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American Whiskey Association Toasts USA’s 250th with Worldwide Celebrations

The American Whiskey Association (AWA) is highlighting the role of American whiskey in select U.S. Embassy celebrations connected to America’s 250th anniversary, underscoring the category’s importance as a symbol of American craftsmanship, agriculture, manufacturing, hospitality, trade and cultural diplomacy. AWA and participating member companies are supporting a targeted series of high-profile events with U.S. diplomatic…

Catoctin Creek Distilling Announces Tasting Room Refresh, Grand Re-Opening

Catoctin Creek Distilling Company of Purcellville, Virginia, this month announced a comprehensive refresh of its tasting room experience, featuring extended hours, an expanded cocktail and mocktail program, enhanced guest hospitality, and a Grand Re-Opening celebration scheduled for July 1st. Designed to transform the tasting room from a traditional sampling counter into a welcoming cocktail destination,…

Tales of the Cocktail Foundation Announces Top 10 International Spirited Awards Noms

Tales of the Cocktail Foundation (TOTCF) is proud to announce the Top 10 International Nominees for the 20th annual Spirited Awards®. Since its inception in 2007, the Spirited Awards has become one of the world’s highest-regarded honors in the drinks industry, celebrating outstanding individuals, establishments, products, media, and leaders who continue to inspire the global cocktail community. …

Craft spirits trends for 2018

I wrote this for the latest edition of the American Craft Spirits Association‘s e-newsletter. Thought I’d share it with you, as well. It’s hard to believe that yet another year is behind us. If 2017 proved anything, it’s that these are indeed exciting times to be in the craft spirits business. And that’s going to…

New Orleans entrepreneurs sign letter of intent to buy Tales of the Cocktail

New Orleans natives, Gary Solomon, Jr., founder of Solomon Group, with the support of the Solomon Family, and Neal Bodenheimer of Cure and Cane & Table, two of New Orleans’ most beloved bars and restaurants, have entered into a letter of intent to take over Tales of the Cocktail (TOTC), the beverage industry’s premier cocktail…

503 Cocktails launches Wicked Mule in a can in PDX area

503 Cocktails is launching its first canned cocktail, The Wicked Mule, this week which is available in liquor stores around the Portland, Oregon metro area, just in time for Christmas. The Wicked Mule is a local take on the classic cocktail of a similar name—503 adds vodka, real ginger, candy sugar, a good spritz of…

Live, from Falls Church, it’s Speaking Easy Podcast w/ The Drinkable Globe!

Last Friday, the guys at Speaking Easy Podcast (thanks co-hosts Alex Luboff and Jordan Wicker and producer Tyler Lloyd!) were kind enough to record a live episode before an audience at my book event at Cafe Kindred in Falls, Church, Virginia. The event was hosted in conjunction with One More Page Books & More, marking the third time the Falls Church independent…

Two Decades of Diageo

It almost seems like Diageo plc has been around forever, given the fact that it owns so many classic, venerable brands, including Johnnie Walker scotch, Smirnoff vodka, Tanqueray gin and Guinness stout. But as a company, it’s still a year away from legal drinking age—in the U.S., at least, not in its U.K. home—as Diageo…

Genever, the worldwide gin-assaince, herbal liqueurs and earthy vodkas at Bar Convent Berlin

Last month I attended Bar Convent Berlin 2017, one of the bar and beverage industry’s largest international trade shows. There was a lot to cram into two days, and even more to try to stuff into a four-and-a-half-minute video. Among the elements that made the cut: The Genever District, Japanese gin and some vodkas that…