What to try next? Today, most of what you see and read about bourbon and rye is focused on limited editions, finishes, and other mostly premium expressions. That's fine if that's what you're into, but it's a nightmare for newcomers trying to get to know the category. Too often, things you are told to try, when you try to try them, are hard or impossible to find, or too damn expensive. On top of that, producers these days are expanding the envelope with different tastes and experiences that may be fine for what they are, but they are such outliers they just confuse someone stil ..read more

  Celebrate Spring with a friendly putting competition at Welter’s Folly! Golf Season begins at Welter’s Folly on Sunday, April 14th, with the Big Cup Putting Tournament. Welter's Folly is a 30,000 square foot, 18-hole, mounded putting green behind the Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks, Michigan. It was named for Bill Welter, the distillery's founder.  Scheduled to coincide with the 80th Annual Masters, the Big Cup Putting Competition will be held at Welter's Folly on Sunday, April 14th, beginning at 11:30 AM. Cost is $40 per two-player team. Bring your putter or use the ..read more

  Joseph Lloyd Beam, Master Distiller, Bardstown, Kentucky. (date unknown, probably late 1920s) Yeast, and the different characteristics a particular strain can impart during fermentation, is a fundamental part of bourbon-making.  Today, most yeast is created in a lab and manufactured in a factory, but before Prohibition making yeast was a crucial part of a whiskey maker's skill set. Back then, "making" yeast meant mixing up a special mash and using it to catch and propagate a suitable strain from a wild source. Yeast is a living organism, a type of fungus. It thrives in a w ..read more

  Sautéed mushrooms, quickly cooked in butter and extra virgin olive oil, then finished with a flambé of bourbon. Mushrooms are tasty on pizza, battered and deep fried, or stuffed with crabmeat. Maybe you like grilled portabellas with polenta, or shiitakes in a stir fry. Or perhaps you'd enjoy a tasty side-dish like the one pictured above. Bourbon-flavored mushrooms? Sure. Mushroom-flavored bourbon? Maybe not.  But when white oak intended for whiskey barrels is seasoned naturally, mushrooms of a microscopic sort, usually referred to as fungi, play a vital role. Scientists ca ..read more

  Russia has its own whiskey, but they want ours. Despite sanctions intended to deprive Russia and Russians of any Western goods they may want, many things are getting through, including scotch and bourbon. The mule satisfying Russia's whiskey jones is our NATO ally, Latvia. According to DW, the German public broadcaster, in the first nine months of last year, Russia imported almost €244 million ($266 million) worth of whiskey products. Three-fourths of that came through Latvia, according to figures published by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. In second place was another Bal ..read more

  Bulleit American Single Malt Whiskey is bottled at 90° proof (45% ABV). MSRP is $60 (750 ml). Are you excited to try the new Bulleit American Single Malt? Well, here's a hot tip. Bulleit didn't make it. Diageo, which owns Bulleit, is the biggest distilled spirits maker in the world. They operate two large Kentucky distilleries and one in Tennessee, but they bought this whiskey from someone else. They won't say from whom. Here is what they will say, but only if you ask. Fitting the American Single Malt category guidelines, Bulleit American Single Malt was distilled by 1 distille ..read more

  The building across 3rd Street from Ollie's is now the Republic Academic Center, part of Spalding University. I never intended this to be a two-parter, but the original post got me feeling nostalgic about that time and place, now 46 years ago. That got me thinking, wondering, and Googling. Ollie's Trolley used to be a chain. Launched in Louisville in 1973, it grew to 300 locations but never truly became successful. Most of the shops closed in the 80s. There are three left, one in Cincinnati, one in Washington, D.C., and this one in Louisville. It's a unique burger, heavily spi ..read more

  Daniel David Beam, 1941-2015 I just happened upon this happy picture. It's from 2014, I think. That smile belongs to David Beam, the last Beam distiller at Jim Beam. (The last one with the last name of Beam, that is.) The picture was taken at Tom's Foolery near Cleveland, with two fermenters from the Michter's Barrel-a-Day Distillery.  There is a lot to unpack in this simple picture. David was the son of Carl 'Shucks' Beam, grandson of Park Beam. Park was Jim Beam's younger brother. When the Beams resumed distilling after Prohibition, Jim and his son, Jere, ran the busines ..read more

  My first office in Louisville was on the top floor, left side. Right across the street was my favorite lunch place. Both are still there. My recent post about Five Brothers Bourbon and the early history of the Heaven Hill Company brought to mind my own early history with the company and the Shapira family. Early in 1978, with snow still on the ground from one of the worst winters in memory, I moved from Columbus to Louisville to take a new job. Although the job was supposed to take me on to New Orleans, that part fell through, but I liked Louisville and the company, Fessel, Sie ..read more

Heaven Hill was named after the farmer, William Heavenhill, who originally owned the land where the distillery was built. The company's founder and first distiller was a member of the famous Beam family, Joe Beam. Joe's first cousin, Jim Beam, had already cornered the market on the family name. Because it had no other pre-Prohibition connections, the new company pulled names from the history books, Evan Williams and Elijah Craig, to christen some of its first brands. But the Heaven Hill story was always primarily the story of the five Shapira brothers, David, Ed, Gary, George, and ..read more