New Diploma date at Penderyn

We’re thrilled to be travelling to South Wales this June to teach our flagship Diploma in Single Malt Whisky at the Penderyn Distillery. Earn your SQA-certified whisky diploma – our highest award – over two days in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons. You’ll discover a world of knowledge from the in-depth material, allowing you to better appreciate your favourite drams and get more from every drop.

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Win two Tullamore D.E.W. whiskeys!

Enter our latest Golden Dram Giveaway for the chance to win a bottle of Tullamore D.E.W. Phoenix Small Batch and 15 Year Old Trilogy. Just buy any bottle of Tullamore D.E.W. 12 Year Old, 14 Year Old or 18 Year Old to be entered into our prize draw. Closes 24th March – good luck!

Read Our Tullamore D.E.W. Journal Post→
Shop Tullamore D.E.W.→

SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 10 AM – 5 PM

Mystery Whisky Tasting with Sam Filmus

Master of all things Scotch and guiding light of JVS Imports, our friend Sam Filmus returns to The Whisky Shop with a selection of world-class whiskies! Sam Filmus’ previous tastings have included some of the rarest and oldest drams ever tasted at The Whisky Shop. Whether you’re looking for a unique new scotch experience or simply thirsty for a taste of whisky, this tasting is sure to delight and surprise.

Click Here to RSVP

(or email us at info@whiskyshopusa.com)

FIFTH FIFE WHISKY FESTIVAL PROVES A SELL-OUT SUCCESS

The fifth Fife Whisky Festival proved a sell-out success with more festival-goers enjoying the event than ever before.

Around 700 whisky-lovers attended the festival which featured tasting sessions and special events including an exclusive tour of InchDairnie Distillery.

There was also a whisky-themed dinner at Lindores Abbey Distillery in Newburgh with crime author Val McDermid this year’s guest of honour.

She praised the festival’s success saying: “The Fife Whisky Festival dinner was the best kind of night out – beautiful surroundings at Lindores Abbey, delicious food, lively conversation and the perfect choice of drams to accompany each course.

“Now it’s got a whisky festival, Fife really does have everything!”

Meanwhile, organisers Karen Somerville and Justine Hazlehurst have confirmed the festival will return for a sixth outing in 2024.

Ms Hazlehurst said: “It was a successful weekend which went smoothly with lots of positive feedback.

“We had 90 people for the banquet dinner which is the largest number of attendees so far and Val was a great speaker.

“She was very funny and spoke about her links to Fife, her love of whisky and how she was pleased to be involved with a festival which is, unusually, organised by two women.

“This year, we were able to host 350 people at each Saturday session – our largest number since we started – and they enjoyed the very first taste of several new whiskies.”

“We’re now ready to start organising the 2024 event and look forward to returning to Fife next March.”

The festival featured tasting sessions at Cupar’s Corn Exchange where whisky connoisseurs enjoyed drams from more than 40 distilleries and independent bottlers including Annandale Distillery, GlenWyvis Distillery, Isle of Arran Distillers and James Eadie.

They had the chance to try brand-new whiskies including samples from InchDairnie Distillery of its soon-to-be-released RyeLaw whisky.

Meanwhile, Glasgow Distillery Company poured its Glasgow 1770 Ruby Port and Red Wine Finish Single Malt Scotch Whisky – the first time it’s been tasted in the UK – and Kingsbarns Distillery brought its new flagship whisky ‘Doocot’ which only launched the day before the festival began.

This year’s exclusive Festival Bottling was a Staoisha eight-year-old – a peated single malt from Bunnahabhain Distillery bottled by Woodrow’s of Edinburgh.

And the famous Luvians Bottle Shop, the festival’s on-site official retailer, was on hand for whisky purchases.

On the Sunday, there was a tour of InchDairnie Distillery in Glenrothes which opened specifically for a small group of festival-goers.

There was also a tasting masterclass from Hannah Whisky Merchants hosted by their brand ambassador, Paul McKendrick, at the Hillend Tavern in Dalgety Bay.

Festival co-founder Karen Somerville said: “We were pleased to offer two venues for the 2023 Sunday sessions – we like to do something special on the Sunday and are now looking at increasing to four Sunday events.

“We were also delighted to continue our annual fundraising efforts for Age Concern Cupar with around £1,000 expected to be donated this year from our generous attendees and exhibitors.”

She added: “Tickets for the next festival are due to go on sale early September – watch our social media for more details.”

Fife Whisky Festival was launched in 2017 by Ms Hazlehurst, founder of Kask Whisky, and Mrs Somerville, of Angels’ Share Glass, with the first event held in March 2018.

Sponsored by Bruce Stevenson Insurance Brokers, legal firm MacRoberts LLP, construction company ISG and leading experiential marketing software platform AnyRoad, the event showcases the renaissance of whisky-making in Fife by bringing together the best whisky producers from the region and beyond.

Staff from AnyRoad, which enables businesses to operate and optimise their events and experiences, captured valuable data and insights from whisky fans during the festival.

They found that 100% of attendees questioned would be interested in returning to the Festival while 94% would strongly recommend the event to others.

Greg Klingaman, AnyRoad’s VP, Strategy & Field Operations EMEA, said: “We were pleased to sponsor this year’s Fife Whisky Festival which is a powerful vehicle for smaller and independent distilleries to engage directly with consumers.

“We were able to gather quantitative and qualitative feedback from a third of festival-goers which indicated just how much they enjoyed the event and many specifically mentioned how well run the festival was.”

The festival’s sponsors also praised the achievements of its founders.

Euan Duncan, from MacRoberts LLP, said: “What Karen and Justine have achieved since they launched Fife Whisky Festival is remarkable.

“It has become a key fixture in the Scotch Whisky festival calendar and what is particularly pleasing is the diversity of attendees which demonstrates the rapidly growing appeal of Scotch Whisky to all consumers.

“The festival heralds and celebrates the innovation and growth of the production of Scotch Whisky in Fife and provides a platform to shine the spotlight on Scotch whiskies from the other regions.

“It has been a pleasure for us at MacRoberts to have sponsored and supported the Fife Whisky Festival from the very first festival and this has also allowed us to highlight our significant work and involvement in Scotland’s food and drink industry.”

Graeme Dempster, of Bruce Stevenson Insurance Brokers, said: “We are delighted to continue our support for Fife Whisky Festival which was another great success this year.

“Fife as a whisky region is flourishing and the festival helps support and promote not just the great whiskies from the region but all over the country.

“Fife Whisky Festival is an important partner for Bruce Stevenson as we have many clients who attend the festival and it’s a great way to catch up with them over a few drams. We’re looking forward to next year’s festival already.”

Louise Wallace, from ISG, said: “We have proudly sponsored Fife Whisky Festival for the last three years.

“We work with distillers throughout Scotland to create the right spaces for them to thrive and are currently working at Rosebank and Port Ellen – bringing them back to life – as well as being a part of exciting new chapters for Eden Mill and Elixir.

“Sponsoring this festival is a great opportunity to celebrate with the whisky community with people coming from all over the world to attend.

“Justine and Karen are a true inspiration across the industry – the grit and determination they have to make the festival a success is fantastic and we’re looking forward to our continued partnership in 2024.”

Dates for the 2024 event will be confirmed shortly and more details about the festival can be found here – www.fifewhiskyfestival.com

Notes: Fife Whisky Festival was launched in 2017 by Justine Hazlehurst and Karen Somerville and the first event, opened by endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont, was held at the Corn Exchange in Cupar on Saturday March 10, 2018. For more details, go to www.fifewhiskyfestival.com

Angels’ Share Glass is a family-run business based in Bridge of Allan, near Stirling. The firm is co-directed by Karen Somerville and her father Tom Young – a world-renowned Master Craftsman who has been glassblowing and making lamp-work glassware for nearly 60 years. More information about the company can be found at www.angelsshareglass.com

Justine Hazlehurst is the founder of Kask Whisky, a whisky events company based in Edinburgh. As well as a judge for a number of whisky awards panels, she has established several Scotch whisky trails and has worked with a number of distilleries and organisations to research their Scotch whisky heritage. For more details about Kask Whisky, go to www.kaskwhisky.com

As we do every year, we are celebrating St. Patrick’s with an in-store tasting. Harmony has an awesome lineup planned, and if you haven’t made any plans as yet, at the time of writing there are still 4 spots open…

We thought we’d also do a little Irish whiskey mini-sale this weekend, as many of our suppliers have offered special pricing in the last couple of weeks. All in-stock Irish whiskey is 15-30% off, now through the end of day Sunday.

You can browse all Irish whiskey on our site, but there are a few we’d like to highlight, so Curt and Harmony have selected a few they would like to showcase!

To mark St. Patrick’s Day… I asked OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 for an image for the newsletter of “a sad looking leprechaun on a dreary moor looks on as one by one the leaves of the four leaf clover clasped in his fingers blow away in the wind in the style of Salvador Dalí.”

Anyway, you’re welcome…

There is a full Malt Messenger coming next week, with news on our latest KWM casks, as well as new whiskies and tastings.

As always, in the event of a discrepancy in price, the point of sale at KWM will be taken as correct. Online ordering and in-store purchasing are always our preferences, but you can email too.

Sincerely,

Andrew Ferguson

Kensington Wine Market

Irish Whiskey Highlights In Our Humble Opinions

by Curt & Harmony

If you’ve been living under a rock, you may have missed the headline: Irish whiskey (and whisky) is back, and back with a vengeance. The delightful distillate coming out of Ireland right now is sort of like the big guy shoving his way through the crowd to reach the front of the stage. The category has now grown large enough that there are simply no excuses for thinking Irish whiskey begins and ends with the bottom shelf versions of Bushmills and Jameson. Quite frankly, if you’re overlooking Irish whiskey (and whisky), you’re missing out.

We had plenty of brilliant drams we wanted to highlight – in fact, we had to pare down our list for this Malt Messenger – but here are a few of the real gems available at the moment.

Waterford Single Farm Ballymorgan 1.2 – 50% abv – From the perpetual motion machine that is the mind of Mark Reynier (formerly of Bruichladdich fame and infamy), comes quite possibly Ireland’s most fascinating malt distillery. We’ll even award extra points for spelling it ‘whisky’ and not ‘whiskey’. If you’re a fan of Bruichladdich’s naked style of young malts, you’ll almost certainly tumble head-over-heels for Waterford’s offerings as well. While different (as you’d expect), they’re also surprisingly similar. Waterford is the epitome of what young single malt whisky should be, irrespective of provenance. – $101.99+gst

W.D. O’Connell Single Grain 10 Year Batch 03 – 48% abv – If Pot Still whiskey is the beating heart of Irish whiskey, then certainly Irish grains are the arteries that have helped move Irish whiskey to the four corners of the earth (no, we’re not flat-earthers). Always clean, light, and vibrant, single grains are some of the absolute best buys out there…especially when taking into account the level in your piggy bank. This 10-year-old single grain was distilled at Cooley and matured in ex-Bourbon casks, before a final polishing is ex-Rye casks. – $96.99+gst

Hinch 10 Year Oloroso – 43% abv – A marriage of some of Hinch’s most prized casks of single grain and single malt, triple distilled, wrapped in a beautiful cloak of Oloroso Sherry, and left to gather a full decade of cask influence and oxidation. Just a tip (though you probably already know this): Irish Whiskey and Oloroso casks go together like peanut butter and chocolate. – $82.99+gst

Bushmills 21 Year – 40% abv – A syrupy mash-up of tropical fruits, soft baking spices, and (probably, almost certainly) the distilled tears of angels. Our detailed tasting notes: “tastes like one bottle is not enough.”

Oh, and free with purchase: a story from Curt about why he loves Bushmills more than he loves his own…well…let’s not finish that thought, lest there be familial consequences that fall out. – $209.99+gst

That Boutique-y Whisky Company 15 Year Single Malt #2 Batch 6 – 50.2% abv – We’re not saying this 15-year-old little gem also carries the Bushmills DNA, but we’re not not saying that either. Shhhh. It’s not like TBWC needed more secrets. If you were fortunate enough to try the previous Boutique-y Irish offerings (a 13- and 14-year-old), you’ll have an idea of what you’re in for here: an alcoholized fruit cocktail syrup. – $184.99+gst

…and last, but far from least…

Teeling 15 Year KWM Armagnac Cask 16570 – 58.4% abv – This one is a perennial favorite of all the KWM staff. Right now, it says “Curt’s pick” on the stack, but we can neither confirm nor deny the rumour that Harmony’s name was there first. Expect an overflowing fruit bowl, sparingly drizzled with Armagnac, and dusted with a bit of confectioner’s sugar. One of the best Irish whiskeys we’ve seen in forever. No hyperbole. – $149.99+gst

Browse All Irish Whiskies

Upcoming Tastings

·     Date: Tuesday, March 28

·     Time: 7 PM

·     Cost: $50

·     VIRTUAL TASTING

·     Samples ready for pick-up!

Evan loves his Bourbon, and everyone enjoys blind tastings, so we are once again fusing these concepts together. This time around we will be including 8 different samples of American Bourbon and Rye to taste through and talk about. We can’t tell you what’s in the lineup (because it’s a blind tasting!), but even if we wanted to offer a few teasers, we can’t. Evan still has to pull his lineup together. In any case, you can be assured it will be a good one!

Tuesday, March 28 @ 7PM

Glengoyne & Tamdhu with Gordon Dundas

·     Date: Saturday, April 1st

·     Time: 5 PM

·     Cost: $40

·     VIRTUAL TASTING

·     Samples ready for pick-up!

To launch the new Glengoyne 15 and Tamdhu 18, our friend Gordon Dundas has agreed to join us live from Scotland for a virtual tasting of 8 whiskies from the Glengoyne and Tamdhu Distilleries. You will sample your way through Glengoyne Cask Strength, Legacy 3, 15- and 18-Year, as well as Tamdhu Batch Strength, 12-, 15- and 18-Year.

Saturday, April 1, 5 PM

SMWS Canada April 2023 In-Person Outturn Tasting

·     Date: Thursday, April 6

·     Time: 8 PM

·     Cost: $60

·     IN-STORE TASTING

·     5 Spots Left!

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada’s March 2023 Outturn tasting will feature new, never-before-featured bottlings. The range will be the same as the virtual tasting the night before but will also include nibbles from our friends at Peasant Cheese and the comradery that can only come from 18 SMWS Members in our tasting room. Please note we will not be holding back stock of the Outturn bottles specifically to purchase for this in-person tasting, though there will likely be bottles of most whiskies still available.

Thursday, April 6 @ 8 PM.

Glenmorangie Grand Vintage Virtual Tasting with Bry Simpson

·     Date: Tuesday, April 18

·     Time: 7 PM

·     Cost: $75

·     VIRTUAL TASTING

Our friend Bry Simpson, Glenmorangie’s Canadian Brand Ambassador, will be our special guest as we taste our way through 8 Glenmorangie expressions. We’ll tackle the extra matured range, 18 year, Signet, and A Tale of Forest. But the real draw for this tasting will be the Grand Vintage Malts. We’ll be sampling not one, but two of them: the 1996 and 1997.

Tuesday April 18, 7PM

Milk & Honey Distillery Virtual Tasting with Oded Weiss

·     Date: Tuesday, May 2

·     Time: 7 PM

·     Cost: $40

·     VIRTUAL TASTING

Israel’s Milk & Honey has been turning heads ever since its first whisky was launched in 2017. The Tel Aviv Distillery worked with the late Dr. Jim Swan, a Scotch whisky industry legend, to help shape the profile of its spirit. But while it produces a traditional Scottish-style single malt, M&H is also using innovation to put an Israeli twist on its whisky. We will be joined virtually by Milk & Honey’s Ovid Weiss, for a vertical tasting of 8 M&H whiskies, including both peated and unpeated single malts. You’ll sample whiskies matured in sherry, STR, ex-Pommegranate wine and Ale casks, as well as a whisky matured at the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea!

Tuesday, May 2, 7PM.

 

FREE DELIVERY

We are proud to offer Free City Wide Delivery on all orders over $100 Monday-Friday!

Orders under $100 are subject to a flat rate $10 delivery fee.

CURBSIDE PICKUP

Physical distancing is made easy with curbside pickup.

Order online or by phone, wait for confirmation your order is ready then call us when you are parked in the back or out front.

Be sure to let us know what your vehicle looks like!

403-283-8000

888-283-9004

Regular Store Hours

Mon-Wed 10 AM – 8 PM

Thurs & Fri 10 AM – 9 PM

Sat 10 AM – 8 PM

Sun 11 AM to 6 PM

 

Celebrate St Patrick’s Day with an exclusive Irish Coffee from The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. and Adam Handling 

(London 13th March 2023) The Craft Irish Whiskey Co., creator of the world’s Best Irish Single Malt of 2022, has launched an exclusive Irish Coffee made in collaboration with pioneering chef Adam Handling in anticipation of the release of its latest single malt, The Donn. In celebration of St Patrick’s Day, guests will have an exclusive, one-day-only opportunity to order an Irish Coffee, made to Adam Handling’s recipe and using The Donn.

The famed and beloved Irish Coffee was initially launched in celebration of Irish Coffee Day in January, but will reappear on the menus in all restaurants of the Adam Handling Group on St Patrick’s Day including Michelin-starred Frog and Eve Bar in Covent Garden, The Loch & The Tyne in Old Windsor and Ugly Butterfly in St.Ives.

This definitive Irish Coffee recipe using The Donn is featured in Adam Handling’s recently released cocktail cookbook, Perfect, Three Cherries. Featuring innovative recipes for delicious cocktails, this luxurious book showcases the passion for sustainability that lies behind many of the cutting edge and inventive creations. With recipes, cocktail histories, drink styles, glassware, techniques, lab equipment, and even different types of ice, Perfect, Three Cherries highlights Adam’s drive to promote the very best of the British cocktail scene and his zero-waste ethos.

The Donn is the yet-to-be-released single malt from the award-winning The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. The company’s inaugural release, The Devil’s Keep, was recently judged to be the world’s Best Irish Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards 2022, while its second ultra-rare single malt attracted unprecedented attention at auction in 2021, selling for £2,000,000 to become the world’s most expensive whiskey. The Donn is its latest Irish single malt, a triple distilled game-changer that spent just under seven years in an unparalleled four different styles of cask. From Bourbon barrels to the same ex-Tawny Port barrels used for The Devil’s Keep, to deep-stave toasted virgin Hungarian Oak barrels and small 68L Pedro Ximénez barrels, The Donn has taken a journey that imparted an abundance of rich notes and a luxuriously full-bodied mouthfeel.

Rich, with notes of dark chocolate and caramel, The Donn’s layers of flavour and creamy mouthfeel make it the ideal companion for a warming Irish coffee to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. This collaboration between Adam Handling and The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. offers a rare opportunity for whiskey fans to experience The Donn in this way and reservations are extremely limited, so guests are advised to book now to secure a table for 17th March.

About The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. is on a mission to restore Ireland’s reputation for crafting the finest whiskeys in the world, elevating its potential as a luxury product. Formed in 2018 by Irish entrepreneur Jay Bradley, The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. was born from a desire to return premium Irish whiskey to the heights it once enjoyed. To achieve such a goal has taken a complete reimagining of the craft; honouring centuries of tradition but questioning convention and adding scientific understanding to reinvent the maturation of the whiskey. No expense is spared, no corners are cut.

In 2021, The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. became the most highly awarded new company of the year amassing a total of 17 awards across both Taste and Design for four of its ultra-rare whiskey releases. In 2022, the company continued this award-winning streak, adding the world’s Best Irish Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards for The Devil’s Keep, and a perfect score to achieve Platinum at the A’Design Awards for The Emerald Isle. The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. is the exclusive Michelin Plaque Distribution Partner for The Michelin Guide Star Revelation Great Britain and Ireland 2022.

Michelin UK venue partners include: Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, The Waterside Inn, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Grantley Hall, City Social, Kitchen Table and Frog by Adam Handling.

Other partner venues include Nobu Hotel Portman Square, Park Row, Adam Handling’s Ugly Butterfly and The Ned.

For more information visit www.craftirishwhiskey.com

Tastings at The Whisky Shop

Weekly In-store Tastings featuring Single Malt Whiskies 

Celebrate St Patrick’s Day

at The Whisky Shop!

THURSDAY, MARCH 16th 2 – 4 PM

West Cork Irish Whiskey

Join us for an Irish whiskey tasting featuring single malt expressions from West Cork Distillers! We’ll have a variety of expressions to try, poured just for you by our whisky & spirit expert presenters. West Cork Irish whiskey is distilled, matured and bottled on-site and sells in over 70 countries worldwide. Each bottle is triple distilled, non-chill filtered and carefully crafted using the finest of local ingredients.

Click Here to RSVP

(or email us at info@whiskyshopusa.com)

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 12 – 4 PM:

Redbreast Irish Whiskey

Celebrate St Patrick’s Day with us at our expert-presented Redbreast Irish Whiskey tasting! For more than a century Redbreast has stayed true to the Irish Pot Still whiskey making tradition. Today it is considered to be the definitive expression of this quintessential style of Irish whiskey making – a living legacy, with numerous award-winning bottlings under their belt.

Single Pot Still Whiskey has been safeguarded and nurtured under the watchful eye of the Midleton Distillery for almost two hundred years. And Redbreast is proudly considered the definitive expression of this Single Pot Still art. In this online tasting experience, our expert presenters will take you through the traditions, art and secrets, that go into making the iconic and signature tastes of Redbreast.

Click Here to RSVP

(or email us at info@whiskyshopusa.com)

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE 

Discover Fettercairn

We are delighted to announce our March tasting event featuring the Fettercairn Distillery. We will be presenting six single malt whiskies, including a mystery new release that will be debuted at the tasting.

We hope that you can join us for a splendid evening of whisky tasting at our store in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Spaces are limited, so please purchase your tickets early to avoid disappointment.

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW

£15.00

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NEAREST & JACK ADVANCEMENT INITIATIVE TO HOST INAUGURAL ‘SPIRITS ON THE RISE’ SUMMIT

Diverse Voices and BIPOC Spirits Entrepreneurs Will Come Together in Tennessee for a Two-Day Immersive Learning Experience From April 17-18

Lynchburg, TENNESSEE (February 28, 2023)  – Today, the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative (NJAI), the first-of-its-kind incubator for diversifying the current and future leaders in the whiskey industry, announces its first-ever ‘Spirits on the Rise’ Summit. The two day event, taking place on April 17 and 18, 2023, aims to combat the imbalance set upon BIPOC businessmen and businesswomen in spirits and will bring together spirits industry entrepreneurs from historically underrepresented communities as they work to advance their businesses.

Throughout the summit, attendees will have unprecedented access to industry experts from NJAI founders Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, as well as leaders from companies like Hyatt Hotels, Breakthru Beverage, ReserveBar, and Republic National Distributing Company to learn more about investment and finance, distribution, route to market, networking, and community. The event will allow the NJAI to expand its impact beyond its existing programs – the Leadership Acceleration Program, the Business Incubation Program and the Nearest Green School of Distilling – to further assist founders as they enter and progress in the spirits industry.

“When we launched the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative in 2020, our goal was to advance diversity within the American whiskey industry and we’re thrilled to see the first group of graduates come through the program,” said Jamie Butler, Jack Daniel’s Global Brand Director. “The ‘Spirits on the Rise’ Summit expands upon the key tenants of this initiative and gives us the opportunity to increase the amount of BIPOC entrepreneurs we are able to support and educate in a multitude of areas.”

The NJAI is inspired by the historic and storied relationship between two pioneers of Tennessee Whiskey, Nearest Green and Jack Daniel, and sees to it that the future of the spirits industry is diverse and dynamic. Since its founding, the NJAI has presented professional opportunities to BIPOC-owned spirits ventures by committing millions of dollars towards providing access to the education and resources needed to be successful in a predominantly white-owned and led spirits industry.

“Over the past three years, the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative has worked on three tenets: helping to support up and coming BIPOC-owned brands, ensuring that we see more visible leaders of colors in every sector of our industry, and ensuring that we have attainable education around distillation and the spirits business,” said Katharine Jerkens, Chief Business Officer of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. “The ‘Spirits on the Rise’ Summit is an opportunity to bring together entrepreneurs and key leaders in the industry to network and educate so that we can continue our mission of building a more diverse and inclusive industry.”

It is through these efforts that the NJAI looks to amplify and accelerate the growth of current and future leaders in the whiskey industry, offering strategic mentorship along the way. The impact of the initiative’s work can be seen through the first three graduates of their incubator programming: Du Nord Social Spirits, the inaugural graduate of the Business Incubation Program, along with Tracie Franklin and Byron Copeland, the first two individuals to complete the Leadership Acceleration Program.

“This event is a testament to how far we’ve come in a short amount of time, and I couldn’t be more excited to see the new faces of our industry at the NJAI Summit,” said Chris Montana, Founder of Du Nord Social Spirits. “Du Nord’s involvement in the NJAI has allowed us to improve our business model, grow significantly, and compete nationally. I cannot overstate how critical this program has been to us as a business and to me personally.”

The current schedule of programming for the ‘Spirits on the Rise’ Summit includes:

• Monday, April 17, 2023 at Nearest Green Distillery
  • 3:30 p.m.: Tours of Nearest Green Distillery
  • 5:00 p.m.: Welcome remarks, cocktails and dinner

• Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at Jack Daniel Distillery
  • 9:00 a.m.: The Right Investment Partner in Each Stage of Business, moderated by Fawn Weaver, CEO and Founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey
  • 10:00 a.m.: Understanding the Financials in an Early-Stage Spirits Brand, moderated by Loni Gray, Global Brand Manager for Jack Daniel’s
  • 1:30 p.m.: Tours of the Jack Daniel Distillery
  • 3:00 p.m.: Route to Market: Building your Brand’s Distribution, moderated by Katharine Jerkens, Chief Business Officer for Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey
  • 4:00 p.m.: Emerging Brands Fair
  • 6:30 p.m.: Cocktails, dinner and closing remarks

To RSVP and for more information on the summit, please visit nearestjack.rsvp360.co

About Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative

Launched in 2020, the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative (NJAI) is inspired by the legacy and the relationship of Tennessee Whiskey pioneers Nearest Green and Jack Daniel with the goal of advancing diversity within the American whiskey industry. The first-of-its-kind incubator started with an initial combined $5 million pledge by Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey to create the Nearest Green School of Distilling, a STEM based and employable skills focused program at Motlow State College, the Leadership Acceleration Program to accelerate the development of future BIPOC Master Distillers, Distillery Managers and other senior management positions within the American whiskey industry, and the Business Incubation Program, focused on providing expertise and resources to African Americans entering the spirits industry as entrepreneurs. The joint initiative is guided by an advisory board with members from both organizations.