NOLADrinks Show – 11-5-18 – Jason Johnstone-Yellin of One Nation Under Whisky and Tujague’s 100th Anniversary of the Grasshopper

On this week’s installment of The NOLADrinks Show with Bryan Dias, we welcome Jason Johnstone-Yellin of Single Cask Nation and co-host of the popular podcast, “One Nation Under Whisky.” We talk about the show as well as working as in independent bottler in the Scotch and whisky world. We also have a special feature celebrating the 100th anniversary of the famed Grasshopper cocktail at Tujague’s, where it was created.

Pictured above from left – Bryan Dias of The NOLADrinks Show and Jason Johnstone-Yellin of Under Nation Under Whisky and Single Cask Nation.

NOLADrinks Show – 11-5-18 – Jason Johnstone-Yellin of One Nation Under Whisky and Tujague’s 100th Anniversary of the Grasshopper

We kick things off with a brief intro of this week’s show and touch on the South African Wine Week happening at venues around the New Orleans area beginning Wednesday.

Next up, we have our featured interview with Jason Johnstone-Yellin. Jason is the co-owner of Single Cask Nation, an independent bottler of whisky, with an emphasis on Scotch. We talk about some of the rare whiskeys they produce – certain expressions produced by noted distilleries (some are named and some are not, due to contractual reasons) – that may not be what you are used to from them.

We taste several examples of these delicious, but limited products, with many reaching levels of production of mere hundreds of bottles. It’s a fascinating business that works in an interesting fashion with the larger, mainstream whisky industry.

Jason is also the co-host, along with his partner in Single Cask Nation, Joshua Hatton, of the popular podcast, “One Nation Under Whisky.” We discuss the show, which often features guest from the large whisky world talking about their favorite spirit.

We close out the first part of the show with a very special segment from Tujague’s, the second oldest restaurant in New Orleans located in the French Quarter. We’re there to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the iconic cocktail, the Grasshopper!

We interview proprietor, Mark Latter, about the drink and talk about the history of this family-run restaurant established in 1856. We also head down to the bar where bartender, Cameron Vile, demos for us how to make a Grasshopper. You can catch this segment, of course, on the podcast, but you can also see the interview and demo on our Instagram TV (IGTV) channel found @NOLADrinks!

Them, Jason returns for our podcast-only portion of the show – “Another Shot with NOLADrinks” – where we discuss the nature of the independent bottling industry with insight into much of how it works. Whisky fans will want to hear this!

Thanks to Spirit Wine for hosting us for the interview with Jason!

Last up is our “Parting Shot” where we discuss the idea of helping folks exploring the world of drink and not tearing them down!

You can subscribe to, stream, and download The NOLADrinks Show podcast using the links and player at the top of the post. The map below shows the locations of Tujague’s and Spirit Wine.

Cheers, You All!

~ Bryan