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Tom Wilmes

Tom Wilmes is a journalist based in central Kentucky, specializing in bourbon and other spirits. A contributor for Garden & Gun, he has also written for Whiskey Advocate, The Local Palate, Southbound, and various other publications. Follow @kentuckydrinks on Instagram.

A priest and Pope Francis. Pope Francis holds bottles of bourbon and signs them

Arts & Culture

That would be thanks to Father Jim Sichko (and yes, it’s for a good cause). Read our interview with the Kentucky priest.

Marci Palatella and others with the award.

Drinks

A pioneer in the industry, Marci Palatella and her Pure Antique took best-of-the-best honors at this year’s massive San Francisco World Spirits Competition. And that’s not all she’s got in store.

Three bottles of whiskey.

Drinks

These bottles proved they can hang with the big boys at this year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition

A bottle of bourbon with a partly filled glass on a table

Food & Drink

Distillers in search of distinctive flavors are experimenting with heirloom and locally grown ingredients in their bourbons and other whiskeys. These recent releases bring a taste of place.

A woman holds a brown poodle dog

Food & Drink

Meet Star, a new face around the Maker’s Mark farm in Loretto, Kentucky

An asian man with a beard wearing a blue button up shirt standing in front of a wood door.

Food & Drink

The author and restaurateur on his new bourbon-centered cookbook, Kentucky’s whiskey landscape, and why labels aren’t everything

a wood background with 10 bottles of bourbon surrounding a book.

Arts & Culture

Aaron Goldfarb, the author of the new book Dusty Booze, on an impossible-to-find rum, the search for Howard Hughes’ stash, and why vintage bourbons are better

A bottle pours bourbon into a glass cup a person is holding.

Travel

Bourbon and music, bourbon in the Big Easy, bourbon meets Kevin Bacon—see what’s flowing at these upcoming events

A bottle of bourbon on a wood barrel

Food & Drink

These recently released bottles offer value and versatility for bourbon fans

A man wearing a black vest and hat golds a whiskey sour at a black-topped bar. Walls of bottles are tucked into shelves behind him.

Travel

A spirited jaunt through the heart of Bluegrass State reveals its growing whiskey landscape

People at a table laugh and drink bourbon and take notes

Food & Drink

Master taster Melissa Rift on getting to know a new bourbon: “Meet yourself where you are”

Food & Drink

A few thoughts—and some science—on the proper care and handling of good bourbon

Travel

Race days are great, but the real magic happens off the track

Food & Drink

After the terrorist attacks upended his life, Georgia native Michael Myers poured his passion into creating Distillery 291

Travel

What to do and see in Central Kentucky’s defining city

A lineup of five bottles of bourbon on a wood cask top

Food & Drink

The young Augusta Distillery notched a huge win at this year’s prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and it’s helping to revitalize this small Kentucky river town

Food & Drink

A new line from Weller, a honey-infused sipper from Texas, and more bottles that explore bourbon’s softer side

Food & Drink

New Butchertown restaurant arrives from the team behind a sorely missed mainstay

Travel

As the bourbon boom surges on, Louisville buzzes with new energy

Travel

Bourbon is booming, and nowhere more so than in Kentucky’s second-oldest city, a small town that pours on the hospitality