Meet the Man Building the Next Era of American Single Malt Whiskey

Like many people, Stranahan’s American Single Malt Whiskey's Head Blender Justin Aden had a life-changing epiphany in Paris. For a couple of years during his childhood his family lived in France. After watching the adults come alive when they enjoyed good food and drinks, he knew he knew he wanted to make whiskey. 

“I could feel the energy and the enthusiasm,” he says. “I saw at a young age that this lights up a room.” 

But he didn’t grow up in a famous whiskey family whose name has been on bottles for decades.