Distiller Interview with Scott Blackwell & Ann Marshall of High Wire Distilling
High Wire Distilling Company, Charleston’s first operating distillery since Prohibition, paved the way for a craft-spirits revival in South Carolina. Husband-and-wife duo Scott Blackwell and Ann Marshall were steeped in the food and drink industries. After selling their popular...
Distiller Interview with Andy & Charlie Nelson
Brothers Andy and Charlie Nelson fully awakened to their rich distilling family history in 2006 when their father Bill took them to Green Brier. Green Brier was home to the original Nelson Distillery, which closed in 1909 during Tennessee...
Interview with Distiller Christian Krogstad at House Spirits Distillery
No conversation about spirits in Portland—and Oregon as a whole—is complete without talking about pioneering House Spirits Distillery (https://housespirits.com). Christian Krogstad was early to the craft-distilling “game,” opening the distillery in 2004 after years as a brewer and winemaker—with...
Interview: Spirit Hound Distillers, Craig Engelhorn & Wayne Anderson
A “little” brewery by the name of Oskar Blues brought Craig Engelhorn and Wayne Anderson together. Meeting and working there in the late 1990s/early 2000s, their distillery idea cooked for years before they opened Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyon,...
Interview with Ian Hart, Distiller at Sacred Spirits
When small-batch “craft” spirits were already sweeping the US, they were virtually nonexistent in London prior to 2008. Some confusion with local laws meant few were attempting to open small distilleries in the city. That is, until pioneering Sipsmith...
Jay Erisman
Launched in 2014, New Riff Distilling (https://newriffdistilling.com) has been a standout craft distillery for the Cincinnati area, just a couple blocks off the Ohio River on the Kentucky side. Their rye and gin were the most memorable and balanced...
Interview with Francesco Amodeo of Don Ciccio & Figli
One of the biggest proponents in the country of Italian-style amaro with American expression and ingredients is Francesco “Ciccio” Amodeo, president and founder of Think Italian LLC and Don Ciccio & Figli.
Born in the small Italian town of Furore...
Robert Dawson of Kō Hana Distillers
Kō Hana Distillers is a pioneering Hawaiian distillery specializing in agricole-style rums. The company began in 2009 as a farm, launching its first agricole-style rum made entirely from Hawaiian-grown sugarcane in 2014. Founders Robert Dawson and Jason Brand have...
Interview with Marko Karakasevic
When I think of Wine Country spirits, I think Charbay and the Karakasevic family. Certainly, they are distilling leaders, launching in 1983 around the same time as fellow NorCal/Bay Area pioneers St. George Spirits and Germain-Robin.
In a region that...
Interview with Distiller Joseph Myer of Myer Farm Distillers
From farming to playing piano, painting to writing poetry, Joseph Myer—aka Joe—has led quite the artistic life. Creativity is in his blood and bones. But so is farming. Born in Ithaca, NY, growing up on a fifth-generation farm in...
