Max the Stillmaker
A Brazilian living in Rhode Island decides to design a still and contacts a Chinese manufacturer to build the prototype. The Chinese tell him they’ll be at the Independent Spirits Expo and he ought to come meet them there....
The Dodo Bird of Distillation Resurfaces
The distilling community got a small jolt of reverse innovation when Leopold Bros. began using a once-extinct style of still, based on designs from the late 19th century — when rye whiskey was king.
One of the early spirits the...
Iron Fish Distillery
For his 60th birthday, Richard Anderson’s wife delivered big.
Sarah Anderson sent him and brothers in-law, Dave Wallace and Craig Maxwell, to Scotland on a Scotch-tasting tour. It was a game changer. Sipping their way through distilleries across Islay, Scotland, propelled...
New Release Roundup for July 2020
My bottle review column (last month’s edition here) is less about tasting notes and more about what is unique, new or trending in spirits alongside my ratings (on a 1-5 rating scale). Now more than ever, small-batch distillers and...
Manhattan Bar Manager Naren Young of Dante
The 1988 movie Cocktail changed everything for Naren Young when he first saw it as a young lad in the 1990s. It ushered in a crush on Elisabeth Shue and—more importantly—the flair bartending and bar scenes of the film...
And Now for Something Completely Different
There is a lot about the Lost Spirits Distillery that is unique to the distilling community. Few subjects are more likely to bring out pitchforks and torches from traditionalists than their accelerated-aging technique — creating flavor precursors by tweaking...
Portland: Then & Now
Returning to Portland for the conference this Spring feels like a homecoming for ADI. ADI Founder and President Bill Owens has been visiting Portland for more than 30 years, first for the Association of Microbrewers Conference and repeatedly during...
Lost Spirits Soars to New Heights in Las Vegas
For attendees of ADI 2023 Lost Spirits Distillery has graciously shared a 25% discount code, which is good for ANY of their evening Modern Cirque Show tickets — use code DISTILLER25.
When distiller Bryan Davis and partner (in life and business) Joanne...
Molly Wellmann
Walking down the streets of downtown Cincinnati with native daughter Molly Wellmann (www.mollywellmann.com), it’s easy to see she’s the Queen of Cincy. Locals know and adore her, constantly stopping her in the street, waving as she passes by or...
Q&A with Charles Joly
Your bar, The Aviary, is one of the most exciting in the country. What is your process for creating drinks here that might be different than how you have done it in past bar programs (Drawing Room, etc.)?
I would...
