Tracie Franklin

I'm excited about the conversations and experiments happening in the bread lab around increasing diversity of grain for different climates, which is better for the farmer and requiring less chemicals.
 
Transcript: "What's a topic in your field right now that you are excited about? I am always excited about grain. I had the opportunity to go to Westland Whiskey and work with Matt Hoffman, who is the master distiller there, and he took me to the Bread Lab. The Bread Lab is where they are actually doing wonderful experiments to really understand how you can increase the diversity of grain currently. So they are in Seattle, Washington, and they are ensuring that they are producing all different types of grain that works for that climate. And helping other places around the United States also be able to produce grain that is great for their climate, which means you use less chemicals on your grain and it's much more suited for the soil and better for the farmer. It might cost a little more, but it's a really wonderful thing that we should all be thinking about. I really love the talks and conversations we are having around grain."

Bottle shape contributes to protecting the whiskey or spirit from damage and changing the flavor due to heat. It is mostly an aesthetic thing as we don't drink out of the bottle, but pour the whiskey into a glass.
 
Transcript: "Does bottle shape contribute anything more than aesthetics? Well, the only other way that it really impacts the whiskey or spirit is if it is a colored glass. So sometimes you will see there's a green glass or a dark brown glass. That is in order to protect the actual spirit that is inside of that barrel. Sun can cause damage in spirits and can change the flavor, the heat as well. So that would be the only way that a bottle does anything besides aesthetic things, actually. Especially because we don't drink out of the bottle, we pour it into a glass. So for us in whiskey, it is definitely an aesthetic thing."

I go inside and meditate to gain insight and guidance from the ancestors and to look for signs that I'm on the right path.
 
Transcript: "So, where do I go for inspiration? I actually have been working more to go inside. I've been really working to meditate a little bit more, to calm my mind, to allow my gut, my heart, the ancestors to kind of guide what's coming next in my life. I had some difficulties, some illnesses that have caused for my life to be a little bit more painful than it was prior, and honestly, I just, I look for signs that I'm doing the right thing, that I'm on the right path, and that comes from silence, and it comes from inside. So, that's where I go."

I'm Tracy Franklin, a whiskey expert and consultant with experience in drinking, distilling, bartending and teaching. I want to make spirits more approachable for everyone.
 
Transcript: "Hi, my name is Tracy Franklin, also known as Spirited Tracy, and I have been in the whiskey industry for quite a long time. I started out first, of course, just drinking it, loving it, then became an ambassador, and then I actually toured the United States studying to distill. And now I have the opportunity to teach, to help make whiskey, and work as a consultant. I was a bartender in a former life, this former life, of course. So I am really expertise in spirits, in making alcohol and flavor profiles, cocktails. I just really love spirits and hope to make them a little bit more approachable for you. That's all."