Noted Master Blender and consultant Nancy Fraley has retired from her post at Jos. A, Magnus & Co., the sourced bourbon brand named for the man who, in post-Civil War America, founded the once esteemed Murray Hill Club Whiskey brand in Cincinnati, Ohio. After graduating law school, Fraley intentionally bypassed a legal career to pursue …
By Richard Thomas Just the other day, I read some Instagram comments to the effect that it seems all Craft Barrel Spirits does these days is super premium releases. New batches of the classic Barrell Bourbon used to come every season or so. I also recently polished off a bottle of Barrell Bourbon Batch 8, …
Twenty years ago, Australian whiskey barely registered. A few small distilleries made limited batches for local drinkers, while most people still reached for Scotch or Irish bottles. Outside Australia, hardly anyone paid attention. The idea that Tasmania could produce whiskey better than Scotland sounded ridiculous. By 2026, the story completely changed. Australian whiskey now wins …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: A Although it is never assured, fans of Michter’s 10 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon got releases for both 2025 and 2026, two years in a row. Dating back to the days of their first Master Distiller Willie Pratt, who was dubbed “Dr. No” for refusing to bottle releases until …
By Richard Thomas When the owners of Kentucky Owl bourbon brand, the Stoli Group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late November 2024, an interesting footnote was an example of how an American liquor company can sometimes fall victim to mafia state tactics. Stoli blamed the bankruptcy on a malicious Russian cyberattack, essentially describing the …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Although each review is a thing unto itself, so it is basically fine to retell the same or a similar story for these annualized expressions, this time I really do not want to repeat the backstory of the defunct Bomberger Distillery in Pennsylvania and the Michter’s brand history. I’ll skip …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Having examined the background of Indiana’s Starlight Distillery at length in my review of their bottled in bond bourbon, I will focus exclusively on the whiskey-making. The whiskey is made from small batches of 15 to 18 barrels (these being 53-gallon American Standard Barrels or ASBs), but small batching is …
By Richard Thomas Spirits broadly and whiskey especially experiencing a sales slump and part of the reason is that the generational cohort entering the marketplace, Gen Z, has broader range of choices in legally available mind altering substances then their predecessors to choose from while also sharing the signature characteristic of youth everywhere: buck what …
By Genevieve Jacot-Guillarmod Rating: B Produced at the James Sedgwick Distillery in South Africa, Three Ships is one of the country’s best known whisky brands alongside Bain’s. While Bain’s uses a corn-based mash bill, the Three Ships range focuses on blends and single malts. The Three Ships 10 Year Old was initially released as series …
By Alex Southgate Rating: A The folks over at Halcyon Spirits kindly sent me their latest offering to try, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve already reviewed their fourth and fifth release, which was great. This being said, I was elated to see their newest expression, because this time it is a 28 Year Old …
