A New Riff on Bourbon (Episode 712: July 8, 2018)

Ken Lewis has accomplished a lot of things in his life, from climbing Alaska’s Denali to owning one of Kentucky’s largest chains of liquor stores. Four years ago, he sold The Party Source stores to his employees and opened New Riff Distilling in Newport, Kentucky to start making whiskey instead of selling it. At the end of this month, the first New Riff Bourbon will go on sale – a four-year-old Bottled in Bond Bourbon. We’ll talk with Ken about his disruptive approach to life and whiskey on WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, the cleanup project at Kentucky’s Barton 1792 Distillery has doubled after the second half of a rickhouse collapsed on Wednesday, China’s new tariffs on American Whiskey exports have gone into effect, and there are plenty of new whiskies to talk about, too!

Links: New Riff Distilling | Barton 1792 Distillery | Sazerac | Distilled Spirits Council | Heaven Hill | The Balvenie | Grant’s | Chivas Regal | Arran | Bladnoch | Douglas Laing & Co. | Morrison & Mackay | The Lakes Distillery | Walsh Whiskey Distillery | Australian Whisky Holdings | James E. Pepper Distillery | The Dead Rabbit | Compass Box | Delilah’s | Michter’s | High West | Wyoming Whiskey | Catoctin Creek | NPR’s “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me” | Woodford Reserve