I am in my tenth year of writing blogs for Bourbonveach.com. I thought I would start this year, 2026, with a look at my ten favorite blogs that I have written over the past decade. I have published 1,421 blogs so far and have 951 followers. It is hard to pick my favorite blogs, but I am going to try to do so today.
- The Ephemeral Nature of Tasting Whiskey. This blog came out of a conversation I had with Rosemary in the car while traveling to Owensboro for an event I was part of. It ranks as my all-time favorite blog because it is timeless and is as relevant today as the day I published it in December 2017.
- Life at Eight Miles Per Hour With Bourbon. I loved doing the Bourbon cruises on the American Queen Steamboat. It was always a fun week and I met many interesting people on the boat. Unfortunately, the American Queen Steamboat Company went bankrupt due to Covid 19 taking a toll on their finances and they never recovered. Still, I enjoyed the trips and I like looking back at the blog, written in August 2016.
- Bourbon Date Night: The Next Chapter. I wrote this blog back in October 2016. I wrote about a lovely evening I had with Rosemary getting my book stamped on the Urban Bourbon Trail. It is a fun blog and I hope it inspires others to have a Bourbon date night with drinks and dinner with their loved one.
- In Praise of Screw Cap Bottles. I love a screw cap bottle. I wrote this blog in January 2022 when I was thinking about the bottle I wanted for my Fountain Run Bourbon. I want to hold on to a bottle of my Bourbon so that people can drink it at my wake when I am gone and I do not want them drinking corked whiskey. A screw cap is a better seal than cork.
- The Six Sources of Flavor in Whiskey. This blog was written in March 2019. It stems from the “five keys” advertising campaign from Stitzel-Weller back in the 1960s. I have added an additional source in bottling because I believe that the proof you bottle the whiskey at and the filtration method can change the flavor of whiskey and deserves a mention.
- 19th Century Bourbon. I wrote this blog back in December 2016. I look at the history of distilling Bourbon in Kentucky and how it was different from Bourbon made today.
- Planning Bourbon Staff Training Trip To Bourbon Country. I wrote this blog in February 2018 after participating in a staff training trip to Kentucky by Gary Crunkleton for his bar in North Carolina. It was a very disjointed trip and we spent too much time traveling to different places when, if it was better organized, they could have done more and visited more distilleries.
- Early Kentucky Distillers – Where Did They Come From? I look at some of the myths about pioneer distillers and how they came to be in Kentucky. It was not solely because of the Whiskey Rebellion or even the Corn Writs.
- Bill and Mike’s Excellent Adventure. This is cheating a little on the list because it is multiple blogs written between 2018 and 2025 about the making of Fountain Run Bourbon. They are fun reads and cover every aspect from Mash Bill to the Bottle Release party at Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington D.C.
- Barefoot Manhattans. Since I have cheated once on the list, I thought I would do it again. This is a series of blogs written by Maggie Kimberl with the help of Rosemary about what makes the best Manhattan cocktail. They were written between June 2017 and January 2018. I love a good Manhattan cocktail and these blogs helped shape my opinion of what makes a great Manhattan.
These are my ten favorite blogs picked because I could name them without looking over the list of blogs. With over a thousand blogs to choose from, I thought this was the best way to make the list. I did not include any tasting blogs but they are an important part of Bourbonveach.com. My nephew Matt Kohorst joined me in doing the tasting blogs in 2020 and I think his younger palate adds a lot to these tastings. I also do book reviews that I enjoy quite a bit, but there is not one particular review that stands out for me.
Let me know in the comments if you agree with this list and if you have a favorite blog that I did not mention. Happy New Year and I hope it is a good one for you and your friends and family.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller