Dear Aram, Thank you humbly. In further answer to your kind letter noting that my father was a beer drinker, as revealed in my Father’s Day Essay… In 1944, when my father was a U.S. Navy LTJG, Pabst Blue Ribbon…
Don’t get me wrong — Jack Daniel’s is a very impressive company. Its sales growth over the past 40 years is mind-boggling. During the 1970 and 1980s, most American whiskeys saw their sales drop. They laid off workers and cut…
Thirty years ago, most whiskey distilleries were lonely places — industrial factories in remote rural areas. For the most part, the proprietors of these places saw themselves as manufacturers, the first tier in the three-tier system. They made whiskey, which…
It was difficult to feel anything but awe standing in front of the still at Jim Beam’s main distillery. It is six-stories tall, and 200 gallons of beer pour into the still each minute. The still pours forth 30 gallons…
We all have heard the story: manufacturing is dying in America. All the good blue collar jobs are moving to Mexico and China. America’s middle-class employment has been hollowed out — the few get lucrative white collar jobs, and pretty…
Where better to start a tour of the American Whiskey Trail than at Mount Vernon? George Washington often has been called the father of our grand nation — the prototype of this new man, the American. Appropriately, he owned a…
The American Spectator’s Great American Saloons & Spirits columnist Kevin Kosar just published a book about Moonshine for the Edible Series. For spirits aficionados, history buffs, cooks, and fans of great writing, it’s a must buy. In fact, this book…
Steven Grasse’s Colonial Spirits (Abrams Image, 2016) is the wackiest drinks book I have ever read. (I state this with admiration, and a bit of jealousy.) And I’ve read more than my share, and written a couple. It starts with the 19th-century-like…
The alcohol-policy landscape in Pennsylvania was static — almost glacial — for most of the past 40 years. However, these days, the glaciers are melting and the landscape is shifting. New laws and interpretations are coming every few months. The…
When you think of Texas alcohol, you usually think of good ole Shiner beer. The state is more famous for its beer than anything else. However, some new spirits have come out of the Lone Star State that might change…