FROM THE BARLIST JOURNAL
Partnership
Blue agave shaped western Mexico before Tequila became a protected name. The plant was part of food, fibre, fermentation, field culture, and regional identity long before international markets began to recognise the spirit. Around the town of it, agave cultivation became tied to volcanic land, labour, haciendas, distillation, and trade. The modern category grew from […]
July 5, 2026
Discovery and Education
For decades, spirits brands were protected by something stronger than shelf space. Private label spirits are beginning to test one of the drinks industry’s strongest assumptions: that recognised brands will always hold the consumer’s trust on the supermarket shelf. A recognised label carried trust, memory, status, and a promise that the liquid inside had been […]
July 3, 2026
Video
For centuries, Japan’s brewing heritage has centred on sake. Yet one man’s determination would change the country’s relationship with distilled spirits forever. Masataka Taketsuru did not simply introduce whisky to Japan. He studied its origins, understood its principles, and reimagined them for a completely different landscape. Learning Whisky at Its Source Born into a family […]
June 29, 2026
Trending
For years, the global spirits industry spoke the language of expansion. New markets were opening, premium bottles were moving into wider circulation, cocktail culture was travelling, and international groups could often rely on growth in one region to compensate for weakness in another. That confidence has become harder to sustain. Global beverage alcohol volumes fell […]
June 29, 2026
Discovery and Education
By the beginning of the 1900s, Britain and Ireland were producing whisky on an industrial scale, exporting it across an expanding commercial world and presenting it as a drink rooted in tradition. Yet the industry could not agree on a basic question. What, legally and culturally, was whisky? For pot still distillers, particularly those defending […]
June 27, 2026
History
Single barrel bourbon existed as a distillery practice before it existed as a recognised commercial category. Warehouse teams had always known that barrels matured differently. One might develop with unusual balance, another with greater depth, while a third might remain awkward even after years in the same building. Distillers occasionally reserved exceptional casks for owners, […]
June 23, 2026
Spirits
The name Havana Club does not refer to the same rum everywhere. Across much of the world, it belongs to a Cuban produced brand managed through Havana Club International, the joint venture created by Corporación Cuba Ron and Pernod Ricard. In the United States, the name appears on a different rum made in Puerto Rico […]
June 22, 2026
History
The Gin Craze is often told as a morality tale. Cheap spirit flooded London, the population lost control, William Hogarth exposed the damage, and Parliament restored order. The real history is less convenient. Government policy helped expand the market in the first place. Poverty and overcrowding made the consequences more visible. An attempt to suppress […]
June 21, 2026
Distilleries & Producers
Floor Maltings History: Where Whisky Began Before stainless steel vessels, automated temperature control, and industrial malt plants, a Scotch whisky distillery often began its work on a stone or concrete floor. Barley was steeped in water, spread in a shallow layer, and turned repeatedly by hand as it germinated. The process demanded time, judgement, space, […]
June 18, 2026
