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....
Top 10 St. Louis Bars
Marked by its iconic Gateway Arch, the tallest manmade monument in the Western hemisphere, St. Louis is Missouri’s second-largest city after Kansas City. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, with over 300,000 population in...
Baltimore Cocktail Bars
Baltimore. Crime reports, “The Wire,” the shadow of nearby D.C. — there are many things that cloud the reputation of Maryland’s largest city. It was a surprise, then, for a first-time visitor like myself, to see its beauty. The...
New Release Roundup for May 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...
Top 10 Chicago Craft Cocktail Bars
As with many cities in the US, the last few years have been particularly explosive in terms of craft, small-batch drinks. A few years back, Violet Hour was the one bar almost simultaneously spoken in the same breath as...
Unlocking Belgian Distilleries
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...
The New Distillery Pubs
Download 2 February 2002 Issue
When Peter Paisley started his microbrewery four years ago, he had no idea that one day he’d be making something other than beer. Paisley’s brewpub, Local Color, opened on January 1, 1998. Located in Novi, Michigan, 45 miles...
High-Tech Agitator Distillery Goes After Fast-Maturing Whiskey
Agitator Distillery lives in the shadows. No one knows about the distillery. They distill almost in secrecy. The name means troublemaker or rebel; an agitator makes his own way. Picture a Swedish distiller exploring boundaries, breaking new whiskey ground....
New Release Roundup January 2020
Welcome to my bottle review column, which will be less about tasting notes and ratings — although I will rate flavor and balance on a 1–5 rating scale — but more about what is trending or unique in spirits...
Sazerac Opens Museum-Distillery in New Orleans
Thinking big is never a problem for the Sazerac Company — billion-dollar mega-importers with more than 2,000 employees, nine distilleries and 300-plus brands around the world.
Thinking small, however, is a new experience for the Louisiana company based in Metairie.
With...
