This story is from an installment of The Oeno Files, our weekly insider newsletter to the world of fine wine.

Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each

It started with the artists. Seafaring Ligurians, Roman imperialists, Genoese shipbuilders, and aristocratic health seekers had all trodden its sands