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Robin Robinson began his entertainment career as a comedian in the 1970s. He convinced a band at the old Portfolio bar in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood to let him use their microphone for a little stand-up comedy during the set break.

But while he’ll crack plenty of jokes during a March 8 presentation at West Overton Village, there’s nothing funny about the love and respect Robinson has for his topic: whiskey.

Robinson, a Homestead native and author of “The Complete Whiskey Course,” will lead a presentation and whiskey tasting at West Overton, where Abraham Overholt established his American Rye whiskey distillery in the early 1800s. Today, Old Overholt is a rye whiskey owned by Beam Suntory Brands, makers of Jim Beam.

Robinson embarked on his journey of becoming a whiskey connoisseur when he received a job to play the role of a Scottish distiller at a dinner pairing occasion.

“In order to understand what single-malt Scotch whiskey was, I had to be trained,” stated Robinson. “At the culmination of the event, I purchased a bottle with some of my earnings.”

After that, Robinson relocated to the tech industry in Silicon Valley as a sales rep. Despite this career transition, he continued expanding his knowledge about whiskey, even starting to teach classes about its historical significance and diversity.

“Whiskey had become my passion,” he admitted with a chuckle. “I started my own blog and held tasting sessions at home. A friend who works in the liquor business commented that I had more knowledge about whiskey than some of his employees!”

Robinson was persuaded to accept a new role as the brand ambassador for Compass Box Whisky in the early 2000s, a company that was pioneering the creation of artisan blended Scotch whiskey, a truly unique approach for the time.

“When asked, I restructured the class into a sort of mobile presentation format, which over time developed into an elaborate history of whiskey intertwined with snippets from my poor attempts at stand-up comedy,” Robinson recalls.

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• State museum commission grants will help preserve history at West Overton

Robinson, now a resident of New Jersey, returned to the Pittsburgh area for a wedding in 2023. He’d always harbored a desire to visit the historic Overholt distillery located on the grounds of West Overton, which also happens to be the birthplace of coal coke magnate, Henry Clay Frick.

“As a kid, I grew up playing in Frick Park, so it’s really interesting to have all of these pieces of my life coming together,” he said.

Robinson met with a local rye whiskey expert and their visit planted the seeds for Robinson’s March 8 presentation.

Tickets for “The Story of Whiskey” are $50 to $75 and are available at Events.humanitix.com/the-story-of-whiskey. The evening includes a sample tasting of five whiskeys and a signed copy of Robinson’s book.

Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.

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