Nora Ganley-Roper was a wine expert at the storied Astor Wines & Spirits in New York City when she fell in love with whiskey. She had grown up under the tutelage of her wine-appreciating family in Weybridge and honed her expertise in grapes and regions by reading wine textbooks while commuting by bus to a job in the financial world. As sales manager for the large specialty wine and spirits company, Ganley-Roper discovered in whiskey a new world of tasting, science and history. She absorbed as much as she could about the distilled beverage, which is made from grain, because she needed that knowledge to serve her customers. She enjoyed discovering the business of American whiskey, in which — as with wine — terroir plays a major role in the taste and feel of the beverage. She was also intrigued by the potential for learning more. “Even working in one of the best spirits stores in the country, it was hard for me to know what was out there, because a lot of things didn’t make it to New York,” Ganley-Roper said. “And if they did, you couldn’t tell from the packaging if it was good.” Now Ganley-Roper — with her husband, Adam Polonski, who is also steeped in the world of spirits — is back in Vermont. The two founders recently raised $1 million from investors and are searching for warehouse space. The goal: to build Lost Lantern, a business that shines light on little-known whiskeys from around the country by bottling and blending them. Over the last few decades, whiskey making has undergone a transformation similar to that of beer brewing. Small, local operations continue to spring up as alternatives to mass-produced brands. About 20 years ago, Polonski said, there were only approximately 25 distilleries in the U.S.; now there are more than 2,000. Ninety percent of the country’s distilleries have opened in the last 10 or 12 years, he noted. Some of these distillers are in Vermont, including Smugglers’ Notch Distillery in Jeffersonville, Mad River Distillers in Warren and Hooker Mountain Farm Distillery in Cabot. One of the best known is Shoreham-based WhistlePig, a blender and distiller that has won several top awards and, in July, acquired Otter Creek Brewing and the Shed Brewery in Middlebury. Lost Lantern doesn’t make whiskeys but rather procures them to bottle as they are or blends them to create…