Just because the spirit made it into the bottle doesn’t mean it’s across the finish line. Proper care and handling upstream are important to ensuring it retains the proper color and flavor all the way into the consumer’s glass.

Sydney Jones, supervisor and lead distillery technician at Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Kentucky, isolates the components of whiskey-making, zooming in on all the many decision points that a distiller can use to affect whiskey’s flavor.

Customers generally expect a visually pristine spirit or cocktail. As a distiller, you should know where haze comes from, how to address it, and when it may actually be desirable.

To create novel flavor profiles, Western distillers are increasingly embracing a mold that is traditional in many Asian food and drink fermentations —and they’ve only begun to tap into its potential.

Bringing in a blender, even on a contract or part-time basis, can help a small distillery elevate its whiskey and create a more consistent program.

Colorful spirits are drawing more eyes than ever, but distillers don’t need to reach into the chemistry kit to achieve vibrant hues.

The enormous variety in liqueurs from various countries and traditions offers distillers an opportunity to create one-of-a-kind cask-finished whiskeys.

Changes in barrel sizes, warehousing, and entry proof have all altered the character of the whiskeys we make and enjoy today. Those old practices also may be sources of inspiration for craft distillers who want to make distinctive products.