On the Road at the 2026 Kentucky Bourbon Festival

Ireland's Boann Distillery named its Irish Whiskey "The Whistler" after its founder Patrick Cooney, who walks around the distillery whistling all day long. We'll get the Boann story from his son, Peter Cooney, this week on WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also talk with MB Roland Distillery's Paul Tomaszewski. Paul and his wife Merry Beth have decided to retire after 18 years of making award-winning whiskies, and will put the distillery up for auction in December. In the news, Irish Whiskey import tariffs are still in place despite President Donald Trump's public pledge to drop the tariff last month. Diageo is in trouble with Scottish regulators after a chemical spill at Cardhu Distillery, and we'll have the latest on the Uncle Nearest saga.

The "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and a new whisky has come from Middle Earth to mark the occasion. In this case, Middle Earth is New Zealand, where the movies were filmed, and the distillery is Pōkeno Distillery on New Zealand's North Island. Pōkeno co-founder Matthew Johns and his team insisted the whisky be more than a mere marketing gimmick, so they combined four cask types — including a rare Manuka honey cask — to make the whisky. Matthew Johns joins us from New Zealand this week on WhiskyCast In-Depth. We'll also get the origin story behind the new Jacob's Pardon Bourbon from blender/writer F. Paul Pacult and Palm Bay International CEO Marc Taub, for whom Jacob's Pardon is a piece of family history. Woody Creek Distillers "spokes-dude" William H. Macy closes out the show with a song, too!

There were just three whisky distillers in England when Daniel Szor opened the Cotswolds Distillery in 2014. Now, there are more than 70, and English Whisky has just been granted geographical indicator status by the UK government. Szor helped lead the push to get that status as chair of the English Whisky Guild for the past three years, and we'll discuss the controversy surrounding that approval with him on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, federal investigators are now looking into the case of the hidden cameras in Kentucky, while a bottle of The Macallan 1926 sold for $2.8 million at auction this week.

Documentary filmmaker Greg Swartz is back with his fourth whisky film. "West of Tradition" looks at the nascent American Single Malt movement through the story of Seattle's Westland Distillery. It's a followup to his previous films, which include "The Water of Life" and "Independent Spirits." We'll talk with Greg Swartz on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news…we have details on a shocking shakeup at True Story Whiskey and the Kentucky Castle Resort…fire strikes an historic Kentucky distillery…workers at Diageo's Cameronbridge Distillery are set to step up their ongoing strike, and we'll honor an Islay legend who passed away this week.

Martin Markvardsen joined Highland Park as a brand ambassador in 2006. Since then, he's traveled the world touting the virtues of his favorite whisky. He's so in love with Highland Park that he had the logo tattooed on his chest - right over his heart. We'll talk with Martin about his journey and taste the new 17-year-old Between You and I expression on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, President Donald Trump's ban on Canadian Whisky imports is scheduled to go into effect this week, but there's a major loophole that will keep whisky flowing across the border. We'll have the details and the rest of the week's whisky news.

Amrut's Indian single malts have been popular with whisky connoisseurs for nearly two decades. Now, with increasing competition from other Indian single malt distillers, Amrut is seeking to capture the entry-level whisky drinker with Kranthi, a single malt designed to be approachable for beginners, yet complex enough to please connoisseurs. We'll talk with Amrut master distiller and chief operating officer Ashok Chokalingam on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame has inducted its Class of 2026, and we'll hear from some of the inductees. President Trump's ban on imports of Canadian whisky may not be a complete ban, and workers at Diageo's Cameronbridge Distillery in Scotland are preparing to go on strike next week. 

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.