Who is Whiskeyfellow?

 

Social media does a crummy job of giving us room on a profile page to tell the world about ourselves. Hence, the reason for this About Me post.

 

Whiskeyfellow is, and always has been, a passion project. I write detailed whiskey reviews, I host tasting events, I’m a spirits competition judge and a whiskey educator, and I engage in copywriting for brands, bars, and stores. Some activities generate income. Others don’t.

 

Reviews never do.

 

I link all of my reviews and articles to Whiskeyfellow.net. Some people claim that I do it for clicks, others say it is for ad revenue. I accept no income for clicks, and I refuse to accept any ads. It would bring into question my integrity of being impartial, and without my integrity, I have nothing.

 

But who am I?

 

I’ve been dabbling in whiskey for many years, although I was a latecomer. Early in my marriage, my wife suggested I find an adult beverage to help me “fit in” and be less socially awkward. I chose a small bottle of Dewar’s White Label, and suddenly, I was into Scotch.

 

We had been living in Colorado and relocated to Florida, where my wife was hired by a friend who owned a high-end liquor store. He tried to get me to expand my horizons. Being a Scotch Snob, there was no way that I was going to degrade myself by drinking Bourbon. Call it peer pressure, call it wanting our friend (and my wife’s boss) to stop bugging me, I reluctantly tried it and fell in love – so much so that while I still enjoyed Scotch, Bourbon became my go-to. He then got me into American Rye, Irish whiskeys, and even Indian Single Malts.

 

While we were in Florida, most of my free time was spent at the liquor store. I could spend time with my wife while things got slow, and I could pretty much taste whatever was open. Pretty soon, I was being invited to taste samples from brand reps looking to get their products in the store. I assisted the store hosting Ardbeg Day events. I frequently accompanied my wife and our friend to trade events.

 

And then, we moved to Wisconsin. I had an Instagram account that I had no idea what to do with. I believe I started with a photo of our Springer Spaniel and left it at that. Out of curiosity, I posted a photo of what was in my glass that evening. It garnered interest. With subsequent posts, I started adding tasting notes, then made posts into reviews. I continued to work on my content. I renamed my account Whiskeyfellow.

 

Not long afterward, Bourbon & Banter was looking for new content contributors. Interested contestants had to submit a review of anything that wasn’t already in Bourbon & Banter’s somewhat vast catalog. I went with J. Henry & Sons Wisconsin Straight Bourbon as the Henrys were, at that time, an unknown entity. My review garnered enough attention, and I was invited to participate in the finalist round. I wrote about the basics of whiskey glassware, and that was enough to have me earn my permanent spot.

 

I wrote for Bourbon & Banter for several years and started self-publishing other whiskey reviews concurrently. Eventually, we parted ways (but on good terms). I had a friend, Perry Ritter (of This Is My Bourbon Podcast), design a whimsical logo, registered my business with the IRS and state, and, well, here we are. By the way, Perry is great if you want a graphic artist. 

 

So, anyway, I’m Jeff, a/k/a Whiskeyfellow, and now you know much of who I am and what I do. Cheers!