Hansell, John (1960–), is the founder and editor of Whisky Advocate, a leading magazine covering the whisky industry. Like many early players in the whisky renaissance, Hansell came to the field indirectly: while working as an environmental chemist for Pennsylvania Power and Light (the forerunner of PPL Corp.) in the early 1990s, he developed an interest in off-beat beers and parlayed that into a beer-sharing club with an accompanying newsletter called On Tap. As his interests spread to include whisky, Hansell changed the name of the newsletter to Malt Advocate in 1994, and the following year switched its focus almost entirely to whisky, while also expanding to a magazine format, with distribution, full color, and glossy print. Hansell soon added staff and contributors, including some of the leading names in whisky writing, like Michael Jackson, Jim Murray, and Lew Bryson. In 1998 he launched WhiskyFest in New York, one of the first high-profile whisky-tasting events in the United States, and later expanded it to Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington. In 2010 M. Shanken Communications purchased Malt Advocate and the following year renamed it Whisky Advocate, keeping Hansell at the helm.
See Jackson, Michael; Murray, Jim; and spirits writing.
“News.” Whisky Advocate. https://www.whiskyadvocate.com/news/ (accessed June10, 2021).Clay Risen