Blind Barrels Masterclass

Masterclass

Meet The Professor

Christian Ridout is the ‘Spirits Guide’ of Blind Barrels, hosting our Whiskey Masterclass, moderating our virtual tastings, and curating our tasting boxes. His goal is to help you better understand your taste and flavor preferences through our Blind Barrels program.

Christian dove head first into the whiskey hobby a decade ago, falling in love with America’s native spirit, and has since developed a passion for educating others and sharing its history. In 2016 he founded the Ventura Whiskey & Spirits Society, a local spirits group that focuses on exploring, learning and enjoying whiskey as well as expanding into a variety of spirit categories. In the last few years, Christian has become passionate about the bourgeoning craft spirits industry here in the US and is excited to share the stories of these distilleries producing high quality spirits from grain to glass.

Course Contents

01 Intro to Whiskey Masterclass

Welcome to the Blind Barrels Masterclass, where you’ll learn how to taste whiskey, discover whiskey’s recipe and the role in that taste, and the history behind it all.

02 Tasting Whiskey 101

Tasting whiskey is a whole different ballgame than merely drinking whiskey!
We’ll break down what to look for in every aspect of each dram.

03 Mashbill - Whiskey's Recipe

Sometimes thought of as a “recipe”, the mashbill is the breakdown of grains that goes into making your favorite whiskey unique! Think of it as the start of the DNA for each bottle.

04 Know Your Whiskey History

Like many tasting notes in fine whiskey, Whiskey History is deep and nuanced. We’ll start with the Irish monks who discovered it and journey through the rise in early American history, its decline in the 20th century amidst Prohibition and The Great Depression, and its rebirth in the 21st century.

Meet The Professor

Course Contents

Welcome to the Blind Barrels Masterclass, where you’ll learn how to taste whiskey, discover whiskey’s recipe and the role in that taste, and the history behind it all.

Tasting whiskey is a whole different ballgame than merely drinking whiskey! We’ll break down what to look for in every aspect of each dram.

Sometimes thought of as a “recipe”, the mashbill is the breakdown of grains that goes into making your favorite whiskey unique! Think of it as the start of the DNA for each bottle.

Tasting whiskey is a whole different ballgame than merely drinking whiskey!
We’ll break down what to look for in every aspect of each dram.