John Dowling has been a member of Whiskey University since August 2022. In 2016 Whiskey University began offering Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees. John earned his Bourbon Diploma on Nov. 27, 2022.

Captain Dowling is a real, but retired colonel, having served nearly 34 years of honorable service in the United States Army Reserve including two overseas deployments. John was born on Long Island, New York, but at the age of five his parents moved to Western Pennsylvania where he spent his school age years. He now lives in Canonsburg, Pa., and serves as a recruiter for the Army ROTC Mountaineer Battalion at his alma mater, West Virginia University, just an hour down Interstate 79. He has been married to Shelley Dowling, a high school math teacher for the past 26 years.

The seeds for John’s passion for whiskey were planted when he was a student at WVU where Jim Beam white label and diet cola was his go-to beverage for Mountaineer sporting events. His tastes evolved over the decades, but the love of whiskey endured and really launched after a 2014 work trip to Fort Knox and a whirlwind tour around the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. It is a bourbon pilgrimage he has made three more times including tours of all the iconic industry brands including Woodford Reserve, Jim Beam, Bulleit, Stitzel-Weller, Heaven Hill, and Maker’s Mark. The highlight was in February 2022 when John picked up his Maker’s Mark Ambassador for Life designation and hand-dipped a batch of signature redheads with COL John J. Dowling emblazoned on the label with his wife and son, Steven, in tow. A Maker’s Mark Old Fashioned is his go-to drink, but any distilled spirit neat, with an ice brick or in a cocktail will suffice.

John’s ultimate bourbon pilgrimage is to personally experience a single barrel select program with Maker’s Mark in Loretto or along the Kentucky River in Frankfort at the former OFC distillery of Buffalo Trace. We can all dream! John’s whiskey journey has taken him from around the industries roots from Kentucky to Maryland and it is growing distilling industry with the likes of Sagamore Spirit, Old Line Distilling and Baltimore Spirits Company. He toured the Emerald Isle in 2022 with visits to Bushmills, Jameson and the Irish Whiskey Museum in Dublin, Ireland. Recently, his focus has changed to the fertile fields of the Keystone State where Pennsylvania’s rye crop sourced the mash that played a key role in the formation of our nation including the Whiskey Rebellion that took place in Western Pa. John is writing and developing the “Pennsylvania/Monongahela Rye” course for Whiskey University.

John earned his Associate Degree after passing 18 classes with “The Politics of Whiskeys” on Nov. 27, 2022. John taught his first class, “The Maryland Rye Region,” as assistant instructor on Jan. 29, 2023. He has also taught “High Rye Bourbons” on March 12, 2023, as assistant instructor. On Jan. 31, 2023, Dowling completed “Brown Forman Brands” to earn his Bachelor of Science Degree with 26 classes, at Whiskey University and the title of “Master Bourbon Taster” and the rank of First Lieutenant in the Bourbon Brigade. On March 15, 2023, Captain Dowling completed his 34th class, “Flavored Whiskeys,” earning the Bachelor of Arts Degree, the rank of Captain in the Bourbon Brigade, and advanced the Title of “Master Whiskey Taster” with his highest Whiskey University degree to date.

John Has The Following “Designations” & Credentials:

“Chartered Master Whiskey Taster”

(from Whiskey University)

”Certified Bourbon Steward”

(from Stave & Thief Society)

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