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Lexie Phillips grew up around Lynchburg, Tennessee watching generations of her relatives go to work at the Jack Daniel Distillery. Now, she's leading the family - and the distillery team as Assistant Distiller alongside Master Distiller Chris Fletcher. She's been in the role for a little more than a year, and has become a role model for other women working at the distillery. We'll meet Lexie Phillips on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, thieves strike at Glenfarclas Distillery's visitors center, while another generation of Beams gets the title of Master Distiller and millions of dollars in whiskies go on the auction block. We'll have those stories and much more on this week's WhiskyCast!

Photographer Ernie Button's new book, "The Art of Whisky," was published this week, and he joined us on last Friday night's #HappyHourLive webcast along with whisky writers Kyle Swartz of Beverage Dynamics and The Whiskey Wash's Nino Kilgore-Marchetti. You can catch our live webcasts on Friday nights at 5:00pm New York time on the WhiskyCast YouTube channel, our Facebook page, Twitter, and Twitch.

Blue Run Spirits has only been around for a couple of years, but its whiskies have already found their way into the hearts of whiskey lovers. Of course, it helps to have a Bourbon Hall of Fame distiller like Jim Rutledge as part of the team. The latest Blue Run Bourbon release, Reflection, is out now. We'll talk with co-founder Mike Montgomery and Blue Run's new director of whisky, Shaylyn Gammon, this week on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, we now know what Islay's newest distillery will be named, the Spirit of Speyside Festival hands out its awards, and Johnnie Walker floats the idea of whisky subscriptions in the UK. We'll also have May's Whisky Club of the Month and much more.

Mathew and Julie Cooper built Fannys Bay Distillery next to their home in Tasmania, and their small-scale whiskies are just now becoming available in the United States. The Coopers joined us on our latest #HappyHourLive webcast along with Holly Seidewand of First Fill Spirits and Her Whisky Love, who persuaded them to export their whiskies for the first time. We'll also get the first look at two new bottled in bond whiskies from Jack Daniel's that arrived via The Whisky Fairy just before showtime. 

Two years ago, we brought you the story of Jonathan and Cindy Bray. The Canadian whisky importers were arrested by Idaho State Police on charges of illegally selling whisky out of their storage unit in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and spent 24 days in jail until they were released and allowed to return to Calgary. Last September, they pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge and were sentenced to six months of probation, and last month, the case was dismissed after they successfully completed their time on probation. We've never heard their side of the story...until now. In his first interview since the arrests, Jonathan Bray explains why they had their Scotch Whisky Advent Calendars in an Idaho warehouse to begin with, and how a series of cascading circumstances and errors led to their arrests. You'll also hear from the prosecutor in the case, too. In the news, Heaven Hill is investing $135 million to build a new distillery in the Bourbon Capital of the World, while Chivas Brothers will spend $88 million to up

Back out on the road again for our first whisky festival since the pandemic started! While we were in Las Vegas for The Nth, Richard Paterson and Craig Bridger joined us for a special edition of the Happy Hour Live webcast, and you'll hear part of our conversation on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the human resources departments at several distilleries are busy with new hires, and we'll have the details...along with a conversation with Scott Davidson of Glencairn Crystal about supply chain problems affecting whisky makers and how Glencairn is trying to help solve a shortage of glass bottles. We'll also have tasting notes, Behind the Label, and much more!

Colorado's Coors family has been making beer for five generations, but it's also been supplying many of the state's craft distillers with malted barley for more than a decade. Now, the family has decided to make its own whiskey using a blend of Colorado single malt made with its own malted barley and Bourbons from Kentucky and Indiana. It's part of a company goal to expand into distilled spirits, as David Coors explains on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the results from this year's San Francisco World Spirits Competition are in, and whiskies from Australia did extremely well in the judging. We'll have the rest of the week's whisky news, tasting notes, and on Behind the Label, we'll answer a listener's question about his cloudy bottle of whisky.

Chocolate may well be on your mind heading into Easter weekend, and we'll look at how well whiskies pair with artisan chocolates with Scotland-based whisky and chocolate educator Rachel McCormack on this week's webcast! Here's a hint: not all types of chocolate pair equally well with whiskies. For instance, we found that smoky whiskies work better with lighter chocolates than with dark, rich ones. Catch our live webcasts every Friday at 5:00pm New York time on the WhiskyCast YouTube channel, our Facebook page, Twitter, and Twitch. 

In all of his years as Master Distiller at MGP, Greg Metze never had to worry about the blending side of making whiskey. Now, at Old Elk, he's added blending to his portfolio - and has just released a couple of new Master's Blend whiskies that blend Old Elk's unique mashbills. He's also had to learn the marketing side of the business as well, and he'll join us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, it's last call for tours at Kentucky's Barton 1792 Distillery even as other distillers continue to ramp up their visitor experiences. We'll have the latest on new releases, tasting notes, and much more on this week's WhiskyCast!

Women have had a long - and under-appreciated role in brewing and distilling for generations. Beer and spirits writer Tara Nurin explored that history in her book "A Woman's Place Is In the Brewhouse," and joined us in-studio to discuss some of that history over a beer and a dram. 

Midleton's Kevin O'Gorman was tapped two years ago to take over for Brian Nation as Master Distiller, and the results of Whisky Magazine's 2022 Icons of Whisky Awards show he's succeeded in his new role. O'Gorman was named Master Distiller/Blender of the Year, and combines both roles with his annual release of Midleton Very Rare. WhiskyCast's Mark Gillespie sat down over drams with Kevin in Dublin just days after the announcement, and you'll hear their conversation on WhiskyCast In-Depth. Mastering also comes into play with the latest Jameson release, a "remastered" version of the old Jameson 15 Single Pot Still release from two decades ago, and we'll have the story behind it along with tasting notes and the rest of the week's whisky news.

The market for vintage whiskies is hotter than ever, but there are few retailers that can carry things like pre-Prohibition whiskies. One of the exceptions is Justins' House of Whiskey. Justin Sloan and Justin Thompson opened their first store in Lexington, Kentucky after state lawmakers made it legal for retailers to buy vintage bottles from individuals, and later opened a second store in Louisville because of the demand. They've also expanded into producing whiskies of their own, such as the Blackwood Bourbon brand they consulted on with Kentucky Derby-winning horseman Guinness McFadden. We'll talk with the three of them on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the UK has agreed to drop its tariffs on American whiskies and other consumer goods after the two countries reached an agreement on steel and aluminum imports. We'll have complete coverage of that story and the rest of the week's whisky news.

Our latest Happy Hour Live webcast features OurWhisky.com co-founder Becky Paskin just after she unveiled the Our Whisky Foundation to increase diversity within the whisky world. We're also joined by first-time guest cocktail and spirits writer Camper English and Scott Brunow from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and the Scotch Test Dummies for a wide-ranging conversation covering everything from medicinal cocktails to the latest SMWS releases and more. We'll start this episode off with breaking news, though...as the United States and Great Britain have cleared the way for the end of the UK's tariffs on Bourbon and other American whiskies by resolving their dispute over steel and aluminum exports. The 25% tariff has cost US whisky makers millions of dollars in lost export sales while raising prices for UK whisky lovers over the last four years.

This weekend, Kentucky's historic Castle & Key Distillery will release its first Bourbon since the revived distillery opened several years ago. It'll be the first distillery-released Bourbon since what was then known as the Old Taylor Distillery was closed by National Distillers in 1972 and abandoned several years later. We'll tour the restored distillery with founder Will Arvin and master blender Brett Connors this week on WhiskyCast In-Depth, and taste not only Batch #1, but the upcoming Batch #2 from Castle & Key in the What I'm Tasting This Week Department. In the news, Russian whisky lovers are feeling the pinch as trade sanctions dry up the country's supply of imported whisky, while US and British trade negotiators are meeting this week in Baltimore with the UK's Bourbon tariffs on the agenda. We'll also have another installment of our "how I got started" series for people who want to get into the whisky industry.

Longtime whiskey writer and podcaster Fred Minnick joined us the other night on the Happy Hour Live webcast to talk about everything from Kentucky Bourbon and the legislative process to his ties to the music industry, and took some of your whisky questions, too. You can catch our live webcasts every Friday at 5:00pm New York time on the WhiskyCast YouTube channel, our Facebook page, Twitter, and Twitch.

This Thursday will be Brian Nation's first St. Patrick's Day outside of Ireland. The veteran distiller joined O'Shaughnessy Distilling in Minneapolis last year after years at Ireland's legendary Midleton Distillery, and as he tells us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth, "it was a cold winter." Brian and his family survived the cold, though, and he joined us from their spring break vacation in a much warmer Arizona. In the news, Kentucky lawmakers are a step closer to protecting private barrel picks, while Bardstown Bourbon's founders have cashed out in a private equity sale. Diageo will invest millions to build a new carbon-neutral Crown Royal distillery in Ontario, while the spirits giant paid a £1.2 million GBP fine in Scotland for violating environmental laws over a six-year period. We'll also look at one more aspect of sustainable distilling...what to do with the leftover spent grains when the cattle farmers don't need them.

This week, our Happy Hour Live webcast focused on sustainability in the whisky industry. After all, we want to be able to enjoy a dram with our grandchildren when they're adults years from now, right? Shanna Farrell's new book "A Good Spirit" looks at distillers taking sustainability seriously, while Susannah Skiver Barton's latest article for VinePair covers the growing shortage of new whiskey barrels for craft distillers. You can watch our live webcasts every Friday night at 5:00pm on the WhiskyCast YouTube channel, our Facebook page, Twitter, and Twitch. 

Daithi O'Connell thought he wanted to own his own distillery, and almost pulled the trigger on building one. He thought better of it at the last minute, and decided to go the independent bottler route instead. He launched W.D. O'Connell Whisky Merchants in late 2019, shortly before the pandemic, and that turned out to be an even more well-timed move. He'll explain why on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth, and I'll share tasting notes for a couple of his whiskies in the What I'm Tasting This Week Department. In the news, spirits companies are pulling out of Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, while U.S. whisky exports are starting to show gains following the troubled year of 2020. We'll also look at an important anniversary for whisky lovers in our Behind the Label segment, too.

Dr. Don Livermore is the master blender at Hiram Walker Distillery in Windsor, Ontario, and the winner of numerous awards for his Canadian whiskies over the years. He's also a whisky nerd, as we proved during our #HappyHourLive webcast the other night. You can catch the fun each Friday night on the WhiskyCast YouTube channel, our Facebook page, Twitter, and Twitch.