I got less work this year than I have in years past. If you haven’t been paying attention, American whiskey is not growing as steeply as it has been in recent years, and in some sub-categories it’s in decline. But I still got to do some really fun and interesting stories this year. Barely any of them made it online, which is unusual, but they are still out there in print.

• Ironroot Republic documentary – I have known the Likarish family for years, so I was stoked when I had the opportunity to travel to Denison, Texas to film this documentary with the Whisky Magazine film crew. (I also wrote about visiting Ironroot Republic here.)
• Travel & Leisure Louisville Travel Guide – This was my first piece for a major national general interest publication! I loved getting to share my knowledge of Louisville and of Bourbon tourism and other kinds of tourism in my home city!
• The Origin of the Vieux Carre Cocktail – New Orleans is one of my favorite places. I go there every year for the New Orleans Bourbon Festival, where I teach Bourbon and Cigar pairing classes. I love learning the history of the city, particularly where whiskey is involved. On top of the famous Sazerac cocktail, which I try to have at the Roosevelt Hotel Bar when I’m there, I also like to go to Hotel Monteleone for a stop at the Carousel Bar to have a Vieux Carre right where it was invented.
• The Revolutionary War Cemetery at the Jim Beam Booker Noe Plant – Cemeteries can tell us a lot about history. There was a cemetery behind a fence at the Booker Noe Plant in Boston, Kentucky and a descendant of one of the people buried there brought it back to the attention of Jim Beam, whose staff cleared and cleaned up the cemetery.
• Interview with Brittany Penny – Brittany Penny is the first Black woman CEO of a Kentucky Bourbon brand. Her brand, The IX Bourbon, has become very popular in the Louisville area. Penny’s passion for whiskey transitioned into a career after her pregnancy rendered her especially sensitive to smells, including Bourbon.
• Cigar Bands for Covey Rise Magazine – This one is only in print but here’s a copy for you to check out. I’m really happy with how this story turned out. I wanted to do a story about cigar bands years ago but couldn’t find any good historical sources. Now thanks to Google Scholar and other online archives there’s more online than ever before, so I was able to find a legitimate source on the topic.

• Distiller Magazine – I’ve done a couple of great pieces this year for Distiller Magazine. I did one about gluten contamination in whiskey, prompted by a conversation with a doctor and later a conversation with someone who has Celiac disease. This one is only in print and I don’t have a PDF, sorry! The other is about two different heritage rye varietals used at two different distilleries — Mammoth Distilling in Michigan and Tamworth Distilling in New Hampshire.
• Bourbon+ Mount Vernon Distillery – The last piece I did for Bourbon+ before it was sold was about my experience working in the distillery for three grueling days earlier this year, and I headed back for two more days in November! I volunteer in the distillery every year whenever I have the opportunity.

• Whisky Magazine – I did several stories for Whisky Magazine this year and only a couple of them actually made it online. My favorite stories included the a feature on Mount Vernon for issue 198, The Rise of Blending for issue 199, and my annual State of the Commonwealth of Bourbon for issue 201.
• American Whiskey Magazine – The majority of the stories I did this year did not make it online, but I still did some really awesome work. I especially liked the story I did on pedigreed ryes for issue 30, the story about horses and Bourbon tourism as well as the profile of Bourbon Historian Michael Veach for issue 31, and the Block family contribution to the founding of Maker’s Mark in issue 32.
• Fodor’s American Spirits – I contributed to the Appalachian, Indiana, and Ohio sections of this brand new travel guide aimed at beverage enthusiasts!