Production & Process

From High-Flying Hybrid Blimps to High Mark

When Felicia Keith-Jones found herself steering a $40 million Lockheed Martin airship over vast white oceans of snow, she tried to keep her focus on the thrill of the moment. The thrill – and the challenge. She was operating...

Book Review: Modern Caribbean Rum

In 2007, Matt Pietrek began what he describes as his “spirited journey,” which started with the creation of a home bar and then evolved to writing about distilling, cocktails, spirit regulations, and the history of spirits through his website...

Fall 2015 Book Reviews

Bourbon Curious: A Simple Tasting Guide for the Savvy Drinker Fred Minnick Zenith Press, 2015 240 pages ISBN 978-0760347409 $22.99 Fred Minnick writes for the Wall Street Journal and other publications, and he is the author of Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How...

Distillery Highlight: Copper Crow Distillery

After a career in the school system and law enforcement, Curt and his wife Linda opened Copper Crow, the first distillery in the US owned by Native Americans, and the first distillery within the boundary of a Native American...

Tales from a Ghost Blender

One day last winter, I visited a local craft distillery to collect samples of barrel drippings for use in my blending lab. The distiller, taking a much-needed break from his work, followed me around from barrel to barrel as...

Want to Age Something a Long, Long Time? Here’s How

In February of 2023, Highland Park released its oldest-ever whisky, a 54-year-old single malt aged 40 years in refill casks, then finished in first-fill sherry casks for another 14 years. Each teardrop-shaped decanter cradled in a sculpted wooden presentation...

American Whiskey Makers Dig Deep in Search of New Flavors

Peated whiskey immediately conjures images of sipping a medicinal Islay malt beneath the shadow of a crumbling castle in the windswept moorlands of Scotland. But peat bogs are not a strictly Scottish or even European environment. While peat is...

The 500-Year Flood

It had been a hot and dry summer. Colorado was in the midst of a drought that had drained reservoirs and shriveled crops. As a result, the Front Range of the Rockies had experienced several of the worst fires...

Summer 2016 Book Reviews

Distilled Stories: California Artisans Behind the Spirits Edited by Capra Press, 2016 Softcover/256 pages ISBN 978-1592661060 $20.00 Distilled Stories: California Artisans Behind the Spirits (edited by Capra Press) recounts the stories of 32 California distillers and how they came to make distilling their profession....

How Stoutridge Distillery Managed the Wine-to-Spirits Migration

Having opened in 2006 as a winery eschewing chemicals in its winemaking (unique now, more so for that time), life and work partners Steve Osborn and Kim Wagner sought to capture as much flavor as possible in wines and...