Robin Robinson

Robin Robinson is a noted educator and veteran of the whiskey industry. His whiskey class at New York City's renowned Astor Center, "Whiskey Smackdown" was the longest running whiskey class in the US, running 11 straight years up to the start of the Covid shutdown. He has since adapted the class as a virtual tasting program ("The Story of Whiskey: 60 minutes of bad standup comedy punctuated by drinking") that is marketed to financial and tech corporations across the country. He runs a boutique sales/marketing consultancy focused on start up brands, specializing in narrative construction, distributor management and sales/marketing methodology. Prior to this, he spent 6 years as the national sales and brand representative for Compass Box Whiskey, and prior to that was in the tech sector for many years as a sales representative for various Silicon Valley startups. He runs a 2 day intensive "Route-to-Market" class for Moonshine University in Louisville, KY, and has been a featured presenter on spirits, whiskey and sales at Tales of the Cocktail, BarConventBerlin, ACSA and ADI.

The Complete Whiskey Course: A Comprehensive Tasting School in Ten Lessons, is a definitive and comprehensive look at the entire world of whiskey. The book is broken into 10 "classes", ranging from its history and production; to how to taste and nose whiskey; to coverage of whiskey making and its makers in every corner of the world - US, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Japan and the burgeoning "world" whiskey sector. Over 175 whiskies and distilleries are profiled throughout, along with sections on food pairings, glassware, running your own whiskey tasting, top whiskey bars and additional sources of whiskey knowledge in print and on the internet. It has been described as "a must read..." by Whiskey Advocate; "comprehensive and definitive" by Thrillist; and "can serve as a substitute for half a dozen books on world whiskey" by The Whiskey Reviewer. It won the 2020 Gourmand Award (US) for Spirits Education; and is listed in the #2 spot for "Best Whiskey Books of All Time" by BookAuthority.