The Whiskey Lore® Podcast
The Whiskey Lore Podcast, hosted by best-selling travel author Drew Hannush, is a captivating exploration of whiskey’s rich history, myths, and modern craft distilling culture, appealing to both enthusiasts and curious newcomers. Covering bourbon, Scotch, Irish, rye, and more, the podcast offers three formats: Stories, which delve into historical narratives like the origins of Bottled-in-Bond or Ireland’s whiskey rebirth, Interviews which documents whiskey history and the people making it, and Whiskey Flights, a weekly series focused on craft distillery travel. Whiskey Flights transports listeners to craft distilleries worldwide, offering virtual tours that highlight unique operations, local grains, and innovative spirits. Episodes feature chats with founders—like Brian Cummings of Great Northern Distilling or Guy Whitehead of Lucky Guys Distillery—covering topics from potato vodka to bitters crafting. Each Flight emphasizes the pleasures of distillery visits, sharing practical travel tips and cultural context, such as Wisconsin’s supper club scene or Tasmania’s whiskey boom. Hannush’s warm narration and curiosity bring distilleries to life, making listeners feel like they’re sipping alongside him.
Episodes
In this conversation, Drew Hannush interviews Dr. Pat Heist, co-founder of Wilderness Trail Distillery, exploring the journey from a small farmhouse distillery to a significant player in the whiskey industry. They discuss the scientific approach to distilling, the impact of the Renewable Fuels Act, the evolution of fermentation practices, and the importance of data collection in whiskey production. Dr. Hei...
New Riff Distillery (Newport, KY) WF061
As we continue to celebrate the release of Whiskey Lore's Travel Guide to Experiencing Kentucky Bourbon: Second Edition, time to visit one of the new breed of distilleries in Kentucky. As one of the few independent distilleries of size in the state, still family-owned, New Riff has found a way to spread their whiskey nearly coast-to-coast.
As those beautiful and uniq...
Whiskey Thief (Franklin Co and Louisville, KY) WF060
Surprise, surprise, we're going to have a repeat guest to the show today. Distilling director Lisa Wicker (formerly of Limestone Branch, Huber's Starlight, and Widow Jane) joins us along with Walter Zausch, owner of the Whiskey Thief Distillery. If you've never been, you're missing one of Kentucky's most unique distillery experiences. From the barn and f...
Augusta Distillery (Augusta, KY) WF059
The month-long celebration of the release of Whiskey Lore's Travel Guide to Experiencing Kentucky Bourbon: Second Edition continues with a journey to the Northern Kentucky region that is home to New Riff, Neeley Family, Boone County and others. But did you know, along the Ohio River, below Cincinnati and northwest of Lexington there are three distilleries just waiting...
RD1 Spirits Distillery (Lexington, KY) WF058
Today, we start a journey through Kentucky, visiting some of the great distillery experiences that have arrived since the release of my first edition of Experiencing Kentucky Bourbon in 2020 - as I celebrate the launch of the expanded Second Edition this week.
Our first guest is Barry Brinegar of RD1 Spirits of Lexington. His new distillery experience is a perfe...
Iron City Distilling (Creighton, PA) WF057
It's time to head back to Pennsylvania, to visit one of the only three chamber stills in America and experience another side of Monongahela Rye. Join me as I chat with master distiller Matt Strickland and company president Peter Katz about how Iron City Beer got into the distilling world, discuss my experience at the distillery, and find out how you learn to disti...
Minden Mill Distillery (Minden, NV) WF056
Taking a short break from the Great 48 on-site visits for a virtual visit to a location I visited when it lived under a different name - Bently Heritage. When they reached out to me about potentially doing an interview - I jumped at the chance.
First, if you don't know about this distillery, you should. It is one of the coolest distilleries in the world. Today, it ...
Painted Stave Distillery (Smyrna, DE) WF055
For our 17th of the Great 48, I thought I was going to have some trouble tracking down a whiskey distillery in Delaware, but low and behold I found a fun one in the Painted Stave. Ron and Mike had a particular vision (and name) for this distillery, but sometimes plans change. In this case, rather than a distillery that distributes across the states, they've honed...
Dad's Hat Distillery (Bristol, PA) WF054
Been a long time since I've been in eastern Pennsylvania and I have good reason to be here now. I'm taking part in a Pennsylvania whiskey documentary AND I'm getting to enjoy some fantastic distillery visits. This week, it is the place where the Pennsylvania rye revival took off...thanks to a magazine article and a wonderful wife who supplied her husband with the be...
Meinelschmidt Distillery (Hagarstown, MD) WF053
Time for another Mid-Atlantic stop, this one not far off the I-81 exit. We're stopping in to visit a military veteran who, along with his wife, decided to take their enjoyment of craft distillery travel and turn it into their own distillery.
We'll learn Cort and Chelsea's inspirations for their Hagarstown distillery, hear about the growth of the town, their i...
Copper Fox Distillery (Sperryville, VA) WF052
You've heard of peat smoked Scotch...well, that's not what you're going to get at Copper Fox. Instead, the grains from the distillery's malting floor get their smoke infused with smoke from cherrywood, peachwood, and applewood.
It's a unique take on smoke and it comes from distiller and founder Rick Wasmund's fascination with the wonderful scents these woods pr...
Black Draft Distillery (Martinsburg, WV) WF051
What started as a horse farm is now the home of whiskey, fascinating flavors of vodka, and barns and a patio filled with music, cocktails, and a good number of soon-to-be friends.
Join me in the smoking room of the Black Draft Distillery as I chat with founder Glen Price about the evolution of his horse farm into an agritourism site and the home of fun weekend...
Oak & Grist Distillery (Black Mountain, NC) WF050
Just a few miles east of Asheville, North Carolina (which has held the honor as Beer City USA several times) is a somewhat sleepy community on the edge of the mountains, where Will Goldberg and Charlie Stanley are focused on distilling up two amazing spirits - an American Single Malt and a Dutch-style Jenever.
Their stories start with both wine and cheese -...
Today I braved Atlanta traffic for one of my favorite recorded interviews of the year. Join me as I chat with ASW's head distiller Justin Manglitz. A distiller, a fiddler. Somehow, without ever traveling to Scotland or Ireland, he pulled in the art of distilling from those storied whisky making areas, saw what was happening in America, and developed his own hybrid techniques from the two disparate philosop...
St. Augustine Distillery (St. Augustine, FL) WF0048
Heading down to a beautiful distillery in a historic building in a town filled with its own history. Join me as I travel to the oldest continuously occupied town in the United States (did I get that right?) as we meet with Richard DeMontmollin, head distiller, and chat about the origins of the distillery, his family name, the wonders of the pot still, and...
Seven Three Distillery (New Orleans, LA) WF047
Time to head down to the Big Easy to a distillery experience with a little swamp magic and a whiskey tree. In a town with so many cool things to experience, its time to get a feel for the hospitality and spirits produced by Luka Cutura and his team at Seven Three Distillery, just across the bridge from the Louisiana Superdome and a few blocks from Bourbon Stre...
Crittenden Distillery (Kiln, MS) WF046
Head to the deep, Deep South, down to the self-proclaimed moonshine capital of the United States, Kiln, MS. While it did snow here a couple weeks ago, this area is much more known for its heat and we're going to go step by step with Matt Crittenden through the distilling process and chat about various considerations along the way.
Patreon members are getting a rare tr...
✈️ WF045 to Alabama: Dread River Distillery - Nightlife kickoff, American single malt, Kudzu (G48:7)
Dread River Distillery (Birmingham, AL) WF045
The Deep South tour continues as I move through 48 great states and craft distilleries. Today I'm at Birmingham's Dread River Distillery meeting with their head distiller Joshua. We're going to dive into his experience moving from a Pennsylvania distillery into the heat of the South. We'll also learn about an American Single Malt experiment that took a unique t...
Time to take a trek off the beaten path to a family run distillery that defines what it means to run a craft distillery business. For 10 years, Craig and Meredith Amick have grown the business from moonshine made on a flame fed pot still to a line of Bourbon's that are showing, even in South Carolina heat, the right craftsman can make a unique Bourbon filled with complexity.
Rock Town Distillery (Little Rock, AR) WF0043
Today, I'm off on the last stop of my first swing through the country. The destination is Rock Town Distillery, where cocktails have become a specialty, and where you can taste the difference between column still and pot still whiskey - and maybe even taste some peated Bourbon and single malt.
Join me today as I chat with Phil Brandon, founder of Rock Town, as ...
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