Behind the Barrel

Feis Ile, Dublin, Tokyo and the Victoria festival worth a short drive. Which events reward the airfare, which are mostly gift stands, and where you can talk to the people pouring.

Water, grain, yeast and wood, and the cut that decides everything between them. How still shape, climate and cask choice shape what ends up in the glass.

Where to start, what to buy first, and what a first half-dozen actually costs at the LCBO and SAQ. Includes the storage rules worth following and the bottles not worth chasing yet.

Yamazaki and Yoichi, the Mizunara oak question, and what the 2024 labelling rules mean for a bottle. Also why the good stuff sits on allocation now instead of the shelf.

Bourbon, rye, Tennessee whiskey and American single malt, sorted by the rules that separate them: new oak, grain floors, proof limits. Also where the money actually is in collecting.

A working tour of the Loretto distillery, the wheat mash bill behind the soft pour, and why the standard bottle is a drinker while the special releases are the ones to keep.

Why single pot still tastes the way it does, which distilleries earn a visit, and why closed-door Midleton stock has quietly become the serious money in Irish whiskey.

Five drinks worth mixing at home, with the ratios: a stirred Old Fashioned, a maple Manhattan, Whisky Sour slushies, a proper Irish coffee and a cinnamon apple fizz.

Dufftown, solera vats and a working on-site cooperage, plus why this family-owned Speyside house is the one most drinkers meet first. Includes where the Rare Collection holds value.

Why upright, cool and dark matters more than any cabinet, what Canadian winters do to a shelf, and the honest answer on decanting: it looks good and it does not age.