Four Roses has thrived since it was bought by Japanese brewer Kirin. Stuart MacLean Ramsay found out why
You never know what’s round the corner on the back roads of Kentucky.
Three years back I was meandering alongside the Salt River by Lawrenceburg, searching for Julian Van Winkle’s over-worked bottling plant.
I crossed the river, drove by a cluster of whiskey warehouses and stumbled onto Four Roses...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 34 published on 5/10/2003
Stuart Maclean Ramsay chats to Lincolm Henderson, a whiskey vetern with 37 years of knowledge and experience
For a gentleman who has sampled whiskey from around 400,000 barrels, Lincoln Wesley Henderson looks mighty fine. Trim and professorial, with silver hair and goatee beard, Lincoln exudes the confidence and contentment of a man at the peak of a career he loves.
His job is tasting whiskey, he’ll casua...
Whisky Hero
from Issue 26 published on 16/10/2002
Stuart Maclean Ramsay meets Heaven Hill Distillery President Max L Shapira to find out how they keep it in the family and preserve tradition at one of America's premier bourbon producers
The sharpest tack in the box”. That is how a fellow blueblood bourbon distiller describes Max L. Shapira, President of Heaven Hill Distilleries. Founded in 1935 by Gary, Ed, George, Mose and David Shapira, the company operates today under the direction of second
generation family member Max Shapira...
Whisky Interview
from Issue 24 published on 16/7/2002
Stuart Maclean Ramsay catches up with wild Turkey's Jimmy Russel, roving bourbon ambassador, family man and true Kentucky gentleman.
...
Whisky Hero
from Issue 19 published on 16/11/2001
Stuart Maclean Ramsay embarks on a perilous pilgrimage to Bushmills, home of the world's oldest distillery, in an attempt to find out why, after visiting , some people talk of reincarnation and spirituality
When I die,” says David Dorsey, the Irish and Scotch Brand Director for the Brown-Forman Corporation of Louisville, Kentucky, “I want to come back as either the manager of Ardbeg Distillery or Bushmills.”
It should be noted that Mr. Dorsey’s company imports both spirits into the United States and ...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 15 published on 16/4/2001
Stuart Maclean Ransay makes a nostalgic return to Ireland after twenty years and finds that, despite the pace of life accelerating, a little bit of Dublin is still 'an oasis of Celtic civility'
While staying in a spiffy hotel in Dublin not too long ago I needed directions to Mitchell & Son, Wine Merchants and home of the outstanding Green Spot Irish whiskey. The first three employees I ask are French and haven’t a clue where it is but one of them points out a real Irish person who says: “T...
Great whisky retailers
from Issue 15 published on 16/4/2001
Uncut, unfiltered and straight from the barrel Stuart Maclean Ramsay visits the house that Jim Beam built and has dinner with boubon legen, Booker Noe.
Mighty fine,” seems an apt description for Booker Noe, the Kentucky bourbon making legend, and for his namesake whiskey, Booker’s. It also happens to be an expression that peppers his conversation on a frequent basis if you have the good fortune to meet up with him.
I had the fortunate pleasure to...
Whisky Interview
from Issue 13 published on 16/12/2000
Over 6 million of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whisky were sold last year. Stuart Maclean Ramsay takes a look at this phenomenon on the eve of the 150th birthday of the distillery's founder, Jack Daniel
To celebrate the 4th of July I left behind the fireworks of urban American independence for a fishing trip down the winding Deschutes River in the high desert of Central Oregon. My companions were a Scottish nephew who was visiting America for the first time and several bottles from the Jack Daniel ...
Whisky anniversary
from Issue 12 published on 16/11/2000
Stuart Maclean Ramsay roams among the magnificent buffalo of Kentucky.
One fine gentleman,’’ is how Jimmy Russell, Master Distiller at Wild Turkey describes his friend and fellow bourbon alchemist, Elmer T Lee.
“And he makes a good whiskey, too,” Jimmy adds. I met with Elmer, Master Distiller Emeritus of the Buffalo Trace Distillery by Frankfort, Kentucky, earlier thi...
Whisky Hero
from Issue 11 published on 16/9/2000
Heaven is wall to wall Scotches, bourbons and malts for the taking. Stuart Maclean Ramsay had a hard time coping.
It was a pleasant if somewhat overwhelming quandary for a whisky drinker to be in. Around 250 single malt Scotches, top class bourbons and other exemplary spirits to nose and sample; 10 whisk(e)y legends and pioneers to listen to and learn from; and a plethora of whisk(e)y makers and distillery mana...
Whisky Events
from Issue 11 published on 16/9/2000
The members of Canada 's An Quaich Society are real party animals, but their love of Scotch and the freedom it represents could not be more serious as Stuart Maclean Ramsay reports.
I first came across Canada’s An Quaich Society on Islay three years ago. I was passing through Bowmore distillery when Christine Logan, the queen of Hebridean distillery guides, began shouting, “The Canadians are coming! The Canadians are coming!” Within 10 minutes, 15 fairly sozzled members of An Q...
Great whisky clubs
from Issue 10 published on 16/6/2000
Wild Turkey is an old-fashioned American spirit, full of character, with an ability to seduce all-comers. Stuart Maclean-Ramsay pays his respects.
Brand ambassadors for premium Scotch and bourbon in America come in all shapes and styles.
There’s the youthful ambassador, handsome and unencumbered by the experience of actually working in a distillery, designed by advertising agencies to appeal to the all important market of stockbrokers in Manh...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 9 published on 16/4/2000
Hand-made Maker’s Mark bourbon tastes irresistibly good. Stuart MacLean Ramsay describes an enthralling encounter
with Kentucky’s alchemists
Tom Bethel is the maître d’ and resident bourbon expert at Higgins, my favourite bar and restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Like all true professionals in the business of social arts, Tom has the effortless skill of making his guests comfortable, laying the foundation for a perfect evening of drinking,...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 8 published on 16/2/2000
Stuart Maclean Ramsay was totally sedcued by Kentucky's smallest distillery, which uses Scottish copper pot stills and a rare method of distillation.
Autumn is a special time to visit the rolling hills and tree-lined hollows of central Kentucky. The distilleries are in full swing after a summer hiatus; the warm days and cool nights being ideal conditions for the white oak casks to nurse along the slumbering spirit.
About an hour’s drive from Lou...
Distillery Focus
from Issue 7 published on 16/12/1999
