If you want to hear from someone with a wealth of whiskey/whisky knowledge, an incredible story and career, and an infectious passion for spirits, you can't do better than Holly Seidewand, who co-owns a fantastic retail whisky shop called First Fill Spirits in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. with Charles Grabitzky, which focuses on independent bottlings and new-whisky producing regions of the world.

Holly has traveled all over the world visiting, studying, and writing about distilleries, and has documented over 150 distilleries including distilleries in Japan, the USA, Scotland, Ireland, Tasmania, and more. She worked at Knockdhu Distiller (anCnoc) under distillery manager Gordon Bruce in the Highlands of Scotland, was on the Bacardi Single Malts team as the North American Brand Ambassador, and holds a General Certificate in Distillation from the Institute of Brewing & Distilling, Scotland. 

We had SO much fun talking to Holly and only scratched the surface of what she had to offer. You can find Holly at her store (https://www.firstfillspirits.com/) and her blog (https://www.herwhiskylove.com/), and make sure to subscribe to her and Charles' podcast, It's Whiskey #FFS (https://open.spotify.com/show/2y1PxWAm63xL8sl1cDHy9e?si=d43dd77363074287).

As always, please email us with any comments/questions/suggestions at thespiritedenthusiast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @spiritedenthusiast, and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode! We have many more episodes launching soon that we can't wait for you to hear. And please share with anyone - spirits novices and enthusiasts alike!

*The music used to introduce Holly is from her podcast and was written by Isaac Joel Goldenseal.