When the crowds in seersucker suits, floral prints and fancy hats pack Churchill Downs on Saturday for the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, the racetrack’s managers estimate Derby-goers will down some 120,000 bourbon-based mint juleps.

That’s a lot of drinks for a two-minute horse ride.

Maplefest is this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tattersall River Falls, explains Bentley Gillman, head distiller, and Kodi Satra, beverage manager.

On February 24, the Slumberland American Birkebeiner will take place in Wisconsin. The Birkie is the largest cross-country skiing race in North America, with participants starting in Cable and skiing their way through the forest on the Birkie Trail, gliding across Lake Hayward, crossing over the American Birkebeiner International Bridge and heading toward the finish line on Hayward’s snow-covered Main Street. This year, the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation (ABSF) partnered with Tattersall Distilling to commemorate the race’s 50th anniversary to release a limited-edition spirit.

WI-SKI is a straight rye aged in used maple syrup barrels. Made in the spirit of the Birkie and traditional Nordic skiing, it’s a peppery sipper with a hint of sweetness that tastes even better after a day on the trails. I don’t ski, but I still had the pleasure to try mixing this in a cocktail and the result was a drink that I think is absolutely perfect for winter.

If you’ve glanced around the whiskey aisles recently, you’ve probably noticed an increasing number of whiskeys touted as being “finished” in rum, pinot noir or sherry barrels. You’re not imagining things: what was once a technique more common to Scotch than American whiskey has blown up in recent years.

The matchup for Super Bowl LVIII is set, but when our favorite teams are out of contention, we become more interested in what’s on the table than who’s on the field. However, we’re still fans of the game. So let’s embrace a football state of mind as we plan our game day party with these tips and recipes.

This boozy take on classic wings is from chef Corey Picha of Tattersall Distilling in River Falls, Wis.

In an interview with Beverage Master, head alchemist Alan Bishop of Spirits of French Lick, a craft distillery located in West Baden Springs, Indiana, said, “Aquavit (taken from the Latin aqua vitae, which means “water of life”) can trace its roots under various names back to the Aquavitae Treatises of the 1400s to 1600s. It has deep connections to Sparagyic medicine,” he explains, “so three of my major interests were piqued: alchemy, history and complex botanical distillations.”

For the second chapter in the 2023 edition of our annual Best New American Whiskeys—see yesterday’s focus on ryes—we shine a light on American single malts (ASMs). It’s hard to imagine a category in all spirits more energized at the moment. Finally “recognized” (although not yet officially certified) by the TTB last year, unofficial ASMs have been defining some of the most interesting whiskeys bubbling from America for a couple decades now. While places like Texas and the Pacific Northwest lead the category, ASMs from across this great nation of ours are releasing innovative, terroir-rich expressions boasting a wide spectrum of flavors. Here are seven favorites for 2023.  

This year’s Top 100 Whiskeys represents the new aged American whiskeys that are dominating the market.

Gone are the days of Straight Bourbon owning the shelves. Now, Blends of Straights and barrel finishes garner consumer love. And this list is loaded with these two categories. But I do worry that this welcomed trend is bringing in newcomers who simply do not know whiskey; thus, there are far too many Blends of Straights, Stave & Barrel Finish products that not only don’t make this list, but are not selling and hurting the health of the American whiskey category. For every Barrell and Milam & Greene, blenders with skill, there are 20 brands releasing blends that started with bad whiskey and hoped a stave would hide the flaws. 

Tattersall Distilling of Minneapolis and River Falls, Wisconsin, announced the launch of its Bottled-in-Bond, Five Year Straight Rye Whiskey. Aged in virgin American Oak barrels, this release is one of the longest-aged ryes in the Midwest that has been made entirely grain-to-glass.

“Crafting this type of spirit is a labor of love that not many distilleries undertake these days,” says Jon Kreidler, founder and chief officer of Tattersall Distilling. “At Tattersall, we’re committed to uncompromised spirits and this bottle is a true testament to that philosophy. We selected the ultimate varietal of rye to grow, complemented it with the perfect yeast strain and chose the ideal toast and char on the barrels. There was incredible thought built into this whiskey – and a lot of patience in waiting to share it.” 

Tattersall Distilling announced the launch of its newest ready-to-drink bottled cocktail, Brandy Old Fashioned, launching later this month. Paying tribute to the newly declared state cocktail of Wisconsin, Tattersall’s Brandy Old Fashioned swaps out its rye whiskey for brandy and can be poured sweet or sour for the perfect Wisconsin staple. Tattersall was founded in Minneapolis, but the company opened a destination distillery in River Falls, Wisconsin, in 2021.