Places & Faces

“This island is in the middle of nowhere,” says Marcus Christensson, the distillery’s brand manager. He’s speaking of Hven, or Ven, a tiny and remote Swedish island with some 300 residents, and it’s not as if I needed the...

Step into the cavernous warehouse of Cutwater Spirits — located in the Miramar neighborhood of San Diego, an area first made famous as the actual site of the Top Gun program at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar before becoming...

The former colony of Van Diemen’s Land—as the small, fertile island off Australia’s southeast coast was originally known—once boasted about 16 distilleries, largely located in and around the main towns of Hobart and Launceston. The distillers of the early...

For more than 200 years the histories of Japan and Hawaii have been intertwined. On May 5, 1806, the first Japanese people ever recorded to have set foot in Hawaii arrived as survivors of the cargo ship Inawaka-maru, which...

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...

Oklahoma City is known as “The Big Friendly.” As my birthplace and the home region of a few dozen of my relatives, I can confirm it is quite friendly. Laid-back and chill for a capital city of roughly 700,000,...

The Grand Dame of the UK and Europe’s most international city, London’s diversity and endless sprawl feel akin to a major American city. But it’s oh-so-London, from the world’s richest literary history to superb theater and architecture. The city...

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...

Rick Wasmund learned how to make whiskey by studying the Scots. Literally. He not only toured Scottish distilleries, he interned for a time at Bowmore Distillery in Islay, learning everything down to how to peat-smoke malt. While there, he suggested...

Sustainability is increasingly important to consumers (and the environment), and many distilleries are actively prioritizing sustainability initiatives tailored to their local conditions. Victoria Distillers, located in Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, has pioneered a unique approach that...