The WhiskyCast Tasting Panel

This month, our panel tastes three Rye whiskies. John McCarroll, Tim Quernes, and Mike Parrish taste Knob Creek Rye, Russell's Reserve Rye, and the Rittenhouse Rye 10-year-old Bottled in Bond from Heaven Hill. We'll also kick off a new feature on WhiskyCast Virtual Tastings honoring the whisky club of the month.

We're back from spring break, and it's time to taste some whiskies with our tasting panel of Sean McMillan, Chris Killilea, and Brianna Gillespie. They're tasting the Auchentoshan American Oak, Tomatin's new 14-year-old Port finish, and the Peat Monster 10th Anniversary Edition from Compass Box.

This month, we're bringing together two brothers who only get to see each other a couple of times a year for a Skype-based blind single malt tasting. David Lavin, Kevin Lavin, and Kevin's girlfriend Stephanie Buchert tasted the Speyburn 10, the Arran 14, and the Talisker Storm.

There's an old saying that wisdom comes from the mouth of babes. That was proven true with this month's panel, when 6-year-old Maggie DeYoung told her father John that talking about whisky to the world "was a great responsibility" and generously offered to help her Dad in any way that she could. John and his wife Jay make up half of our tasting panel this month, along with Jill-Ann and Robert Mark. What's more...they nosed and tasted this month's whiskies blindly, and weren't told until they had finished each whisky what they were evaluating. This month's whiskies are variations on the traditional peated single malt Scotch: Bowmore's Devil's Casks, the lightly peated Cù Bòcan from Tomatin, and Laphroaig's 2013 Cairdeas Port Cask Finish.

When the Pittsburgh Whiskey Friends invited us to come to their city and lead a benefit tasting in honor of the 11 people killed in the October 27, 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, we didn't hesitate. This episode was recorded at the tasting on November 26, 2018 in Pittsburgh, with all of the proceeds going to benefit the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) in memory of the Tree of Life shooting victims. Dad's Hat, Powers, Amrut importer Raj Sabharwal, and Liberty Pole Spirits donated the whiskies for the evening, and Christian Kahle won a raffle for one of the spots on our tasting panel. He joined Bobby Long and Scott Ritenbaugh from the Pittsburgh Whiskey Friends and public broadcasting personality Rick Sebak to taste the Dad's Hat Pre-Prohibition Style Pennsylvania Rye, Powers Three Swallow, Amrut Fusion, and Liberty Pole's Peated Bourbon.