WhiskyCast

This week, we're on the road at the 35th Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, Kentucky. We'll have highlights from the weekend throughout this week's podcast. In the news, President Donald Trump is dropping the hammer on Canadian whiskies with a complete ban on imports set to take effect later this month. Trump also gave Irish whiskey makers a boost by dropping the U.S. import tariff on Irish whiskies.

September is shaping up to be a busy month at George Washington's Distillery at Mount Vernon in Virginia, with weekend tastings and discounts on Washington's Rye whiskey at the Mount Vernon shops. It's not taught in schools, but Washington was one of the nation's leading whiskey distillers after he left the Presidency, and the restored distillery makes whiskey the same way it was done back then. Mount Vernon's Jeremy Ray joins us to discuss both the present and the past at the distillery on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Brown-Forman reported a slight drop in sales during the last quarter, with a slowdown in used barrel sales blamed for much of the decline. Diageo is preparing for layoffs at its North American headquarters in New York City, and we'll have the details in the week's news update.

John Little and John Foster built their reputations around Smooth Ambler before selling the distillery to Pernod Ricard several years ago. After serving out a three-year non-compete agreement, they're back with Little and Foster Whiskey. It's as much a passion project as it is a business venture, with a goal of bringing fun back into the whiskey business. They've just released their first whiskey, A Marriage of Mashbills, and join us on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, Saskatchewan plans to impose its own reciprocal tariff on American whiskies next week after the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on Canadian whiskies last week. We'll have the details and the rest of the week's whisky news on this week's WhiskyCast.

Light Whiskey is an obscure type of whiskey that's distilled to higher proofs than is legally allowed for Bourbons and many other types of whiskies. It was developed in the 1960's as a way for distillers to fight the trend toward vodka and other lighter spirits, but never really reached mainstream acceptance. Now, three retired Austin tech executives are betting that their light whiskies will catch on with consumers. We'll talk with Austin Craft Spirits co-founder Tom Buchsbaum on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth and taste a couple of his whiskies as well. In the news, the trade conflict between the U.S. and Canada is turning into an all-out trade war with tariffs on both sides of the border. We'll have all of the details and the rest of the week's whisky news, too.

Bruichladdich Distillery on Scotland's Isle of Islay is marking 25 years since its resurrection in 2001 by a hardy band of whisky makers led by Mark Reynier, Jim McEwan, and Duncan McGillivray. Adam Hannett was a teenager on Islay watching the distillery come back to life, and joined the team as a warehouseman in 2004. Now, he's the master blender at Bruichladdich, and has created three new whiskies this year to mark the anniversary. We'll talk with Adam on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, trade talks between the U.S. and Canada are heating up ahead of this week's deadline for new U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports, and whiskies are a key stumbling block. We'll have the details, and on this week's Behind the Label, scientists have figured out why some whiskies smell like mangoes and others don't.