Whisky Magazine Aug/Sep 2018

I am not often star struck. I think years of working on newspapers, interviewing politicians and celebrities sorted me out on that front. However every now and then you are in the presence of a true legend, someone whose career has left an indelible mark on the world. This happened on a recent trip to Glasgow. It’s always lovely to be back in the city, my alma mater. I was in town for a few things but the highlight was playing at the Old Fruitmarket with the Whisky Band. If you haven’t come across or seen the band it is a collection of people who all work in the industry who come together to play music. Over the years we have forged quite a bond of camaraderie and support, playing every…

In 2007, the United States Mint immortalised a bucking bronco named Steamboat on a twenty-five-cent coin. Born near Chugwater, Wyoming in 1896, he earned his name when a nose wound left him whistling like a steamboat. His reputation on the rodeo circuit as a mount that no wrangler could ride earned him fame and a lot of Wyoming pride. Steamboat’s record as the world’s undisputed champion bucking bronco still stands as does his stature as a symbol of Wyoming’s unbeatable spirit. This past June, Wyoming Whiskey fans whistled too, when the Kirby, Wyoming distillery released two new whiskeys worth spending your Steamboat quarters on. Steamboat Bourbon not only pays tribute to the steed, the package tips its 10-gallon hat to Wyoming’s natural parks and landscapes with a colourful gold and brown…

24 - 25 August 2018 Whisky Live is Adelaide’s whisky sampling event of the year and after the successful last event when we introduced other spirits, it’s now permanent – the Whisky Live and Fine Spirits tasting event. Whisky Live and Fine Spirits showcases a large selection of high-quality whiskies and spirits, all open for sampling. This event will suit the whisky lover as well as the gin, vodka, rum or other spirit lover. The event presents whiskies and spirits by brand, with an expert there to inform and educate as you taste. A quality spirits glass is supplied to keep, plus a tasting guide is supplied both at the event and available digitally a week before the event for download. The guide lists all the whiskies and spirits for sampling and gives flavour profiles…

About a decade ago, I had the immense privilege of having dinner with renowned chef Thomas Keller and a few of his friends. I was a cub lifestyle reporter and we ate at a Chinese restaurant in the Boston’s Chinatown where the décor was, to be euphemistic, well worn and the service a bit slapdash. As the men munched on chicken feet and scallion pancakes, they reflected on the state of the restaurant industry. Rather, they lamented. Nobody wants to be a line cook any more. Garde-manger? Yeah, right. These kids straight out of culinary school want to go straight to being head chef. They want to do sous vide and dehydrate everything before they know how make a pie crust. I relay this story because this is precisely what has…

I want to write about whisky professionally and love and be loved. How does one break into such a small circle?” There it was. My angst captured in a single tweet, sent by someone entirely unknown to me. Several prominent whisky writers commented self-mockingly, but I bet that secretly they were thinking the same things I was. “Vows of poverty,” said one wag, followed by another more cynical, “Max out two credit cards on whisky, take pictures, write tasting notes, contact your local newspaper to get that sweet $75 story then hope a publisher sees it. Then, you can quit your law practice.” The would-be professional whisky writer replied, “So basically a typical weekend but I get $75? “I’m in.” Turns out, the tweeter whose words so crystalised my disquiet is a successful…

The Manhattan Project that secretly developed the atomic bomb in the early 1940s was preceded by another ambitious Manhattan project half a century earlier. Ground zero was the Manhattan distillery in Peoria, Illinois. Despite arson, sabotage and espionage attempts, it was a government regulation that was responsible for scuttling this radical advancement. The Manhattan project began as the collaboration between two men. The distilling baron, Joseph Greenhut and the Japanese scientist, Dr. Jokichi Takamine. Joseph Greenhut was president of the Distillers and Cattle Feeders Company, known as the Whiskey Trust. By 1891, the Trust was manufacturing more than 85 per cent of the US alcoholic spirits through eighty-six distilleries. The Trust aggressively used pricing to control the marketplace and news of Takamine’s revolutionary ‘Japanese process’ would give the Trust another competitive…