Category: whisky
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More Than 40 Drink Books Published in 2014 for Reading or Gifting
This has been a great year for cocktails and spirits books- tons have come out, and the majority are written by well-respected bartenders and other experts. Here are more than 40 books to consider for your holiday gifting or reading for your own enjoyment.
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Enzymes in Spirits: What Are They and What Do They Do?
Exploring enzymes in spirits. What are they, what they do, and how they’re used in different spirits.
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Making Rye Whiskey at Anchor Distilling in San Francisco
Anchor Distilling makes three unique rye whiskies in a tiny corner of a big brewery in Potrero Hill in San Francisco. I visited, probably for my 6th time, to learn the story of how it all started and how the whiskies are made.
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The Great Decline in Irish Whiskey
Irish Whiskey was once one of the most popular spirits in the world and declined from thousands of distilleries down to just two by the late 1900s. Sales are once again skyrocketing on the back of Jameson's success, but things were pretty grim for a while. I knew many of the causes of the decline…
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A Visit to the Kilbeggan Distillery in Ireland
A while back I visited the Kilbeggan Distillery in the middle of Ireland. Kilbeggan is in partnership with the Cooley distillery, a much larger one (without a visitors' center) that was once independent but is now owned by Jim Beam. They make not only Kilbeggan Irish whiskey, but also Tyrconnell, Greenore, and Connemara. The distillery…
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Distillery Visit: Bushmills in Ireland
A while back I enjoyed a brief visit to the Bushmills Irish Whiskey distillery, located at the northern tip of Northern Ireland. Bushmills is located super close to the Giants' Causeway, a natural phenomenon that brings tons of tourists through town every day. Pretty much all the tours also stop at Bushmills, whether that's for…
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Buffalo Trace: A Second Visit to the Distillery
On my last visit to the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky, I took a very cool tour of the property that you can read about at that link. On a visit this past February as part of the Bourbon Classic event in Louisville, I had another tour that was completely different and I learned all…
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Jim Beam’s Newish Distillery Tour
I've been to the Beam distillery three times now. I wrote about my first visit in 2008 here, with an additional post about the bottling line. Then I stopped by for another brief visit in 2012 where I got a preview of some of the outdoor displays as part of the new visitors' center. In early…
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Four Roses Bourbon Distillery: A Second Visit
In 2008 I first learned about Four Roses Bourbon and its history. Then in 2010 I had the chance to visit the distillery and wrote it up here. In early 2013 on a trip to the Bourbon Classic event in Louisville I had a chance to visit a second time. These are some notes from…
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Distillery Visit: Town Branch Distillery in Lexington, Kentucky
In early 2013 I visited the Town Branch Distillery in Lexington, Kentucky. At the time it was the newest addition to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. My visit was part of the Bourbon Classic, a great event that is taking place in 2014 on Jan 31 and Feb 1. The distillery goes by a lot of…