They say that if America sneezes then Europe catches a cold. If that applies in the world of whisky prepare yourself for a heavy dose of flu in the coming months.

You could make a very strong argument as to why America is currently the most exciting and dynamic whisky market right now. In fact, you could make about 500 of them. That’s the estimated number of craft distillers which have emerged in recent years and are turning the conventional world of whiskey on its head. They’re using unusual grains and woods, fiddling with distilling and maturation techniques, reassessing and reappraising American drink styles such as corn moonshine and rye whiskey, and are inventing completely new drinks.

Let’s not get too carried away here – much of the new whiskey is young, flabby, badly made and sappy – so much so that there are plenty in America who fear what damage the new guys are inflicting on the nation’s love of whisky. Much of the new whiskey can’t legally bare the name of whiskey in Europe due to the three year maturation laws.

But at the top end there is some very fine new spirit emerging, and the major drinks companies are watching and taking note. William Grant & Sons has already placed its cards on the table by investing in New York’s Tuthilltown. It’s only a matter of time before many more join the international ranks and start targeting Europe for sales – whether with a drink known as whiskey or with something bearing some other new name.

What we’re talking about here is whiskey, Jim, but not as we know it. And you don’t  have to wait for the crafting boom to reach our shores for a new wave of Americana to kick in, and for two very good reasons. First, though, a bit of context.

The biggest American whiskey – indeed, world whiskey – is Jack Daniel’s but because it goes through a process known as charcoal filtering it cannot be classed as a bourbon. Most bourbon is produced in Kentucky, though there’s no legal reason stating that it has to be. And right now Kentucky is a building site as the leading players expand to take advantage of the world boom for quality whisk(e)y. Not only that, but the craft distillers have given the big boys a proverbial kick up the backside and suddenly the giants are innovating.

Not that you’d know it here. Although The Whisky Shop offers a good range of bourbons, America hasn’t targeted Britain greatly in recent years, preferring to concentrate instead on neighbouring markets such as Canada or vibrant and expanding markets such as Australia and China.

That might be set to change, though how quickly is anyone’s guess – and the fresh assault on Britain may come from two separate and diametrically opposed sources – one aimed at the serious whisky drinker, the other at entry level.

The first is the emergence of premium bourbons enriched by special wood finishes. The best of these is Maker’s Mark 46, which receives additional maturation in casks containing staves that have been  toasted to a specific level, Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, which does a similar thing using both charred and toasted staves, and Jim Beam Devil’s Cut, which uses a water agitation process to ‘sweat out’ the bourbon absorbed in to the wood of the barrel.

Meanwhile bourbon is reaching out to younger drinkers and perhaps the cocktail market, with a range of flavoured spirits drinks, which can’t be described as flavoured whiskeys but as one industry person put it, that’s how they’re referred to by bar staff. Very sweet and easy drinking, this range includes Wild Turkey American Honey, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, Jim Beam Spiced and Jim Beam Red Stag, which is flavoured with black cherries.

I’m not a big fan of the sweeter spirits drinks but horses for courses – and given what’s happening elsewhere, these drinks have the potential to be huge. Jack Daniel’s spent an absolute fortune launching Tennessee Honey in Australia recently.

Are we next? Well watch this space.

But be sure of one thing: one way or another, the Americans are coming.

And while on the subject of American whiskey – do you know your bourbon from your Tennessee whiskey? Do you understand how bourbon’s made and what sour mash is?

If not, then join me from next Friday for a journey through the American south. I travelled through Tennessee and up to Kentucky before ending up in Canada speaking to all the whiskey makers in North America about their wonderful drink. And I filmed them answering questions about their whiskey.

The W Club will be running a nine part series of short interviews featuring the legends of American whiskey. Star names such as Jack Daniels’ master distiller Jeff Arnett, Wild Turkey’s Jimmy Russell and Jim Beam’s Fred Noe will week by week speak about one aspect of American whiskey, covering topics as diverse as charcoal mellowing and virgin oak barrel maturation.

The series starts on Friday July 20 and will run for the rest of the summer, ending with Canadian whiskey genus john Hall at Kittling Ridge just in time for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

Don’t miss it!

Lil Ol’ Morley St Botolph, Norfolk, England

Great whisky memories are made by people, not places. And if I had to describe what I do, I’d say it’s not tasting – Murray and Broom do that better than I ever will – it’s bringing whisky alive by introducing the people I meet in the industry back home to a whisky tasting group.

When the places are as pretty as George Dickel, Woodford Reserve and Maker’s Mark, though, the job just got all that much easier.

A few years back at the Tom Moore distillery on the edge of Bardstown, Kentucky, I met a guy named Greg Davis, a young, happy and enthusiastic new master distiller with a  product due on the market soon called Ridgemont Reserve 1792.

It was hot and Greg showed myself and Gordon Dundas, then sales manager at Whisky Magazine but now a brand ambassador for Bowmore, a tour of the site. American warehouses can be seven stories high, are made of metal, and if you want to understand bourbon you need to visit one in summer. At the bottom the temperature is about 30 degrees in summer, but at the top, it can hit 50. So we ran up the stairs, drank cask strength Barton bourbon straight from the barrel then came back down, tripping from the heat and the alcohol, and we lay on the grass in the warmth of the sun, laughing until we were choking. Greg and I have been friends ever since and one of my proudest possessions is a signed bottle with the words “you were here before the brand was even the market place and you are always welcome in my distillery.”

So meeting up with Greg on my last day was always a hope. He’s now master distiller at Maker’s Mark, anither pretty distillery only this time at Loretto, Kentucky, a Catholic community where statues of Our Lady decorate the gardens and picket fences keep the thoroughbred horses penned. And where the statues often sits in bath tubs – though my fellow journalists are cynical about my explanation why.

But it’s true because Maker’s figurehead Bill Samuels told me and he would never make stuff up or exaggerate.

The sun is shining – as it must here – and sure enough, Greg joins our party. For me, that’s job done and the trip’s complete – and time’s running out anyway.

Just time for a quick visit to Beam and a chance to say hello to Fred Noe. With several new products on the way and the distillery being expanded significantly to accommodate a full visitor experience, nowhere epitomises what’s happening in Kentucky more than this site. Much as I love visiting the State, until a couple of years back little changed here and pickings for a journalist were slim.

Not any more – with the world of whisky opening up new territories by the week the distillers here are on the move and Kentucky is as vibrant and dynamic as anywhere else. It’s a building site and it’s producing great new whiskeys, though the downside is we’re not going to see them in Europe any time soon.

I have to leave mid tour, along with my four new Israeli friends, and the one downer on the trip that they don’t make it airside to share one last beer. Turns out their Newark flight is too delayed for them to leave Louisville so they return to the trip. I love going home but sitting in a soulless airport in Louisville or on Islay when I don’t know when I’ll be back is always a tough gig for me. Hard leaving a part of your heart anywhere.

Great group, great whiskey, great times.

I’m outta here…

Coming next: No more smoke and mirrors! So much for the sentimental stuff, now read my problem with American whiskey and the people who try to define it. I guess I ought to do something objective!!

Read it here this afternoon…

What I liked this week

The next issue of Whiskeria

We’ve been working hard on a new issue of Whiskeria and it’ll be hitting the stores some time around mid May – and it’s shaping up to be a cracker.

There’s a feature on our trip to Islay with international photographer Colin Prior, an interview with the whisky-loving lead singer of Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, fatherly advice and whisky picks for Father’s Day and what to do in  Britain if you’re not interested in The Olympics. There’s also a review of Ken Loach’s whisky-basd film The Angel’s Share.

The Angel’s Share

I was invited to a press screening of Ken Loach’s new film and attended with national journalists from the likes of Heat, Empire, The Telegraph. Reviews are embargoed at this point – it comes out in June – but suffice to say it will do the whisky industry no harm and it’s a delight seeing a whisky colleague in action – in this case Charlie MacLean. A review will appear here once a date is green-lighted.

New Glenkeir Treasures

One of the great aspects of The Whisky Shop offering is the opportunity to taste exclusive whiskies in store before purchasing and then buy samples in 10cl, 20cl or 50cl bottles, making quite rare whisky accessible to even the modest pocket.

The whiskies are specially selected for us and are filled in to casks in the shop, and they are uniformly excellent. The arrival of a new Treasure is always a special event and doesn’t happen that often.

The latest additions are an Isle of Jura 19 year old and a Highland Park 17 year old. The former is an oddball whisky,a subtle mix of rapier fresh and clean citrus flavours and a surprisingly subtle and sophisticated taste. The Highland Park is a treat but takes there malt in to new territory, dispensing with the balanced all rounder characteristics normally associated with the whisky  and focusing on a gritty Highland taste with grape and gooseberry in the mix.

BenRiach samples

BenRiach continues to delight and amaze and the latest batch of samples are a mix of sherry casks offerings from the mid 70s and light bourbon fresh ones from the 80s. There are a couple of peaty ones there and one or two of the very oldest have a delicious rich menthol flavour …stunning.

And finally…

I’m off to Tennessee and Kentucky for six days to interview the master distillers about American whiskey for a new video W Club series starting in May. The idea is to ask the people who make it to talk about one aspect of Tennessee whiskey and bourbon. I’ll be visiting Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve, and Maker’s Mark, seeing the new facilities at Beam and the new distillery at Wild Turkey, visiting George Dickel for the first time, and going to what is described as the Bulleit Distillery even though there isn’t one.

All will no doubt be revealed. I am flying on the day the great Southern musician Levon Helm of The Band has died. I was a big fan and his death will throw a dark cloud over the visit.

Follow my tweets here.

If Jim Beam’s Fred Noe seems a happy man, that’s because he is. I caught up with him durng this week’s UK trip.

“I reckon I’ve got the best gig in the world,” says Fred Noe contentedly. “I get to go around the world to talk about bourbon, visit great places, meet great people and show them bourbon.
“Last night we had a full house at the Whisky Shop in London and it’s a real joy to do a tasting like that – to see the looks on the faces of people as they taste the whiskey. We got to share some great bourbon and we sold a few bottles too. It’s a pleasure to do events like this and to make people happy.”

Fred Noe has a lot to be happy and proud about. We hear a lot these days of the scores of new whiskey distilleries that are revolutionising the American whiskey scene. We hear far less about what’s happening back in Kentucky, where the best and most established bourbon distilleries are.

But Kentucky’s on a roll too, possibly, says Noe, because of what’s happening elsewhere.
“There is a lot in interest in bourbon right now and people are coming to Kentucky wanting to find out the story of bourbon, hear about its heritage and hstory and to see what makes it different. Maybe some of these folk found whiskey elsewhere and want to find out more. It might be that they come to bourbon through miixologists but whatever it is it’s working.”

While innovation in whiskey is sweeping across America you don’t tend to associate it with Kentucky. But if you look for it you’ll find it there too. Beam, for instance, launched Red Stag last year.

“That was one of our most successful launches in years,” says Noe. “It’s black cherry infused bourbon and it brought a whole new crowd of people to Beam.”

The innovation doesn’t stop there either. One of the whiskeys sampled in London was The Devil’s Cut, to be launched in the United Kingdom later this year.

“The name is a response to the Angel’s Share,” says Noe. “We made this bourbon by sweating the barrel. When you dump a barrel there’s still a lot of whiskey in there so if you add water and agitate it you can take out the extra liquid. We take it down to 45% ABV, 90 Proof, remove the charcoal which has been shaken out during the agitation and there you have it.”
Noe isn’t finished there, either.

“We’ve been doing single barrels of Knob Creek, choosing barrels on the extremes of the bourbon’s normal age spread,” he says. “That gives customers the chance to sample and then buy their own barrel. They don’t even have to come to the distillery. Our sales folk have samples and if you choose a sample then the number on it refers right back to a barrel set aside in the warehouse. I wanted it all totally legitimate with no smoke and mirrors.

“And in addition to that we’re going to do a Knob Creek rye, and aged rye. People have asked me for it and I’ve listened to people who are serious about whiskey and we’re doing it. We’ve done Beam rye for years but after it was repackaged it did very well so this is the next stage.”
This will be a busy year for Beam. It’s invested a fortune on making the distillery suitable for tours and the new look facilities will open for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in September.
“Things are going very well for us and bourbon in general,” says Noe. We expect it to continue. These are great times for bourbon.”

They most certainly are Fred. and by the sounds of it, getting better all the time.