Whiskey Lore®: The Interviews

In 1854, a family arrived in the first capital of Nevada, a town called Genoa. Almost 170 years later, that same family has taken their farming techniques and developed a winery and a distillery.

In this episode, we'll talk about some of the family's history in the High Desert of Nevada and hear what advantages there are to having a farm where you source all of your own grains.

Meet Ashley and Colby Frey  of Frey Ranch Distillery on this episode of Whiskey Lore: The Interviews.

What happens when a distillery returns from being mothballed? In the case of the Bladnoch Lowland distillery great things.

Join me as I talk with Will Pitchforth about the state of Lowland scotch in the 21st century, how a 203 year old distillery gets back up and running after being relegated to tourist attraction, and as I taste a highly regarded 10 year and a non-age stated whisky finished in California red wine casks.

It's all about the revival of a Lowlands brand.

How does one go from New York fashion photographer, to building their own still in Colorado and crafting a top notch whiskey?

Well that is the road the 291 Distillery's Founder, Michael Myers took and it wasn't always easy, but it definitely paid off in some beautiful ryes and bourbons.

Find out what Colorado Whiskey is, how a Weber Grill and Aspen trees play a part in this distillery's spirits, and I'll do a tasting of two of Michael's flagship whiskeys.

What better way to introduce Whiskey Lore and my book Whiskey Lore's Travel Guide to Experiencing Kentucky Bourbon than by being a guest on another bourbon podcast.

Jim Shannon and Mike Hyatt are the hosts of The Bourbon Road podcast and I'll let them take the controls as we do a tasting of Angel's Envy Cask Strength and Shackleton's Blended Malt Scotch, and I talk about how I got started living a life of a whisk(e)y traveler and podcaster.

What knowledge do you need to start your own distillery? Well, it takes a lot more than just learning to distill.

When I went to Kentucky to interview David Meier about the Old Crow Distillery ruins that sit next to his building, I got a lot more out of the interview than I bargained for. David and his team built their distillery from the ground up - even designing their own stills. 

We'll talk some history, but there is a lot of science and process to be discovered here as well. Cheers!

During my second trip to Scotland, I had the pleasure of meeting the staff at the "Oldest Working Distillery" in Scotland, the Glenturret Distillery.

My original plan was to talk distillery cats, but during the tour I was shown a cask of whisky dedicated to Grace Gow, a distillery worker whose untimely death also showed the presence of a female worker at the distillery in the 1800s. And so Glenturret's Development Manager Lucy Armstrong was kind enough to spend a few minutes telling Grace's story and how she's approaching research for this historic distillery.

Did you know that Four Roses was one of the most popular bourbons just after World War II? Did you also know that it was pushed to export and remained off of shelves as a straight bourbon in the United States for over 50 years?

In this interview, I chat with the late-Al Young, who along with master distiller Jim Rutledge helped bring this legendary brand back to life. This is a companion interview to the full story which is available on the Whiskey Lore story-based podcast feed.

In the 19th Century, what was the most popular Tennessee Whiskey in the world? If you said George Dickel or Jack Daniel's think again.

In this interview from 2020, I chat with the descendant of Tennessee's once largest selling brand and find out, not only about the family's past, it's whiskeys (including Belle Meade and Nelson's Green Brier) but also how Charles Nelson's legacy is being returned to the shelves of whiskey shops, bars, and homes across the nation.

Today, the Log Still Distillery is up and running and selling bourbon, gin, and Tennessee whiskey. But back when I conducted this interview, Log Still was still a brand new concept and the distillery was still a dream.

I went to New Hope/Gethsemane to learn more about the pre-Prohibition distillery town of New Hope and what happened to it. And it was there that I met this great family, who are working together to bring jobs and the industry back to the area.

Hear their dreams, their history, and details about the New Hope of the past.

One of the burning questions around the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is "where did bourbon get its name?"

You might be surprised that many lean toward New Orleans and Bourbon Street rather than Bourbon County Kentucky.

While in New Orleans in March of 2020, I had the opportunity to dig into this question a little deeper by chatting with Drink and Learn podcast host and Drinks Historian Elizabeth Pearce. By the end of this interview, you may have the answer. We'll also dig into cocktails, Prohibition, and New Orleans history.