Wine 101
Corks
Natural cork comes from cork oak bark. Cork, screw caps and synthetic closures offer different costs and ways to manage oxygen exposure. Store cork-sealed wine on its side to help keep the cork moist and the seal intact.
Learn the industry
Think outside the barrel.
There's more to this industry than what's inside the bottle. You don't have to make whiskey to work in whiskey. The walls are invisible until you're inside; consider this the tour. Nobody gets kept out for not knowing a word.
The library
Plain-language explainers.
We only link to articles that are written and reviewed. Nothing here is a placeholder.
Whiskey 101
Proof, ABV and What "Barrel Proof" Actually Means
Three numbers on a label, one idea underneath them.
TMOWSA · 2026-09-20
Read →Whiskey 101
Bourbon, Tennessee Whiskey, and the Rules That Separate Them
Every bourbon is a whiskey. Not every whiskey is a bourbon. And Tennessee whiskey adds one more step.
TMOWSA · 2026-09-20
Read →Behind the Business
What a Distributor Actually Does
The middle tier is where most brands live or die, and almost nobody explains it.
TMOWSA · 2026-09-20
Read →Behind the Business
How a Bottle Gets on a Shelf
From label approval to the moment somebody picks it up.
TMOWSA · 2026-09-20
Read →Behind the Bottle
Glass, Cork, Label, Barrel: Who Makes the Rest of the Bottle
The liquid is one supplier. Everything around it is a dozen more.
TMOWSA · 2026-09-20
Read →Careers
You Don't Have to Make Whiskey to Work in Whiskey
The industry is much wider than the still.
TMOWSA · 2026-09-20
Read →Wine 101
How to Read a Wine Label
Producer, place, grape, vintage — and which of those the label is legally required to tell you.
TMOWSA · 2026-09-20
Read →Spirits 101
How Agave Spirits Are Made
Tequila and mezcal start in a field that took years to be ready.
TMOWSA · 2026-09-20
Read →Whiskey 101
Sour Mash
Some spent mash from a previous distillation is added to a new batch to help keep fermentation consistent. Think of a sourdough starter as an analogy. It is not about the whiskey tasting sour.
Whiskey 101
The Three Finger Pour
An informal whiskey pour roughly as high as three fingers laid against the glass. Glass shape and hand size change the amount, so it is a casual pour, not a standard measure. Sip responsibly.
Behind the Bottle
Second Lives for Empty Bottles
Recycle empty glass bottles where local services accept them. Clean bottles can also become vases, candle holders, lamps or homes for string lights. Use suitable holders for candles and purpose-built kits for lamps.
Glossary 01 · 2 terms
Behind the Bar
- Three-finger pour
- An informal measure: whiskey poured to the height of three fingers laid flat against the side of the glass. Roughly three ounces, depending on the hand and the glass.
- Old bar shorthand from before jiggers were standard. One finger is a taste; three is a conversation.
- Neat
- A spirit served at room temperature with nothing added. No ice, no water, no mixer.
- The way to meet a whiskey for the first time. Add a drop of water after to see how it opens up.
Glossary 02 · 4 terms
In the Barrel
- Mashbill
- The recipe of grains used to make a whiskey, given as percentages. For example: 75% corn, 15% wheat, 5% rye, 5% malted barley.
- Corn brings sweetness, rye brings spice, wheat brings softness. Read the mashbill and you can guess the taste before the pour.
- Bourbon
- An American whiskey made from at least 51% corn, aged in new charred oak containers, distilled to no more than 160 proof, entered into the barrel at no more than 125 proof, and bottled at 80 proof or higher. Nothing may be added but water.
- It does not have to come from Kentucky. It has to come from the United States.
- Tennessee whiskey
- Meets every requirement of bourbon, is made in Tennessee, and is filtered through sugar-maple charcoal before aging. That last step is called the Lincoln County Process.
- Tennessee state law has defined it since 2013.
Glossary 03 · 6 terms
In the Bottle
- Proof
- In the U.S., proof is exactly twice the alcohol by volume. An 80-proof spirit is 40% ABV; a 90-proof bourbon is 45% ABV.
- Legend says the British navy would test rum by soaking gunpowder in it. If it still lit, the spirit was 'proved.'
- Small batch
- Whiskey blended from a limited, selected number of barrels rather than a large run. There is no legal definition; each producer sets its own number.
- Cork
- The bark of the cork oak tree, mostly harvested in Portugal and Spain. The bark is stripped by hand every nine years or so without harming the tree, which can live two centuries.
- Someone has to make the corks, the glass, the labels, the boxes, and the barrels. Every one of those is a business.
- Tannins
- Natural compounds from grape skins, seeds, stems, and oak barrels that give wine its drying, grippy texture. Measured in a wine's tech sheet alongside acidity and pH.
- That slight pull on your gums after a sip of red? That's tannin.
- Bourbon-barrel aged wine
- Wine finished in barrels that previously held bourbon. The used oak lends vanilla, caramel, and a rounder body to the wine.
- A whiskey barrel can only be used once for bourbon. Wine, rum, beer, and hot sauce all get a turn afterward.
- Mezcal vs. tequila
- Both are agave spirits from Mexico. Tequila must be made from blue Weber agave in specific regions, mostly Jalisco. Mezcal can be made from dozens of agave varieties, traditionally cooked in earthen pits, which gives it its smoke.
- All tequila is technically a kind of mezcal. Not all mezcal is tequila.
Glossary 04 · 2 terms
Culture
- Three-tier system
- The U.S. alcohol distribution structure created after Prohibition: producers sell to distributors, distributors sell to retailers, retailers sell to you. In most states a brand cannot legally skip a tier.
- This is the wall founders hit first. Without a distributor, a brand can't reach a shelf. This is why access matters.
- Pour one out
- Pouring a small amount of a drink on the ground in memory of someone who has passed. A libation, one of the oldest rituals in the world, practiced across African, Caribbean, and American traditions.
- Spirits have always been about the people in the room and the people who aren't.
Careers
You don't have to make whiskey to work in whiskey.
Logistics, compliance, design, hospitality, sales, law, photography, events, writing. The industry is bigger than the still. We publish explainers, not job listings.
“You may start a cork company. You may want to be a distributor, design boxes, become a broker, grow grapes, design custom barrels. Think outside the barrel.”
Jason RidgelCreate an
Opportunity.
Stock a brand. Book a tasting. Hire a founder. Pour one at your bar. Opportunity is a thing you make, not a thing you wait for.
Create an Opportunity