The Story Behind A. Smith Bowman and the Pioneer Spirit That Still Flows Today Some distilleries are famous because they produce a unicorn bottle. Others because they have been around forever. Then there are places like A. Smith Bowman Distillery, where the history is just as interesting as the whiskey itself. As a Whiskey Nerd,…
You’re scrolling a whiskey shop’s website, and there it is: a bottle called Fortuna, dressed in vintage-looking type, with a story on the back about a German immigrant and a distillery called Glencoe. You’ve never heard of either. Neither had we, until we went looking. Turns out Fortuna isn’t a new brand playing dress-up in…
You’re at the bar, someone orders a Manhattan, and the bartender reaches for bourbon without thinking twice. Nothing wrong with that — it’s a fine Manhattan. But it’s also, historically speaking, backwards. The original Manhattan, the original Old Fashioned, the original whiskey sour — all of it was built on rye. Bourbon is the newcomer…
What Is Chill Filtering? So, here is how it usually goes. You pour a bourbon over ice — and suddenly it turns cloudy. Panic sets in. Did my whiskey go bad? Nope. Your bourbon is fine. You just accidentally discovered one of the most debated topics in modern whiskey culture: Chill Filtering. And if you…
Barrel Symphony — What happens when Bourbon and Rye stop competing and start playing together There are whiskey releases that feel like a line extension, and then there are releases that feel like a distillery planting a flag. 13th Colony’s Barrel Symphony: Composition No. 1 seems to be a new flag from this great Georgia…
Wax Dips — Beautiful or Dangerous? Now we need to discuss one of the most divisive subjects in bourbon culture: wax-dipped bottles. Some people love them. Some people absolutely hate them. To most people, a bottle closure is just a way to keep whiskey inside the bottle. To whiskey nerds, it is part of the…
How Did We Get Here? Most whiskey fans eventually end up with one, a drawer, a shelf, a box in the bar area, filled with old corks. Nobody really plans for this to happen. It just does. Somewhere along the way, certain corks become souvenirs of things like that first allocated bottle, special birthday bourbon,…
Double oaked bourbon sounds simple. Put bourbon in a barrel. Then put it in another barrel. Done. Right? Not exactly. That second barrel can change everything. Bourbon already has to spend time in new charred oak to be bourbon in the first place. That oak gives us the familiar flavors we love: vanilla, caramel, brown…
What That Fancy Little Phrase Really Means Some bourbon labels are easy to understand. Single barrel? One barrel. Barrel proof? Bottled close to what came out of the barrel. Bottled in bond? Rules, history, and paperwork. Then there is Cigar Blend. That phrase sounds like it belongs in a dark leather chair beside a fireplace,…
Corks, T-Tops, and Screw Caps… Oh My! Every whiskey fan remembers at least one great cork pop. Unfortunately, we also remember the bad ones. The cork that split in half. The one that crumbled into the bottle. The one so dry it practically disintegrated the second you touched it. Nothing ruins the mood faster than…