What we were reading and writing about in September
What we’ve been reading, discussing, writing about this month
There's a lot more than this really. As anyone that follows us on Twitter knows we're always sharing new articles we love. But we thought we'd take some time each month to highlight some of the ones that we, particularly, enjoyed or were interested in or even the ones that spark some discussion for new content of our own on our slack channel. Who knows.
This doesn't apply to all of these. There's definitely no hard and fast rules being put in place here for what we're doing but to the extent that we can highlight news about local craft distillers or, in my case, Virginia distilleries we love to take the time to do that. It's also really cool to take a second to highlight other bloggers that have been to places we would like to go. Whenever I am planning a new trip the first place I begin that process is to hit up other bloggers and see what they've been doing.
Less Well Known Scotch Brands
It might seem, to those that don’t know us so well, that we just drink bourbon. It’s not too far off the mark of lately. But when someone gives some additional insights into the old whisky without an ‘e’ I’m always all ears. Finding the top scotch brands is an easy task. They’re so ubiquitous in that market and if you spend any time with Scotch you probably have your favorite types of whisky. Lately the Islays seem to be most popular with people I encounter just out and about. That seems to change from time to time depending on what trends are kicking around. I’m glad that this Forbes article highlighted some Speysides. I wish they would have included some of the really good blended Scotches that are out there too. One of the unfortunate things that seems to be going on is that people just aren’t buying blends as much. But we are always on the lookout for something new as far as Scotch is concerned. I wouldn't say any of these are really new to me but I guess that's a hazard of what I do. But in case they are for you check out a good read in Forbes on some of the more exceptional choices that aren’t as well known here.
A Little Bit of Japanes Whisky History
Really interesting story in Fortune about how a soap opera based on the life of Masataka Taketsuru, basically the father of Japanese whisky, and his wife Rita Cowan was one of the leading causes of a boom in Japanese whisky sales and even a shortage in the early 2000's. One of the first things that sparked the beginning of this blog was a trip to Yosemite that involved a bottle of Yamazaki. Even though we probably shouldn’t be calling attention to us traveling around the national parks with liquor (I found out you’re not supposed to do that) if you’re interested in rehashing that it’s here. Otherwise if you want to read about the interesting story of the father of Japanese whisky check it out here.
Traveling To Lexington
As we will be doing a trip to Lexington sooner rather than later, or so I keep telling myself, I’m always soaking up info from other whiskey or travel bloggers on places to see. They’ve basically become my travel agent. Of course you can look into some more info on how we typically plan our trips by looking at our post on our trips to the UK here. But as far as a trip to Lexington is concerned no doubt the Buffalo Trace distillery would already be on that list but still a good read from Amanda Gabriel. A couple others here have been added to my list to visit while I’m there. And of course reading about a trip to Lexington makes you think about those things. You don’t want to just hit up whiskey related stuff either. There’s a lot more to any place you go than just the drinks. Don’t tell anyone I said that though. Read the rest of what she had to say here.
A little controversy surrounding one of our favorites
We have spent a fair amount of time at The Virginia Distillery in the past (as I’m sure everyone knows). If you are in the area, we highly recommend their distillery tour. So we are always interested to hear news about them. It looks like the Scotch Whisky Association took issue with their naming of their Highland Single Malt. It’s unfortunate that this is an issue since it seems pretty abundantly clear from their name that they are a Virginia product but glad they were able to work the issue out. Catch the details here.
Virginia Spirits Month
For those that don’t know September is Virginia Spirits month and Bourbon Heritage Month. We almost always do something special for this month. This one was no exception. We spent a fair amount of time traveling around Virginia this month and hitting up some distillers. If you want to read about that you can do so here. It also really did convince me that we need to make it out to another one of the Virginia spirits roadshows. Something we haven’t done for a year or two now. One thing we didn’t get to mention in that post a week ago was the Virginia spirits trail. A great idea that's well past due. The spirits association choosing to kick that off during Virginia spirits month was a great idea. We always want to encourage people to support their local distillers and this is a great way to help you get out there and experience some great local Virginia distillers. Find the article on WFXR’s page here. Also see the complete list on the Virginia Spirits website here.
Five things we've been reading this month
And there you go. Those are the five things we've been reading, writing, thinking about this past month. Hope it helps lead you a little further down the rabbit trail with us and to find some interesting stuff of your own. Til next month get out there.