This Week on WhiskyCast

On the Road at The Great American Whiskey Fair (Episode 733: October 18, 2018)

This time around, we’re in Columbia, South Carolina for The Great American Whiskey Fair. We’ll talk with local distillers creating unique whiskies with local grains, and we’ll also look at a global issue: the potential impact of climate change on the whisky industry. Researchers have been looking at the impact of global warming on barley production for beer, but they also see a serious problem for whisky distillers, too. In the news, Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard is planning another expansion at Midleton Distillery and the rest of its facilities in Ireland to meet projected demand, and we’ll have the latest on new whiskies and executive changes, along with a tribute to one of whisky’s quiet giants.

Back Home on Whiskey Row After 99 Years (Episode 732: October 14, 2018)

Old Forester released its final edition in the Whiskey Row series of limited-edition Bourbons this week, and the 1910 Old Fine Whiskey honors the brand’s return to its historical home. Brown-Forman’s $45 million Old Forester Distillery opened in June on Main Street in downtown Louisville on the same site where the company was located from 1882 until Prohibition began in 1919. We toured the distillery just as that final Whiskey Row edition was being bottled, and you’ll hear it on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, $843,200 is a high price to pay for a rare whisky, but that high bid Saturday at Sotheby’s fell short of the world record by more than a quarter of a million dollars. We’ll also have details on an upcoming Supreme Court case that could affect interstate whisky shipments and details on the latest new whiskies.

WhiskyCast Tasting Panel: Podcasters Tasting Whiskies? Rye Not!

We’ve assembled a panel of podcasters and a longtime WhiskyCast listener for this Tasting Panel session recorded on location at the Podcast Movement 2018 conference in Philadelphia. Elsie Escobar, Chris Liro, Sean MacCready, and Mike Joachim nosed and tasted a flight of rye whiskies: Heaven Hill’s Pikesville Rye, Beam’s Old Overholt Bottled in Bond Rye, and High West’s 2018 edition of its Yippee Ki-Yay rye.

 WhiskyCast HD: Cleaning up Thousands of Bourbon Barrels at Barton 1792 Distillery

On June 22, 2018, half of Warehouse 30 collapsed at the Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, spilling around 9,000 barrels of whiskey. The rest of the warehouse collapsed on July 4 with another 9,000 barrels. Crews have been working since then to recover as many barrels – and as much Bourbon – as possible. The site is closed to reporters, but Sazerac has released a video and new images showing cleanup work at the warehouse site.

If you were listening to the June 30, 2018 edition of NPR’s “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me,” yes, that was WhiskyCast’s Mark Gillespie you heard as a contestant during the “Listener Limerick Challenge” segment at the end of the show! We’ve been public radio fans for years, and now, we have to decide which of the show’s hosts and panelists will record Mark’s mobile phone message. If you didn’t get to listen to the show live, we’ve included links here so you can download the podcast version.

WhiskyCast now comes to you twice a week, with a new mid-week episode in addition to our regular weekend podcast! We’ve decided that there’s so much to cover in the world of whisky each week that it makes more sense to bring you two shows each week that fit better into your busy schedule instead of one longer show. There will still be times when we’ll do one episode a week because of travel commitments or holidays, though.

If you’re just discovering us for the first time, here’s a bit of our own story. WhiskyCast pioneered the genre of whisky-focused podcasts back in 2005, when most people had never heard of podcasting! Since then, we’ve produced hundreds of hours of original – and free – audio and video content for whisky lovers like you around the world. Our community spans the globe, and we’ve done stories on whiskies made in the far north of Scandinavia all the way to the tips of South Africa and Australia – and everywhere in between. We’ve met many of you at whisky festivals and while visiting distilleries, and hope to meet many more of you over time.

We’re able to do this thanks to the support of our advertisers – both past and present. They advertise on WhiskyCast knowing that they will never have any say over our editorial content, and may even have their ads running next to features on their competitors. They recognize the importance of independent, fact-based journalism devoted to telling the stories of whisky in a creative, yet ethically sound way focused on helping you learn more about whisky.

Slainte!

The WhiskyCast Team

Whisky Photo of the Week

Old Forester’s Zack Holzknecht works on a barrel in the distillery’s onsite cooperage. The distillery’s team is being cross-trained to work in all areas, from guiding tours to distilling and coopering.