Susannah Skiver Barton

1 month ago | newwinereview.com | Susannah Skiver Barton

Donald Trump’s global economic plans, in case you haven’t heard, involve tariffs. At the time of this article’s publication, he had announced—and paused, then announced again, and so on—tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, China, and the EU, including,  in some cases, alcohol. A substantial number of new, reciprocal tariffs are expected to be announced on April 2.

1 month ago | imbibemagazine.com | Susannah Skiver Barton

If you make or sell spirits, there’s no shortage of things to worry about right now. Proposed warning labels on alcohol. Tariffs. An oversupply of whiskey. Declining sales. Distillers, importers, distributors, and bar and restaurant owners are all contending with a complex set of circumstances, the sum of which is adding up to a challenging period of indefinite length. “It’s a minefield,” says Ricky Ramirez, owner of The Mothership in Milwaukee.

1 month ago | imbibemagazine.com | Susannah Skiver Barton

You can’t make good whiskey without first making good beer. Few people know this better than Alex Chasko. The master distiller and blender at Teeling Whiskey Company in Dublin oversees a portfolio that includes many styles of Irish whiskey, but his roots lie in the microbrewing scene of the 1990s Pacific Northwest. While studying for a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of Oregon, Chasko started work on “the lowest of the low rungs” at Portland’s Bridge Port Brewing.

1 month ago | newwinereview.com | Jon Fine |Susannah Skiver Barton

Today, it is entirely possible that two full generations of younger, savvy wine drinkers find Napa Valley monumentally uncool: luxury-oriented, points-chasing, boring. Clearly, none of them have met Ketan Mody, the founder and winemaker at Jasud Estate and Beta Wines. Mody, who’s 43 and whose father from India, is perhaps best understood as a punk-rock fusion of Sisyphus and the Japanese farmer-philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka.

1 month ago | mensjournal.com | Susannah Skiver Barton

Insiders recognize other insiders. To some, that might mean understanding a niche joke on a vanity plate. To others, that might mean walking into a party to hear a rare pressing of a cult band's weirdest album. If you’re a whiskey insider, however, it’s spotting a certain bottle on a shelf—a “handshake" whiskey. Like the bartender’s handshake—typically a shot of Fernet-Branca—a handshake whiskey is the one that fans pull out to impress someone with impeccable bonafides.