Here’s a great little snippet of how Philadelphians have always been clueless about the rest of the state. The Whiskey Rebellion is a tough topic of discussion for any American […]
Jenny Lind- “The Swedish Nightingale” Inspires Whiskey Makers
THERE IS NOTHING NEW ABOUT CELEBRITY WHISKEYS, folks! (Sorry to shout with all caps, but if there’s one thing that an #AmericanWhiskeyHistory page should do, it should be to remind […]
The Schreiners. A Distilling Dynasty.
American whiskey history tends to focus its spotlight on company presidents and brand owners. Whiskey barons like E.H. Taylor, Albert Blanton, and George Garvin Brown have been lionized by the […]
What is Maryland Rye?
Let me just start by saying that the definition we’ve assigned to Maryland rye whiskey…is flawed. I know, it’s not great to start off a post with such a contrarian […]
What Was the Gwynnbrook Distillery and Why Was It Important?
I’ve been wanting to write about Gwynnbrook for a long while. Unfortunately, Gwynnbrook isn’t a distillery name most whiskey enthusiasts are familiar with, but a distillery doesn’t have to be […]
An Argument To Rethink Something We Believe To Be True
“There were 6 distilleries licensed to manufacture medicinal whiskey during Prohibition.” If we’ve read it once, we’ve read it a thousand times. However, this statement is not true for a […]
Mount Vernon Rye Whiskeys- An Historic Tasting (1902-1947)
On November 23, 2024, at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Distillery in Alexandria, Virginia, an incredible lineup of historic bottlings of rye whiskeys were sampled. The focus was on antique expressions […]
Who was John E. Fitzgerald?
Who was JOHN E. FITZGERALD- the namesake for Old Fitzgerald Whiskey? SPOILER ALERT! He couldn’t be the guy we’ve been told he was! I’ve never understood why a successful businessman […]
Standards of Identity for Spirits…as of 1939.
The standards of identity were established in under the provisions of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act of 1935. Amendments to that act have been being made ever since. This iteration […]
A Simple Explanation of Grain Farming- Distiller’s Edition.
Every whiskey geek should know how grain is grown. Most don’t. Do you? It occurred to me that there are very few places where whiskey geeks can really learn about […]