By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Smoking grain has been a widely embraced practice in American craft whiskey for more than a decade now. Darek Bell, co-founder of Nashville’s Corsair Artisan Distillery, wrote an entire book on the subject. In the Southwest, smoking with mesquite has become a regional signature. Some distillers have taken to importing …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A Whenever a new annual limited edition series gets started, I cross my fingers and hope the list of hard-to-get bottles has finally reached critical mass. It’s a dream of mine: that someday soon, there will be so many of these expressions out there that demand will break and one might …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Laws Whiskey House got to my house, I thought “in a few years, I will need to stop talking about mature craft whiskey and start talking about middle-aged craft whiskeys!” That would be because this third batch of the Colorado distillery’s San Luis Bonded Rye is seven years old. Who …
By Douglas Fraser Rating: A- Ed Belfour is a Hall of Fame NHL Hockey Player who was lucky enough to be a part of two Stanley Cup Championship winning teams. An avid whiskey fan with a strong palate too, he has now found a new venture in the bourbon business. This new spirits company, is …
Back in 2013 Glenmo sent out bottles of experimental whisky to bloggers, writers and other whisky folks; this Glenmorangie Cask Masters “A” Grand Cru Burgundy Finish was one of the three in the kits. B was a an ex-Grand Cru Bordeaux and C was an ex-Manzanilla. At a private tasting I was able to try […]
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By Richard Thomas Rating: A- The Tomatin-Glenlivet Distillery is named for the village of Tomatin, plus the common practice 19th Century of tying the name Glenlivet onto things. If you making a study of distilleries in Scotland in 1897, when Tomatin was founded, you would have found quite a few this-Glenlivet and Glenlivet-that distilleries, and …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- So much has been done since Nicole Austin took up stewardship at Cascade Hollow (the Tullahoma, Tennessee distillery where George Dickel is made), that it sometimes needs saying she has been there for not even four full years yet. Although none of the spirits going into these new creations was …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: A India’s Paul John stepped up a notch again with a stellar single malt in 2021, Mithuna. I received two sample bottles (50ml) earlier this year, and I need to tell you that I enjoyed them. This is an unpeated, not-chill-filtered single whisky. It is matured in virgin American oak …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- California’s St. George Spirits is an example of what I call craft distilling before there was craft distilling. Founded by Jörg Rupf in 1982. After spending a decade in brandy-making, ex-nuclear scientist and former brewer Lance Winters showed up on Rupf’s doorstep, looking to make whiskey and with a bottle …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: A+ The Jack Ryan Whiskey Company presents small releases of malt whiskeys, aged and finished in their own stock of select barrels. Jack Ryan whiskey finishes range from classic ex-bourbon casks to innovative rum and Madeira casks, and include collaborations with small, quality spirit producers. Jack Ryan “The Centenary” is …
