"You've Got To Eat The Barrels": Talking With An Alabama Bourbon Pioneer

A couple of years ago, Nino Marchetti at The Whiskey Wash asked me to interview Seth Dettling, a distiller in Alabama who’d recently launched Dettling Bourbon, a brand I’d never heard of. Seth turned out to be a very fun and engaging guy, and he wound up giving me one of my favorite quotes of all time, which you’ve already read above. The bourbon turned out to be excellent, too — despite being bottled at 80 proof, it’s a rich, flavorful whiskey, thanks to the unconventional mashbill as well as the Southern climate in which it’s aged. Since the article ran, Seth has added a cask strength edition of his bourbon, and he belatedly added a website. I’m not sure how widely available Dettling is at this point, but if you encounter a bottle, it’s worth picking one up. In the meantime, check out my article for Whiskey Wash.