Clay Risen, is a reporter at The New York Times and the author of the forthcoming book Bourbon: The Story of Kentucky Whiskey. A leading authority on whiskey, he writes extensively on the subject for the Times and other outlets, and has written three previous books, including The Impossible Collection of Whiskey, Single Malt: A Guide to the Whiskies of Scotland and the bestselling American Whiskey, Bourbon and Rye: A Guide to the Nation’s Favorite Spirit. When he’s not writing about whiskey, he writes about American history, including, most recently, The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century.
A graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and the University of Chicago, Risen grew up in Nashville and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two young children. (photo credit Kate Milford)