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In this week's episode, Sarah and Kurt crack open the decade when whiskey stopped being just a drink...and became a culture. The 1990s introduced tasting magazines, global whiskey festivals, independent bottlers, rare malts, and the rise of an entirely new species: the whiskey nerd.

From the groundbreaking launch of Malt Advocate in 1990 to the glossy international flair of Whisky Magazine, we trace how whiskey finally got its own media ecosystem. We dig into the birth of WhiskeyFest, the rise of shared tasting language, the early days of collecting, and the massive influence of legendary writer Michael Jackson—whose books and tasting style shaped an entire generation.

If you love whiskey, this is the story of how your fandom was born.