WhiskyCast

Fred Noe became Jim Beam's seventh master distiller in 2007 when his father, the legendary Booker Noe, retired. 13 years later, he's getting closer to the day when he'll hand things over to his son Freddie - but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed his plans for a "farewell tour" with Freddie this year. Instead, Fred's been cooped up at home in Bardstown, Kentucky, wearing a mask when he leaves the house at the insistence of his family and hoping to be able to go on that tour of Australia and Europe next year. In the meantime, he and his team have revived the Beam family's Old Tub Bourbon brand for a limited-edition release celebrating the 225th anniversary of Jacob Boehm's first whiskey, along with a limited-edition 15-year-old Knob Creek Bourbon. We'll catch up with Fred Noe on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the trade war between the U.S. and Europe is heating up again while England prepares to reopen pubs this coming week as parts of the U.S. close bars as the pandemic flares up. We'll have the latest on new whiskies, say goodbye and thanks to a couple of retiring friends, and look at the way whisky barrels are stored on Behind the Label.

It would have been easy for Chris and Shanelle Montana to close Du Nord Craft Spirits after arsonists set fire to the distillery's warehouse during riots in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis Police four weeks ago. It would have been even easier after more arsonists set fire to their apartment building the next night. They underestimated the Montanas, who not only plan to rebuild their distillery, but their neighborhood as well - and have already raised more than $560,000 with a GoFundMe campaign to help other minority-owned businesses repair their damage and rebuild. We'll talk with Chris and Shanelle on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Sazerac is expanding its portfolio with the acquisition of Canadian Mist and Collingwood Canadian whiskies, the Canadian Mist Distillery in Ontario, and Early Times from Brown-Forman. As coronavirus fever begins to fade, tariff talk is back in Brussels and Washington, while Beam Suntory is reviving part of the Beam family's legacy as the company celebrates 225 years of making whiskey.

Recent protests over racism and police brutality against African-Americans have led to greater calls for diversity throughout American society, and the whisky industry is no exception. American whiskey's history with diversity has not been a good one, going all the way back to the pre-Civil War era when many distilleries were run with enslaved labor – including the one owned by George Washington after his presidency. We'll have details on several initiatives announced this week that focus on improving diversity and inclusion within the whisky industry, including plans for the Nearest Green School of Distilling at Tennessee's Motlow State Community College that had been in the works for the past year. We'll also talk with Black Bourbon Society founder Samara Rivers, who has just launched Diversity Distilled – with a goal of helping whisky companies recruit and develop African-American talent. We'll also have the latest on Covid-19's impact, including the postponement of this fall's Kentucky Bourbon Festival and plans to gradually reopen pubs in the UK.

This week, we'll wrap up our two-part tour of Gladfield Malt in New Zealand, where Gabi and Doug Mitchell have turned the family's barley farm into one of the country's leading malt suppliers. The Mitchells think a lot about the future, one in which they hope to see their three kids take on key roles in the family business. Gabi Mitchell will share that part of their story with us on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, fundraising campaigns for the Minneapolis distillery and its neighbors devastated by fires during the recent protests over police brutality have raised more than half a million dollars so far, while African-American Bourbon lovers are blasting one whiskey brand for posting racist comments online and other brands for staying silent on the issue. We'll also have the latest pandemic-related event news, including a possible change of plans for this September's Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

Malted barley is critical to the making of many whiskies around the world, and this week, we'll take you inside the malting process with a visit to New Zealand's Gladfield Malt. Gabi and Doug Mitchell founded the maltings 16 years ago as an outgrowth of the family's Gladfield Farm, and has become a key supplier of malted barley for the country's growing craft distilling industry. There's so much to learn that we'll be splitting the tour between this episode and next week's WhiskyCast. In the news, a Minneapolis distillery is in ruins after it was torched by rioters during protests against the death of George Floyd while in police custody, and the distillery's founder is vowing not only to rebuild, but will help his neighbors rebuild their businesses. Some distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail are making plans to reopen to the public for tours and tastings next week following coronavirus-related closings, while we'll also have the latest on new whiskies and much more.

As governments start to relax lockdown restrictions in the fight against the Covid-19 virus, some distilleries are slowly starting to welcome the public back. While tours and tastings are still widely banned, Ireland's Teeling Whiskey Company opened the doors to its distillery shop and cafe this week, and we'll talk with Stephen Teeling about the decision and what it means to be able to get out of the house again. Meanwhile, at least four Kentucky distilleries have also opened their gift shops along with others in states with looser public health restrictions. However, Scotland's Glenfarclas Distillery will keep its visitors center in Speyside shuttered for the rest of 2020 to protect the health of distillery workers after one of its bottling hall workers died from the virus. We'll also have details on two whisky auctions to support those affected by the virus, along with the week's tasting notes and much more!

As parts of the world begin to reopen following lockdowns to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, bars are likely to be among the last businesses allowed to reopen. The social nature of bars doesn't quite work in an era of social distancing, and that will mean major changes for bar owners - and patrons. Jon Taffer is the host of the reality show "Bar Rescue" and a longtime bar industry consultant. He's been thinking about what the post-pandemic future holds for bars, and it's not a pretty picture - as he tells us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, some distilleries are starting to distill again in Scotland, while Kentucky Bourbon Trail distilleries could start to see a few gift shops reopen this week. We'll also have some of your comments to our poll question on plastic bottles for whisky and a look at research that could make wheat more attractive for distillers in the future.

While world leaders have rightly been focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue of climate change has its own long-term impact on the whisky community worldwide. This week, we'll look at two projects trying to create a sustainable climate for the whisky industry in the future. The "2100 Plan" is a project between the Kentucky Distillers Association and the state's universities to come up with solutions that solve sustainability issues, while Scotland's Bruichladdich Distillery has launched a program to make the entire distillery "carbon-neutral" by 2025. That project could use the waves that pound the Islay coast every day to generate power not only for Bruichladdich, but potentially meet most of the island's electrical demand. In the news, the U.S and Great Britain have started negotiations on a new free trade agreement, and whisky industry leaders want to make sure import tariffs on whiskies are removed as part of any deal. Covid-19 lockdowns don't appear to be ending for bar owners any time soon in Ireland, and this year's Irish Whiskey Awards have been cancelled because of the need for social distancing. We'll also look at a partnership in Texas between Balcones and one of the Lone Star State's legendary breweries and the debut later this month of the "Self Isolation Whisky Festival."

Whisky is what beer dreams of being when it grows up, but the Covid-19 pandemic has left craft brewers with tens of thousands of gallons of beer and no place to sell it with bars across the U.S. closed. Vermont's WhistlePig Farm has been working with brewers from as far away as Texas to give some of that beer a chance to fulfill a higher purpose: being distilled into whiskey! While we're approaching this from a humorous perspective, it's actually cheaper for the brewers and better for the environment to fill tanker trucks with their surplus beer and send it to Vermont than it would be to dump it into local sewer systems. WhistlePig distillery manager Emily Harrison and CEO Jeff Kozak join us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, a new survey shows nearly two out of three craft distillers are at risk of going out of business because of the economic impact from the pandemic. We'll have that story along with details on the week's new whiskies and much more, including our latest Whisky Club of the Month!

With tens of thousands of bar and restaurant workers around the world laid off because of mandatory bar and restaurant closings due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some bar owners are resorting to drastic measures to support their teams during the crisis. Bill Thomas of Washington, DC's Jack Rose Dining Saloon and his partners have been selling off the whiskey bar's legendary library of nearly 3,000 bottles - either by the full bottle or single-serving drams - while they evaluate their personal collections to see what makes the cut for the bar's wall when it reopens. We'll talk with Bill on WhiskyCast In-Depth, along with Meredith Meyer Grelli of Pittsburgh's Wigle Whiskey. She's performing the typical small business owner's chainsaw juggling routine of switching from distilling and a tasting room to e-commerce sales while trying to find out why her bank dropped the ball on processing Wigle's paperwork for a federal small business relief program. In the news, the rash of coronavirus-related whisky event cancellations is spreading to Kentucky, where some of this fall's major Bourbon events have already been cancelled while the Kentucky Bourbon Festival's new CEO is hoping to go ahead with Bardstown's big party. Bourbon Street in New Orleans will be quieter this July with the cancellation of Tales of the Cocktail, and in Scotland, police are investigating an attack by hackers that targeted a major online whisky auction this week.