The recent WhiskyFest Chicago featured more than 300 brands from across the spirit spectrum. That’s how I found myself sampling both a rye whiskey finished in rum barrels and a Guatemalan rum finished in whiskey barrels. What I discovered: When…
During Prohibition, a rum-runner named William Frederick McCoy was known for never watering down his product – when you bought spirits from him, you were sure to get the genuine deal. Some say this is the origin of the phrase “the…
The Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour will get an eighth stop – and the first-ever in Louisville – when Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Bourbon Experience opens this fall at 528 W. Main St. Main Street in Louisville was once known as “Whiskey Row”…
The Bourbon Classic, a weekend of cocktails, culinary delights, bourbon tasting and education, will return to the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2014. Like this year’s inaugural event, the 2014 Classic will again include a…
Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage 2003 86.6 proof; bottled on March 22, 2013 (just shy of 10 years); $29/750ml Nose: Vanilla, honey, some herbal notes; very soft and sweet. Taste: Buttery soft on the front and middle of the palate,…
In 2012, Kentucky distilleries filled one million barrels with bourbon (1,007,703, to be precise) – the first time they’ve hit that milestone since 1973. That brought total inventory to 4.9 million barrels, which means there are more barrels of bourbon aging in the Bluegrass than there…
“Kentucky’s Mash Appeal.” That’s how the Kentucky Distillers’ Association billed the bourbon and whiskey options from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail that were offered at a Derby Eve soiree at the Governor’s Mansion on Friday night. There really were 87 – although you had…
“I often like working with a hangover, because my mind is crackling with energy and I can think very clearly.” Irish painter Francis Bacon (Oct. 28, 1909-April 28, 1992). How many of us feel this way post-Derby, I wonder? (Fun…
Today is the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby. Just before the race, thousands of people will sing our state song, “My Old Kentucky Home” – you know, the one that begins, “The sun shines bright on my Old Kentucky Home.” Well, someone…
“Pluck the mint gently from its bed, just as the dew of the evening is about to form on it. Select the choicer sprigs only, but do not rinse them. Prepare the simple syrup and measure out a half-tumbler of…
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