Writing For Whisky Advocate About ... Tequila

It’s my barrel-aged tequila article, in the Summer 2025 PRINT edition of Whisky Advocate — on newsstands now! (Photo by me)

This is one of the few occasions where I’m not posting a link to an article I’ve written. In this case, there’s no link to post, because for the time being, it’s only available in the Summer 2025 print edition of Whisky Advocate. It’s a fine mag if you’re into whisky, and it would be worth picking up even if I wasn’t in it, but since I AM in it… well, it’s downright essential!

Whisky Advocate isn’t solely a whisky mag anymore. The category has shown some slippage in the past couple of years, and expenses to put out a quarterly print publication (plus all the online content) isn’t getting any cheaper. So every issue now features a section on tequila, which is still selling like gangbusters despite all the mediocre brands launched by two-bit celebs. And that’s what my latest article is about. Tequila, I mean, not two-bit celebs.

I was actually approached to write the article, on barrel-aged tequilas, back in 2022, for what was intended (I think) to be a one-time special tequila section. Or maybe it was a test-drive in preparation for a permanent tequila section, I don’t know. Anyway, the article was written (it was supposed to be two separate articles, but they were, wisely in my opinion, combined into one), laid out, sent to me for final approval… and it wound up not running, given the boot at the last possible minute due to lack of space (a problem rarely encountered nowadays — there’s always more room online). The check cleared, so I wasn’t too upset, but I was a sad about not getting to see my byline in print. I write dozens of online articles for every one I see in print, so it’s a rare treat.

Fast forward to this spring. My editor at WA reached out and said, heyyyy, remember that article you wrote for us three years ago? Don’t suppose you could check it and update it where necessary? My time had finally come. And at last, you can read it! So what are you waiting for? Head to your newsstand!