I poured countless glasses of whiskey during my 12 years as a bartender at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood. But I didn't start to understand Scotch until I started writing about it. In my early years as a spirits writer, I went straight to Scotland's leading whiskey expert, Charles Maclean, who wrote more than … Read more
American single malt has been around for decades, but it still doesn't have the legal recognition that other American whiskeys like bourbon and rye have. Distillers and whiskey fans thought that was about to change a few years ago when the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB, the federal agency responsible for alcohol) … Read more
Wolves Whiskey, the California spirit brand created by fashion icons Undefeated's James Bond and Jon Buscemi of Buscemi, Truff and Oliver Peoples, has launched its flagship American single malt. This is the brand's first bottling to be available throughout the year. Wolves Whiskey was founded in 2017. However, the brand did not launch its whiskey … Read more
The Brewers Association hosted the 42nd annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Colorado this past weekend, bringing more than 40,000 fans and selections from more than 500 breweries from across the United States and Puerto Rico to Denver . This year, Forbes It was reported that 9,200 beers and ciders were judged. On Sunday, … Read more
Blended Scotch doesn’t need a sales pitch. The hugely popular style, which combines malt and grain whisky ingredients into an approachable whole, accounts for more than 90 percent of all Scotch whisky sales worldwide. In fact, it’s the most widely consumed category of whisky on the planet. Yet among a certain subset of connoisseurs (i.e. … Read more
It’s not easy flying out of the country these days. Between long security lines, flight delays, and being stuck in the middle seat next to the snoring guy, you deserve the reward of surviving a trip abroad. That’s why I make sure to pack a bottle of Ardbeg Smoketrails every time I travel internationally. It’s … Read more
Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger for 1939 Detective comics #27, Batman has steadily become DC's most successful hero and now dominates the sales charts. At any given time, the street-level antihero can be found in a variety of formats, from graphic novels and miniseries to ongoing titles. With a history of nine years, … Read more
The Balvenie is a revered Scotch whisky brand with a history dating back to 1892. That was the year industry legend William Grant set out to build his dream distillery next to the 13th-century castle that gave the liquid its name. The Balvenie means “village of fortune” in Scots, which is quite appropriate considering the … Read more
When I lived in London, I was always amazed at how much the British loved Jack Daniel's. Everywhere I went, the iconic black-and-white label of Tennessee whiskey was on bar shelves, posters, T-shirts, clubs and pubs. It was an import to them, and in turn a sort of American myth, an icon that not everyone … Read more
On an unusually warm day in Speyside, Scotland, the sun was shining brightly over the warehouses and trademark pagodas that dot the grounds of the Glenfiddich distillery. Scotland is renowned for being foggy, gloomy and cold – in the most wonderful and atmospheric way. But there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and not a … Read more