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!

Lexington, Kentucky, Monday April 23

Nobody does racing quite like Kentucky, and with two weeks to go until the world-famous Derby, you can sense the excitement.

Our journey up from Tennessee lasts about four hours and we head to Keeneland, one of America’s prettiest race tracks. We are guests of the club so we wear formal clothing – ties and jackets for the men, dresses for the women – lunch in the club room and get to join the horses in the parade paddock and view one race from trackside in the winners’ enclosure before having our photograph taken with the winning jockey. It’s an amazing experience and to cap it all I win $50. An altogether amazing Kentucky experience.

Our drive to Wild Turkey takes us through some of America’s wealthiest regions, as wealthy as Beverley Hills. We pass the property where the former ambassador to London lives and where the Queen stays when visiting her race horses. The properties are vast, with beautiful galloping on perfectly kept meadows. These are the breeding grounds for the world’s best horses, their bones strengthened by grass enriched by the very same nutrients that make for great bourbon.

To reach the new Wild Turkey distillery at Lawrenceberg you cross a unique S-shaped bridge which crosses the Kentucky River. Down to the right is the old Wild Turkey distillery, looking old and tired. Up to the left, only half a mile away, is the new distillery, and we’re met in the driveway by the legendary Jimmy Russell, who takes us on a tour, leads us through a tasting and joins us for dinner in the evening.

The new plant is capable of doubling the capacity of Wild Turkey to close to 50 million litres a year. Twenty huge fermenters are the main difference between the old and new properties, and Russell says he has settled well in to the new environment. and the biggest change product-wise is the successful launch of Wild Turkey 81, a 40.5% abv version of the famous Wild Turkey 101, introduced because many bars in America won’t stock the stronger whiskey.

“What the new distillery does is give us the chance to put Wild Turkey back at the front of bourbon,” Russell says later. “We’ve got the support which we’ve wanted for a long time.”

Dinner is at the Holly Hill Inn, one of Kentucky’s most exclusive restaurants. Here we’re joined by 12 craft distillers who set up stands so we can sample their whiskeys and then they join us for dinner. I dine with Jimmy Russell and his delightful wife.

And the new whiskeys? Many of them are too young and are works in progress but there is some fine rye and my favourite of the evening is a whisky with grain dried by peat, beech and cherry wood so that it has a fragrant incense-like smokiness. Exciting time.

It’s another long day but a good one.

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.