🎙️ Ep. 138 - JOHN PAWLUK OF TWISTED COW: Distilling Curiosity and Asking ”Why?”

GUEST: John Pawluk (Twisted Cow Distillery Founder and Distiller)

Some distillers master tradition. Others ask why the tradition exists in the first place. In this episode, Drew Hannush sits down with Twisted Cow founder and distiller John Pawluk, whose gift of curiosity has led him to challenge long-held assumptions about fermentation, copper, grain, barrel aging, and flavor development. There is plenty of discussion around one of John's favorite tools for stretching his abilities-the iStill. Enjoy this return to long-form discussions about why and how whiskey is made. It's a fascinating look inside the mind of a whiskey maker who refuses to accept "because that's how it's always been done."

In This Episode

• Why curiosity drives better whiskey
• Building flavor before the barrel
• Rethinking copper's role
• The science of fermentation
• Why grain origin matters
• Stone mills versus hammer mills
• Barrel proof and flavor evolution
• Learning from tradition, not following it
• Experimenting with blue corn and heirloom grains
• Creating a distillery built for discovery

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