About The Distiller's Dispatch

Staff

• Aurelio Mena-Vásquez

  Founding Editor

  Former mezcalero from Oaxaca turned investigative spirits journalist who writes 8,000-word pieces on single topics — a particular yeast strain, one distillery's water source, the cooperage supply chain — and somehow makes every one of them urgent. His series on terroir in corn varieties won an IACP award and changed how three distilleries source grain.

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  Former mezcalero from Oaxaca turned investigative spirits journalist who writes 8,000-word pieces on single topics — a particular yeast strain, one distillery's water source, the cooperage supply chain — and somehow makes every one of them urgent. His series on terroir in corn varieties won an IACP award and changed how three distilleries source grain.

• Declan 'Still Life' Moriarty

  Standards Correspondent

  Third-generation poitín maker from West Cork who learned distilling was illegal approximately one week after he learned it was the family business. Covers craft distilling, home distilling culture, and regulatory absurdity with the cheerful fatalism of a man who's been raided twice. His sources are impeccable and entirely anonymous.

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  Third-generation poitín maker from West Cork who learned distilling was illegal approximately one week after he learned it was the family business. Covers craft distilling, home distilling culture, and regulatory absurdity with the cheerful fatalism of a man who's been raided twice. His sources are impeccable and entirely anonymous.

• Desiree Laughlin

  Civic Affairs Desk

  Stand-up comedian and whiskey enthusiast whose column 'The Tails End' treats the absurdities of spirits culture — allocated bottle hunting, tater behavior, influencer tastings — as the richest comedy material since airline food. Has been banned from two whiskey festivals and invited back to both.

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  Stand-up comedian and whiskey enthusiast whose column 'The Tails End' treats the absurdities of spirits culture — allocated bottle hunting, tater behavior, influencer tastings — as the richest comedy material since airline food. Has been banned from two whiskey festivals and invited back to both.

• Hamish Caskwell

  Culture Columnist

  Former cooperage foreman from Speyside who quit after thirty-two years because 'the new lads don't char right.' Now writes about traditional distilling methods with the quiet fury of a man watching his life's work get focus-grouped. Refuses to review anything aged less than twelve years.

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  Former cooperage foreman from Speyside who quit after thirty-two years because 'the new lads don't char right.' Now writes about traditional distilling methods with the quiet fury of a man watching his life's work get focus-grouped. Refuses to review anything aged less than twelve years.

• Jordan Xu

  Field Reporter

  Former tech PM from Seattle who discovered bourbon during a corporate retreat and quit to open a micro-distillery that has yet to release a single bottle. Writes about the craft distilling startup experience with the breathless intensity of someone who just discovered that grain costs money. Accidentally asks the most revealing questions in the industry.

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  Former tech PM from Seattle who discovered bourbon during a corporate retreat and quit to open a micro-distillery that has yet to release a single bottle. Writes about the craft distilling startup experience with the breathless intensity of someone who just discovered that grain costs money. Accidentally asks the most revealing questions in the industry.

• Marjorie Tench-Holloway

  Letters Editor

  Retired history professor from the University of Kentucky whose book 'Distilled Republic: Whiskey and the American Experiment' is cited in every bourbon documentary she considers beneath her. Covers the deep history of spirits with the serene authority of someone who has read the primary sources and found them wanting. Considers anything after Prohibition 'current events.'

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  Retired history professor from the University of Kentucky whose book 'Distilled Republic: Whiskey and the American Experiment' is cited in every bourbon documentary she considers beneath her. Covers the deep history of spirits with the serene authority of someone who has read the primary sources and found them wanting. Considers anything after Prohibition 'current events.'

• Priya Varanasi

  Institutional Memory Desk

  Chemical engineer turned spirits writer who brings gas chromatography readouts to tastings the way some people bring wine. Covers the science of fermentation, distillation cuts, and flavor chemistry with an evangelical belief that if you can't measure it, you're guessing. Her column 'Proof Positive' has been called 'unreadable' and 'the only honest thing in spirits journalism.'

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  Chemical engineer turned spirits writer who brings gas chromatography readouts to tastings the way some people bring wine. Covers the science of fermentation, distillation cuts, and flavor chemistry with an evangelical belief that if you can't measure it, you're guessing. Her column 'Proof Positive' has been called 'unreadable' and 'the only honest thing in spirits journalism.'

• Ray Muñoz

  Weekend Editor

  Twenty-six-year veteran of the bourbon industry who has worked distillery floors, bottling lines, and tasting panels, and now writes about all three with the tender exhaustion of a man who has tasted ten thousand barrels and remembers every bad one. His column 'Angel's Take' is beloved for saying what brand ambassadors won't.

  Read full bio

  Twenty-six-year veteran of the bourbon industry who has worked distillery floors, bottling lines, and tasting panels, and now writes about all three with the tender exhaustion of a man who has tasted ten thousand barrels and remembers every bad one. His column 'Angel's Take' is beloved for saying what brand ambassadors won't.

• Sable Fontaine

  Public Records Fellow

  Former sommelier and cocktail bar owner from New Orleans who writes about whiskey from the perspective of someone who serves it, not someone who makes it. Covers blending, cocktail applications, and the consumer experience with a bartender's eye for what actually happens when the bottle opens. Finds single-barrel worship amusing.

  Read full bio

  Former sommelier and cocktail bar owner from New Orleans who writes about whiskey from the perspective of someone who serves it, not someone who makes it. Covers blending, cocktail applications, and the consumer experience with a bartender's eye for what actually happens when the bottle opens. Finds single-barrel worship amusing.

• Tomáš Říha

  Copy Chief

  Czech-born spirits writer who came to whiskey through slivovitz and now covers world distilling traditions — mezcal, shōchū, rakı, grappa — through the lens of what they reveal about whiskey's assumptions. Professionally disagrees with the idea that Scotch and bourbon are the only conversations worth having. Fluent in five languages and dismissive in all of them.

  Read full bio

  Czech-born spirits writer who came to whiskey through slivovitz and now covers world distilling traditions — mezcal, shōchū, rakı, grappa — through the lens of what they reveal about whiskey's assumptions. Professionally disagrees with the idea that Scotch and bourbon are the only conversations worth having. Fluent in five languages and dismissive in all of them.