Jarrod Lapato

Sr. Contributor
    

Born just a few miles up the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, Jarrod has been living in sunny St Augustine, Florida for the past 20+ years. While his love for periogies remains strong, much of the Pittsburgh accent has faded. He attended Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and met the woman who would eventually become his wife… some 20 years later. After working for a short time in the finance industry, he and his (future) wife Dawn, both quit their corporate gigs to open and operate the not-so-world-famous ‘Backstreets Coffeehouse’ in St. Augustine. After selling the business, Jarrod took a job with the local library system working in acquisitions, while running the book budget for the 7 library branches in the county. Though Jarrod grew up with a father who considered himself a “Dewars Man”, he never had a real interest in whisky himself until his 40th birthday when he felt the need to buy himself a bottle of singlemalt scotch whisky as a rite of passage. It was only a few pours into that bottle of Macallan 12 Sherry Oak that Jarrod knew he had found his new love. In an effort to learn more and meet other like minded people, he joined Twitter under the name @FL_ScotchLover and quickly became immersed in the online whisky community known as the #whiskyfabric. It was not until joining the team at Bourbon & Banter that he really began to explore the world of bourbon and rye whiskies. Hobbies include photography, gardening, woodworking, hiking and biking.