When the name Joshua Hatton surfaces, it doesn’t arrive quietly, it rings out loud and true. You think of the man first: devoted husband, proud father, a Jewish identity worn with grace and intention, a lover of music, cats, and the low‑end thunder of a bass guitar. Then the other side kicks the door in. Kimono Draggin’ (his mutant punk laboratory) where Joshua wields his bass like an alien device gifted to him from another planet, shaking loose colors the human eye wasn’t designed to see. And just when you think you’ve mapped the man, you remember the part that reshaped the whisky world.
He is the co‑founder of Single Cask Nation, alongside the equally legendary Jason Johnstone‑Yellen and in partnership with Jess Lomas, whose presence is nothing short of catalytic. Under the banner of the Jewish Whisky Company, they’ve built a constellation: the Whisky Jewbilee festival, the One Nation Under Whisky podcast, and hundreds upon hundreds of independently bottled casks that have become sacred texts for whisky obsessives under the Single Cask Nation label. Their impact on whisky mirrors what Dischord Records did for American punk: a ground‑zero uprising forged from DIY grit, uncompromising vision, and a refusal to wait for permission. Punk had Minor Threat, Fugazi, Dag Nasty. Whisky has Single Cask Nation, and it is a movement already mythologized, yet still in its opening chapters.
We’ve spoken with Joshua before at Whiskey Network, but never like this. This time, we’re flipping the record over and dropping the needle on the other side… the side where whisky wisdom collides with musical mayhem. Where the careful craft of Single Cask Nation meets the wild, technicolor chaos of Kimono Draggin’. Where the man behind the casks reveals the artist behind the noise.
This is a two‑sided concept album of an interview. Strap on your headphones. Turn the volume past safe levels. Let the whisky glow and the punk snarl guide you in.
An Unlikely Beginning
A whisky journey often begins in youth, shaped by half‑remembered aromas and the influence of elders. Patterns emerge, familiar stories repeat. Joshua Hatton breaks that pattern. His earliest memories of whisky do not come from adolescence or early adulthood. They arrive in his thirties, long after most enthusiasts have already formed their foundational tastes. In the punk world, there were two paths. One reveled in self‑destructive rebellion, a lifestyle that produced unforgettable stories but often burned too hot. The other was straight edge, a movement built on clarity, discipline, and a refusal to dull the senses. Its followers abstained from alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs. You could spot them instantly at a show, hands marked with a black X, minds sharp and focused.
Joshua recalls this era with unmistakable pride. He says, “My earliest memories of whisky aren’t very early because I didn’t start drinking it until I was in my thirties. I was a straight edge kid and adult. ‘Straight edge forever!’ was my calling and I have the three X’s tattooed on my leg to prove it.” Eventually, life shifted. A beer here, a martini there. Nothing dramatic. When he and his wife were preparing to welcome their first child, something changed. Not causation, he notes, but correlation. His curiosity about whisky began to stir. At an event at their synagogue, after a service, a congregant shared a few bottles. This moment became the spark that lit the fuse.
The unnamed hero in this story asked Joshua what flavors he preferred. Sweet, spicy, or smoky. Joshua had no idea that whisky could be smoky, so the choice was made. His first pour was Lagavulin 16. It hit him with the force of a needle dropping on a record that would change your life. He says, “It was like returning to camp with my dad. The smell and the flavor is what drew me in. The way whisky brings back memories as a sensory experience was intriguing to me.” In Jewish tradition, sharing is an act of community. It is a way of living fully, of binding people together through generosity and experience.
So thank you to this unnamed hero for igniting one of the great origin stories in modern whisky. Lagavulin 16 is a bold first pour for any novice, and in Joshua’s case, it opened the door to a world he would eventually help reshape.
Flavors and Stories
A palate never stands still. It grows, shifts, and deepens as the years pass, and Joshua’s journey is no exception. Peated whisky remains a love of his, yet the smoke has moved into the background. Other notes rise to the surface and reveal themselves with time. He says, “I will pour an Octomore or something like that and marvel over the fruit and leather notes. My wife across the room and asking what is on fire.” It is a perfect snapshot of how whisky evolves and how the people around us become part of the experience.
Our conversation drifts into how he sets the scene for enjoying whisky. One of his favorite rituals is simple. He spins records and lets the music and the dram shape the moment. After twenty years together, his wife has begun to explore whisky as well. They sit together, put on albums, and taste their way through different drams. He says, “It is not about an album fitting a specific whisky. I am not putting on South of Heaven by Slayer and pairing it only with Ardbeg.” The point is not precision. The point is presence.
There are times, however, when the moment demands a specific whisky. He explains, “If I am going hiking, I know that I am going to bring peated whisky because that is what the scenario requires. That is the mood that fits the setting.” Whisky is versatile. It can create the mood or respond to it. If you are enjoying the whisky, that is what matters.
A life lived near whisky collects stories, and we always ask for one to be shared. Being at the forefront of the independent bottling world creates a certain aura. Single Cask Nation devotees are passionate, loyal, and endlessly curious. All of that energy becomes a library of memories. Joshua pauses, lost in thought, and then his face brightens as the right story rises to the surface.
The story begins on Islay in 2019 at Lagavulin. It spirals upward into something almost mythic. He says, “I was with Jess Lomas from Single Cask Nation and her partner Chris and we were celebrating a mutual thirtieth birthday. We did the tour at the distillery with Pinky, the legendary Iain McArthur. He treated us to a very special cask meant for a special bottling at his retirement. It was a forty-seven-year-old Lagavulin cask. He told me to tip my head back and poured it directly into my mouth. I just let it sit there and thought about it all. I am on Islay on my birthday, which I share with Chris. I have forty-seven-year-old Lagavulin in my mouth. That has to be the best whisky moment and the best whisky I have ever tasted.”
The obvious question is what forty-seven-year-old whisky tastes like. Joshua smiles and says, “Have you ever seen the movie Pineapple Express? When James Franco gives Seth Rogen that big bag of Pineapple Express weed and explains it something like… it is this weed mixed with that weed and they fuck and it comes out as this… and it smells like God’s vagina.” At this point we are both laughing, completely off the rails. This is Joshua. Brilliant, hilarious, and unafraid to describe a transcendent moment with absolute honesty.
[Editors note: The movie quote is longer and more colorful, but the moment is pristine!]
We gather ourselves and he continues. “In truth it was heavenly. There was such perfect balance, and I am sure the setting helped accentuate that balance. I was with some of my favorite people in the world, helping them celebrate a joint birthday, the setting was ideal, and the whisky was amazing. It was soft, slightly fruity, earthy, and with a hint of citrus. Believe it or not, after forty-seven years there was still a bit of citrus there. It was a special time.”
Of all the moments he has been privileged to experience, this one rises to the top. It was not just the whisky. Alone, it might not have tasted the same. It was the people, the place, the love in the room, and the sense of being exactly where he was meant to be.
Side One – Single Cask Nation
If you are not familiar with Single Cask Nation, prepare yourself. This is not simply an independent bottler. It is the American epicenter for single cask whisky, a destination where devotion meets discovery and where every bottle feels like a chapter in a larger myth. More than ten thousand members follow their releases with near religious fervor, and the movement continues to grow with the momentum of a wildfire carried by high winds.
Before the partnership formed and the trajectory changed, Joshua worked in manufacturing and Jason taught philosophy. Each maintained a whisky blog on the side, writing out of passion rather than ambition. Their paths crossed through shared curiosity. Their styles complemented one another and their palates aligned. As their friendship deepened, they began to imagine a future in the whisky world.
At the time, many bloggers transitioned into Brand Ambassador roles. Joshua and Jason chose a different path. They had fallen in love with independent bottling and were determined to break into that world. Their network expanded rapidly and the pieces began to align. Joshua recalls, “With the help of Impex Beverages, which is our importer to this day, we brought in our first three casks of whisky. They were from Kilchoman, and to this day we remain the only independent bottler to use the Kilchoman name on the bottle.” It was a bold beginning, and it set the tone for everything that followed.
Whiskey Network has long admired Sam Filmus and the entire team at Impex Beverages. Their support of Single Cask Nation and the broader whisky community cannot be overstated. Another pivotal moment arrived in 2019 when Joshua and Jason hired Jess Lomas. She completed the power trio. Her whisky knowledge matched theirs, her instincts sharpened their approach, and her work has opened new markets that accelerated the brand’s growth.
From their founding in 2011 to their fifteenth anniversary on May 11 of this year, Single Cask Nation has bottled nearly five hundred unique casks. Their influence extends beyond the bottles. They created Whisky Jewbilee, a festival where premium whisky, Kosher cuisine, cigars, and live music collide in a supernova of sensory experiences. From 2012 to 2018, the festival traveled through Seattle, New York, and Chicago. After a hiatus, it will return triumphantly in 2026 with a single event in Chicago. HUZZAH!
A major chapter unfolded in 2024. Artisanal Spirits, the parent company of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, acquired Single Cask Nation. That same year, they were awarded Independent Bottler of the Year at the Icons of Whisky America Awards. Joshua and Jason retained full control over cask selection and bottling. The acquisition did not change their ethos. It expanded their reach. Joshua explains, “Basically, we went from having one hundred casks of whisky in our warehouse to having access to somewhere around eighteen thousand.”
With their heart and soul intact, Single Cask Nation is poised for growth while remaining true to the principles that built their reputation. Their cask selection rule is simple. If any member of the trio vetoes a cask, it does not get bottled. No questions asked. In all their years, this has happened only three times. It is a testament to their shared vision and the trust that binds them. Following their instinct and not a trend, trusting the process, and respecting one another is a huge part of what has carried them this far.
The future of Single Cask Nation looks bright, bold, and full of promise. The story continues to unfold, and the best chapters may still be ahead. The best is yet to come.
Side Two – Kimono Draggin’
Whisky may be the bridge into Joshua Hatton’s world, but music is the portal into his bloodstream. Kimono Draggin’ formed in 2003, a three‑headed sonic beast with Joshua on bass, Joseph (Joe) Nolan on guitar, and Chris Swirski on drums, all of them sharing vocal duties like a cult chanting in perfect disarray but Joe is the main vocalist. You can call them prog punk if you need a label, but the truth is that Kimono Draggin’ refuses containment. They sound like a band that crash landed from a parallel dimension where punk warlords ride space dust tigers and every song rewrites the physics of joy. Their catalog feels like a carnival of beautiful chaos, a radioactive stew cooked from cassette tapes left behind by disco, punk, and metal bands who vanished under mysterious cosmic circumstances.
When asked about influences, Joshua is quick to clarify that influence does not necessarily mean daily listening. It also can mean inspiration that sneaks in during the writing process. He gravitates toward bands that take strange approaches, and disco bass lines have become a secret obsession. We detour briefly into the famous clip of Dave Grohl explaining how the drums in Smells Like Teen Spirit were lifted from a funk band. The comparison lands perfectly.
Joshua says, “I would say my influences, and this is for the band as a whole, would be Captain Beefheart, Husker Du, Frank Zappa, Yes, The Talking Heads, Sparks, The Kinks, Iggy and the Stooges, and everything like that. In particular, I also love a ton of prog music.” Then he circles back to disco. “I never paid much attention to disco, but then I started delving more and more into the genre. I realized there was some really good stuff there. A lot of people think it was all polyester suits and cocaine, but there is some really good grooves to discover, too.”
Their latest record, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Music, is a dense slab of unhinged brilliance carved into shape by sheer force of will. Inside jokes hide in the lyrics, and the musicianship is a full display of controlled insanity. When asked how the music comes together, Joshua explains that Joe writes the riffs and the back line builds the skeleton. He says, “Once we get the guitar parts we sit and try to decipher the time signature and what the hell he was thinking. I flesh out the song from there by opposing his parts with my bass line. There are times I go along, but it all does not come around until the bass part is added. Then I ask Chris to follow my vision and go from there. Joe will always have input, but I like to arrange the songs and manage time signatures and functionality. I find myself asking, what if we took this and did that with it. One of the songs has a bass line like A Forest by The Cure. Another has a guitar part like South of Heaven by Slayer. Then Chris will play something like the drums of Smells Like Teen Spirit over the top of it all.”
The real magic of Kimono Draggin’ happens in person. No album comes together without the three of them in a room, conjuring sonic alchemy through decades of shared history. Joshua says, “Chris, Joe, and I have been in various bands together since around 1992. There was Jupiter Suction, a glam rockabilly band. Then there was Council of Five Nations in 1994 and 1995. We know each other well and understand where each of us is coming from. It comes from going to high school together, being old friends, learning music together, and collaborating to get our ideas out there. We just know one another.”
The band broke up in 2011 as Joshua’s journey with Single Cask Nation was taking off. With a family and a thriving business, something had to give, and music was the sacrifice. Then the pandemic arrived. Travel slowed. The kids grew older. Joshua reached out. The trio had been playing in a band called Joe Division (a great band name, by the way), but the conversation shifted and Kimono Draggin’ was reborn. Songs poured out of them. The new album took shape. Another full album was written in the same period and is already lined up for the studio.
Expect a new Kimono Draggin’ record in 2027.
In the end, making music is not so different from choosing a whisky for Single Cask Nation. Joshua says, “Jason and I are not bottling whisky for other people. We are not necessarily thinking of the customer, we are thinking of ourselves. We bottle whisky we love. If you happen to love it too, then happy days. One cask gives us about two hundred bottles, so we do not have to please everyone. Only a certain amount which is our core audience. In the same way, we want to make music that makes us happy. We make music that is unlike anything we are hearing, but we also understand it has to be approachable.” This is the essence of art. You cannot control how people react. You can only release what lives inside you.
The point of being human is to support one another. There is beauty in all art, whether or not it aligns with your taste. Joshua leaves us with this: “Go out more, enjoy life, support your friends, support the scene, support your city, support your bars. Just get out there.”
Wise words from a man who lives fully in both worlds.
The Mashbill – Whiskey Network Wants to Know Your Recipe
It’s been a wild rocket ship ride with Joshua. The final leg of our journey is The Mashbill, where we ask the same five questions to each guest.
What was the last whiskey, bourbon, or scotch in your glass?
Single Cask Nation Glen Grant 21 (he is sipping it as we speak).
Do you prefer to drink your whisky from a specific type of glass?
I like the Spey Dram. It’s a little smaller than a glencairn and it doesn’t have the base on it.
Do you have a unicorn bottle?
The Bowmore Samaroli 1966 Bouquet. It’s worth having but I can never afford it.
This is a hypothetical question: I’m looking for a gift for a friend and the budget is $50-$75. What would you suggest?
I would say the Ardnamurchan AD. It does what the Highland Park 12 did for many, and a number of other things very well. It’s like The Dude’s rug… it brings it all together quite nicely. No offense to the HP12 at all, as it is a great whiskey. It’s just hard to find.
Do you have a favorite toast?
I’m a Jew, of course, and it may seem obvious but it’s not… but I say “L’Chaim”. A lot of people think it means “to life” but it’s actually plural and means “to lives”. It’s to US. It’s to ALL of our lives together. It’s a more complex word that has a deeper meaning than people think about.
We are ecstatic to welcome Joshua Hatton and Kimono Draggin’ into the Whiskey Network family. From his trademark curls, the glasses, and that knowing smile, he carries the rare combination of deep knowledge, total approachability, and a creative spirit that never stops moving. Do not mistake kindness for softness. Joshua knows exactly what he wants, and he will bend reality until it happens.
From the keep on the borderlands that rose into a high castle, Single Cask Nation stands as one of the most electrifying movements in modern whisky. It is a beacon for seekers, a citadel for flavor, and a proving ground for independent bottlings that continue to hit with precision and power. On the other side of the cosmic coin, Kimono Draggin’ erupts like a technicolor supernova. Their brand of prog punk is the perfect chaotic counterbalance, a wild storm of riffs and rhythms that feels like it was smuggled out of a forbidden dimension. Somewhere in the heavens, Frank Zappa is clapping so hard that the stars shake.
They are a band built by geeks with a cult following and reward anyone brave enough to step inside their sonic funhouse. There is something magnetic about their work, something that pulls you closer even as it dares you to keep up. Dive in and let the madness wash over you. If anything, I bonded with Joshua over music first, and we continue to trade suggestions and notes.
In any case, just make sure you have the right dram in hand when you do listen to their music. Fortunately, we all know a guy who can take care of that. *wink*
L’Chaim!
