Selector Bios

Who is picking all these fantastic whiskeys?

This calendar started in 2017 by a few people in a cigar club on the way back from their annual golf trip. Each person in the group was asked to select two whiskeys to put in the calendar. As "My Whiskey Advent" grew beyond the cigar club, we introduced the scoring system. In 2021, we asked several people who placed pretty high on the scoreboard to select a whiskey for the following year's calendar. This year's pickers are listed below so you can get to know them a little better.

Allan Maule - Prior to choosing the two best whiskies in this year's Advent Calendar, Allan's most unexpected achievement was having his video game-inspired play EverScape produced in the New York Fringe Festival. Allan lives in Durham and writes all kinds of things, sometimes for money. His favorite bird is the brown thrasher.

Derek Glunz - Derek "Quotes" Glunz grew up in Charlotte, went to NC State and now lives in Philadelphia with his wife & three kids.  He is tall and good at math. His house bourbon is Four Roses yellow label but loves to dabble in Suntory Japanese single malts on occasion

Erin Kraftchick

Greg Baur

James Hatfield - Bad golfer, good father, ok husband, good stock picker, ok tech guy, entrepreneur, great smoker of meats, great lawn mower, and best of all, great whiskey picker.

James Hopkins - James is a fun person that Loves Scotch, will drink Bourbon, and struggles to understand other whiskeys. He enjoys 3-day weekends, cigars, food, and friends. He has never come close to placing in the top 5...or 50% of this advent calendar—and he's okay with that. He's here for the whiskey. His cigar club refers to him as Tubs—his 3 Core Values are Gratitude, Interdependence and Hope.

John McDowell

Jonathan (Cory) Kraftchick

Josh Mitchell

Mark Peters

Matt Atkins

Matt Eagle

Nate Knuffman