What's Whiskey Beat?

A Manifesto for a Newsletter Redux

Let’s clear something up: no, I have no idea how I got your email, either.

My guess is this:

At some point in the last 3-5 years, you signed up to receive a newsletter from me. Maybe you saw the link in an email signature, maybe a friend forwarded you a previous newsletter.

As is typical, I’m a little behind deadline.

What is Whiskey Beat?

I’ve promised a return of the Whiskey Beat “weekly review” email for years—and never delivered. The last blast was sent out so long ago that whiskey distilled the same day may very well be in bottles on a shelf behind you—it may even taste good. 

Master distillers will tell you that time has a way of enhancing whiskey—rounding the edges and deepening its characteristics, like properly applied oil brings out wood grain—until it’s just right. I’m trusting that maybe the time away has enhanced what I can deliver, as well.

I’m hoping this newsletter will be the same—better, “right” after the passage of some time. 

Where We’re Going from Here

Whiskey Beat was always meant to be a way to provide context on what’s happening in the whiskey world, along the lines of the New York Times’ “What We’re Reading” newsletter, but for people who are obsessed with a certain subset of brown liquors.

The format will change from what you may remember, but that idea will stay the same.

Here’s a brief list of things you’ll see on the Whiskey Beat platform in the near future:

• The return of my Friday reading list.

• Essays about whatever the hell I want.

• Cut for time content from Q&As and interviews I’ve done.

• Some original writing, shortly, from other voices in the field.

What I Need From You

For the time being, there won’t be a subscription model for this. Instead, I’ll eventually post a donation/funding space, somewhere, for voluntary contributions from anyone who thinks they’re getting value from this content.

That money will go to paying some other writers and thinkers on the subject of whiskey to contribute their ideas. But you don’t get into the newsletter business to make money—you get into the newsletter business to engage people.

But for now, enjoy the ride.

My only ask is this: tell someone else to subscribe.

If you’ve liked my work for Men’s Journal, Maxim, Southern Living, Bourbon Plus, Bourbon Review, Whiskey Wash, Esquire, Playboy or anywhere else, you can expect the same, but uncut and unfiltered (because I don’t currently have a proofreader).

There’s more to come this week.

Things may be a little rough at first, but I can promise you this: it’s only going to get better with time.