new levels. The distillery not only makes its own whiskies, but works with more than 30 other brands to produce their whiskies using 54 different mashbills. Now, Bardstown Bourbon is releasing its own mature Bourbon and Rye whiskies for the first time with the Origin Series. We'll talk with VP of Product Development Dan Callaway about the new whiskies and that collaborative process on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Britain's King Charles is honoring Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes and Islay's Jim McEwan on the New Year's Honours List, Buffalo Trace celebrates a milestone, and we'll have some of your final drams of 2022 and first drams of 2023, too!

Irish Whiskey in 2022 Dec 26, 2022

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We'll wrap up the year with a look at the Irish whiskey industry from both the macro and micro views this week with Denis O'Flynn. He's the former managing director of Pernod Ricard UK, and since 2017 has been a non-executive director of Clonakilty Distillery. That gives him a unique perspective on the state of the Irish Whiskey industry, and he'll share his opinions with us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the marriage between Wild Turkey and actor Matthew McConaughey has split up, with both sides remaining friends. We'll have that story and much more in our final episode of 2022.

What Goes Around, Comes Around Dec 19, 2022

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Eddie Russell has been making whiskey for 42 years, and is a Bourbon Hall of Fame member. Still, to many people, he'll always be known as "Jimmy Russell's son." That's what happens when you work alongside a legend, and now that he's established his own legacy, he's passing it on to his son Bruce, and as Eddie put it during our WhiskyCast In-Depth interview this week, "what goes around, comes around." We'll talk with Eddie about his two most recent releases, the Master's Keep Unforgotten edition and the Russell's Reserve Single Rickhouse edition, and how he's still learning on the job after 42 years.

Another Par for Sweetens Cove Dec 12, 2022

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Is Sweetens Cove a whiskey company with a golf course, or a golf course with its own whiskey brand? That's something the Sweetens Cove team is trying to figure out for themselves, but while they ponder that question, they've released the third edition of their Tennessee Bourbon. We'll talk with Sweetens Cove master blender Marianne Eaves and CEO Mark Rivers on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, we'll have details on two new Kentucky distillery projects valued at nearly $350 million and a look at the latest data on the boom in craft distilling.

Promises Made, Promises Kept Dec 05, 2022

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Six years ago, the wildfire known as "The Beast" devastated Northern Alberta, forcing the evacuations of 88,000 people in the area around Fort McMurray. At the time, Wood Buffalo Brewing & Distilling had to leave behind a pallet of peated malt to escape the fire, but firefighters managed to save both the distillery and the malt, which had absorbed a lot of smoke from the fire. The distillery pre-sold bottles of "The Beast" whisky made from that malt to raise more than $100,000 for local charities in the months following the fire, and while the distillery later closed its doors, distillers Bryce Parsons and Spike Baker returned to Fort McMurray this weekend to deliver on the promise made six years ago. We'll catch up with them on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth.

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