Wine geeks are familiar with the concept of terroir. Broadly speaking, the term encompasses the sum of all the agricultural and environmental factors that go into the makeup of a wine: soil, elevation, drainage, temperature and weather patterns, etc. The same holds true with spirits. Kentucky Bourbon is unique because of the limestone aquifer that runs underneath the Bourbon Trail. Single malt Scotch also earns its distinction from its water source, and in some cases from proximity to the coastline.

Nowhere is this more apparent than with Old Pulteney, the northernmost distillery in Scotland. It is located on an isolated, windswept part of the coast, and the salt air plays a vital role in the character of the spirits made there. Last week we reviewed their 12 Year Old, Navigator malt, and their whisky liqueur called Stroma.

In Glass Half Full, our weekly roundup of the most interesting food, wine and spirits stories on the web, we examined the phenomenon of vegetarian grizzly bears, explore the growing tendency to brew beer with cannabis, and focused on the most dangerous and pressing national security issue of them all: the impending shortage of chicken wings.

Here are last week's posts:

Old Pulteney: The Maritime Malt

Glass Half Full: 8/31/2017