Places & Faces

Azeo Distillery https://www.azeodistillery.com 3230 Riverside Ave. Suite 190 Paso Robles, CA 93446 Tasting hours: by appointment 805.835.3740 At In Vino Veritas, a local custom crush facility owned by winemaker Ryan Horn, David Vondrasek handled beer, wine and cidermaking for about 30 customers when he and...

From the early 2000s, Tequila and mezcal—Mexico’s most famous agave spirits—have experienced significant growth in popularity and consumption in the United States. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (DISCUS), imports of Tequila into the US have...

When you visit over 600 restaurants and bars every single year, some call you obsessed. They aren’t wrong. When it’s your work and your obsession, such relentless pursuit for “the great” is an exhausting  joy. I am blessed to...

In the seaside Massachusetts town of Gloucester, Bob Ryan, his wife, Kathy, and son Doug, along with Bob’s nephew, Dave Wood, opened Ryan & Wood Distilleries (ryanandwood.com) in 2006, bringing spirits production to his hometown in the form of...

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....

New Orleans’s celebratory spirit and joyous sensuality is unmatched. As one of the world’s truly great drinking cities, its crucial place in cocktail history includes being the city where many of history’s best cocktails were invented: Sazerac, Ramos Gin...

You can stand in the tasting room and look out at the corn being grown, that will turn into the bourbon in your hand. Eight Oaks Farm Distillery is a true estate distillery, located in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania....

Ten years ago, Nashville was home to notable dive bars and ever-excellent honky tonks (long live Robert’s Western World!). But it was not a cocktail city, just as it wasn’t a dining destination. Fast forward to today, and Nashville...

Belgium, like the United States, has experienced a steady growth in the demand for and production of artisanal spirits over the last decade or so. The typical Belgian consumer is drinking less, and drinking better, and is willing to...

My bottle review column (last month’s edition here) is about what is unique, standout, new or trending in spirits with my review ratings on a 1–5 rating scale. More than ever, small-batch distillers and drink producers need our aid....