“Nae coopers, nae whisky — that’s what we always say. Without these skills there wouldn’t be a whisky industry.” — Kyle Cooper, Speyside Cooperage [1] Fair point, and one we don’t make often enough. We talk endlessly about distillers, blenders and the mysterious alchemy of oak, but rarely about the people who make sure the … Read more
Olaf Meier has one of the coolest jobs in the whisky world: deciding, glass by glass, what an entire global membership gets to drink next. As Chairman of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Tasting Panel, the German-born storyteller has tasted many thousands of casks and written thousands of tasting notes over more than two decades … Read more
Let me share an excerpt of the brilliant documentary, Neat: The Story of Bourbon When Dad rolled out the 6 millionth barrel, Julian Van Winkle gave me as a gift to my Dad this bottle of 20-year-old Pappy.So I take the bottle and I open it up and I pour a little bit in his … Read more
Mitch Bechard has spent the better part of two decades convincing people to fall in love with whisky — first as a Diageo ambassador working golf clubs and global markets, then repping William Grant & Sons brands in the US, and now from his own base in Speyside, where he runs CopperCairn, a bespoke whisky … Read more
There was a time when a whisky finishing in a sherry, Port or Madeira cask was considered fairly adventurous. These days, whisky makers are rummaging through almost anything that once held something interesting. Tequila. Mezcal. Guinness. Tobasco. Seaweed. Pineapple. Maple syrup. Even herring! And yet, tequila and mezcal casks might be two of the more … Read more
If you know South African whisky at all, you know Dullstroom, and if you know Dullstroom, you know Wild About Whisky. What started in 2005 as a wine bar in Auldstone House has become one of the country’s true whisky destinations — a place where, on a good Saturday, a group might sit down for … Read more