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It's hard to believe, but the iconic New York City pub The Dead Rabbit is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. In that time, it's built a reputation as one of the world's best cocktail bars. We'll talk with co-founder and managing partner Jack McGarry about the first ten years and what the future holds for The Dead Rabbit - including expansion to Austin, New Orleans, and other cities. On Your Voice, listeners like you tell us what makes a pub great, and in our Behind the Label segment, we'll answer a question about the difference between a peaty whisky and a smoky one.

Distillers like to claim the "authentic" label for their whiskies, but how does one define "authenticity" in whisky? Is a "grain to glass" whisky more authentic than one that's mass-produced? Stanford business professor Glenn Carroll and Tulane business professor Cameron Verhaal teamed up to study just what whisky drinkers consider to be authentic, and they join us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth to discuss their findings. In the news, Irish Whiskey tourism rebounded strongly during 2022 with a 425% gain over the pandemic-affected year of 2021. Diageo shares took a plunge on softness in U.S. Scotch Whisky sales, and a small North Carolina distillery hopes to send barrels of whiskey where no barrels have gone before.

This week's episode comes from the Victoria Whisky Festival in Victoria, British Columbia...where a small Vancouver distillery shocked the Canadian whisky world the other night. Sons of Vancouver won Canadian Whisky of the Year honors at the Canadian Whisky Awards with their "Palm Trees and a Tropical Breeze" rye whisky. It was the highest-scoring whisky in the competition, and it wasn't even close. We'll talk with the distillery's Jenna Diubaldo, James Lester, and Max Smith on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth, along with Canadian Whisky Awards founder and chairman Davin de Kergommeaux. In the news, an explosion rocked Alberta Distillers in Calgary this week, while a long-running legal saga has come to an end in Vancouver.

Sarah Burgess has held a lot of different positions during her 25-plus years in the whisky industry, from serving as a seasonal tour guide to running three different distilleries and being a whisky maker for The Macallan. Now, she's taking on a new challenge as the lead whisky maker for The Lakes Distillery in England. We'll talk with Sarah on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, a Scottish government consultation on alcohol sales and marketing has the Scotch Whisky industry crying foul, while Irish Whiskey exports set a new record during 2022.

Whiskies are being released at staggering prices with an eye to investors as well as collectors, but what is the market for these rare whiskies? Duncan Taylor & Co. has just released a £75,000 1969 Macallan, and we'll talk with Peter Currie of Shand Imports about this whisky and its intended market on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth.

Distillers are known for helping each other out, but the team at the Bardstown Bourbon Company is taking that collaborative spirit to new levels. The distillery not only makes its own whiskies, but works with more than 30 other brands to produce their whiskies using 54 different mashbills. Now, Bardstown Bourbon is releasing its own mature Bourbon and Rye whiskies for the first time with the Origin Series. We'll talk with VP of Product Development Dan Callaway about the new whiskies and that collaborative process on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Britain's King Charles is honoring Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes and Islay's Jim McEwan on the New Year's Honours List, Buffalo Trace celebrates a milestone, and we'll have some of your final drams of 2022 and first drams of 2023, too!

We'll wrap up the year with a look at the Irish whiskey industry from both the macro and micro views this week with Denis O'Flynn. He's the former managing director of Pernod Ricard UK, and since 2017 has been a non-executive director of Clonakilty Distillery. That gives him a unique perspective on the state of the Irish Whiskey industry, and he'll share his opinions with us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the marriage between Wild Turkey and actor Matthew McConaughey has split up, with both sides remaining friends. We'll have that story and much more in our final episode of 2022. 

Eddie Russell has been making whiskey for 42 years, and is a Bourbon Hall of Fame member. Still, to many people, he'll always be known as "Jimmy Russell's son." That's what happens when you work alongside a legend, and now that he's established his own legacy, he's passing it on to his son Bruce, and as Eddie put it during our WhiskyCast In-Depth interview this week, "what goes around, comes around." We'll talk with Eddie about his two most recent releases, the Master's Keep Unforgotten edition and the Russell's Reserve Single Rickhouse edition, and how he's still learning on the job after 42 years. 

Is Sweetens Cove a whiskey company with a golf course, or a golf course with its own whiskey brand? That's something the Sweetens Cove team is trying to figure out for themselves, but while they ponder that question, they've released the third edition of their Tennessee Bourbon. We'll talk with Sweetens Cove master blender Marianne Eaves and CEO Mark Rivers on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, we'll have details on two new Kentucky distillery projects valued at nearly $350 million and a look at the latest data on the boom in craft distilling.

Six years ago, the wildfire known as "The Beast" devastated Northern Alberta, forcing the evacuations of 88,000 people in the area around Fort McMurray. At the time, Wood Buffalo Brewing & Distilling had to leave behind a pallet of peated malt to escape the fire, but firefighters managed to save both the distillery and the malt, which had absorbed a lot of smoke from the fire. The distillery pre-sold bottles of "The Beast" whisky made from that malt to raise more than $100,000 for local charities in the months following the fire, and while the distillery later closed its doors, distillers Bryce Parsons and Spike Baker returned to Fort McMurray this weekend to deliver on the promise made six years ago. We'll catch up with them on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth.  

During the golden age of Irish Whiskey, Belfast-based Dunville’s was one of the biggest brands on the market. While the brand was almost lost to history, it was revived a decade ago by the family-owned Echlinville Distillery in Northern Ireland. Using vintage sourced whiskies, the Dunville’s brand has been preserved for new generations of Irish Whiskey fans. We’ll talk with Echlinville’s Jarlath Watson about the Dunville’s heritage and building new traditions as the distillery prepares to release its own whiskies starting in 2023. 

Bigger isn't necessarily better, and we have proof of that this week with our podcast recorded on location at the New Brunswick Spirits Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The festival punches well above its weight class to deliver an outstanding event every year, and celebrated its 25th anniversary this weekend. We'll talk with founder and chairman Frank Scott to find out his secrets for success on WhiskyCast In-Depth, and we'll also catch up with another old friend. Martine Nouet has been organizing the festival's food and whisky lunches for years, but is scaling back her whisky work to pursue other passions. In the news, Diageo's venture capital unit has taken a stake in England's Oxford Artisan Distillery, while Canadian Club is out with another record-setting vintage whisky. Finally, Corby's Dr. Don Livermore has coined a new word for whisky lovers, and he'll share it with us on Behind the Label. 

With the holidays coming up, whisky books may be on your gift list. We’ll talk with two noted whisky writers who have new books out this holiday season. Ian Buxton is the author of “101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die,” and Dave Broom’s latest book “A Sense of Place” looks at whisky’s place in Scottish culture. We’ll have tasting notes for a Christmas whisky from Paul John and the new American Single Malt from Jack Daniel’s…and Lochlea’s John Campbell helps us explain how the strength of peated whiskies is measured on this week’s Behind the Label.

Nick Offerman has entertained millions of people with his film and television career, but it’s his whisky career that he’s sharing with us this week. From the early days of featuring Lagavulin on Parks and Recreation to his dozens of Tales of Whisky videos for the brand, Offerman has become synonymous with Lagavulin. He’ll join us on this week’s WhiskyCast In-Depth to discuss his Lagavulin origin story, working with blender Stewart Morrison, and cutting peat on Islay with the legendary Iain “Mr. Pinky” McArthur. We’ll also have details on the sales of Wilderness Trail and Balcones distilleries, this week’s tasting notes, and meet a distiller who’s worked on six continents…so far.

Colum Egan had a unique challenge when presented with the opportunity to build a new Bushmills distillery that would complement the venerable existing distillery: take the best technology of today while making the whiskey taste the same way the old distillery has been producing it for decades. The €37 million project went into production a year ago, but few visitors have been allowed inside to take a look at the new distillery. You'll get a first look inside with Colum Egan on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Irish Whiskey exports rose in 2021, but will be pressed to meet that goal in 2022. We'll have the details along with an exclusive interview with former Maker's Mark whisky makers Denny Potter and Jane Bowie, who are now ready to disclose their plans for a new distillery in Kentucky. 

Much has been made of the boom in Irish whiskey over the last decade, but one industry veteran says that boom is only the foundation for greater growth in the future. Walsh Whiskey Company founder Bernard Walsh believes the industry still has some growing pains to go through before the "renaissance" really begins, and he'll share his views with us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. We're in Dublin this week for a series of distillery visits sponsored by the Irish whiskey Association and Tourism Ireland, and we'll also have a crypt keeper's story to share on Behind the Label.

Unless you're drinking a single cask bottling, every whisky you drink has been prepared by a team of blenders. That goes for single malts, too, and Stewart Morrison is the blender behind Lagavulin's latest release: the Offerman Edition Charred Oak. Morrison teamed up with actor and Lagavulin lover Nick Offerman to create the third release in the Offerman Edition series, and he'll join us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Islay's distilleries may soon run short of peated malt supplies to meet the island's growing demand, while U.S. whisky exports are rising following the removal of European and UK tariffs. 

There are at least 774 malt whisky distilleries around the world, according to the 2023 edition of the Malt Whisky Yearbook. We'll hear from some of the emerging malt whisky makers, including Dhavall Gandhi of The Lakes Distillery in England and Desiree Reid of New Zealand's Cardrona Distillery, on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. Number 775 could be Jack Daniel's, which unveiled plans this week to release an American Single Malt next June. We'll also take a look at a group of whisky lovers that need special attention from whisky show organizers...those who need wheelchairs to get around.

This week, we're on location in London for The Whisky Exchange's annual Whisky Show at Old Billingsgate. We'll have interviews from throughout the weekend on WhiskyCast In-Depth, including Diageo's Colin Dunn, Oliver Chilton of Elixir Distillers, and Tomatin's Scott Adamson. Tomatin took home top honors at this week's International Wine and Spirits Competition Awards, and we'll have that story in our news segment along with details on a new record for Kentucky's growing Bourbon barrel inventory. We'll also have tasting notes from the weekend, and in our Behind the Label segment, we'll explain the difference between rejuvenated casks and "STR" casks.

Until now, Alfred Barnard's classic book "The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom" was the benchmark guide for whisky historians. Now, a collection of 120 distillery profiles first published between 1922 and 1929 has been published in a Barnard-esque book by James Eadie Ltd. The Distilleries of Great Britain & Ireland is a worthy sequel to Barnard's original book and fills a critical need for whisky history from the early 20th century. We'll talk with Eadie's Leon Kuebler and writer Tom Bruce-Gardyne, who compiled the profiles and wrote the introduction, on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the UK's new Chancellor is freezing whisky excise duties as part of a pledge to cut taxes, and a Virginia ABC employee has pleaded guilty to charges of leaking information on rare bourbon allocations at state run liquor stores. We'll also hear some critical feedback following our interview with Phil Steger of Brother Justus Distilling two weeks ago on Your Voice.