By Alex Southgate Rating: B+ I am sure this is going to wrinkle a few noses out there, but as a rule I’m not a big fan of very smoky whiskies. I love a good Scotch just like the rest, but the heavy peaty aroma that comes with many expressions is something I find a …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Many companies began in the whiskey business the way James E. Pepper did, building their brand using sourced whiskey. After establishing that brand and proving its viability, they then set out down the road of financing and building a distillery. In some cases, this begins a transition from reliance on …
By Richard Thomas Bruichladdich Distillery brings together two distinct threads. Although the distillery dates back to the late 19th Century, it was shuttered in 1994, and Bruichladdich as a whisky brand really dates to its reopening under entrepreneur Mark Reynier and Master Distiller Jim McEwan in 2000. Much as he did with Waterford Distillery in …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B Playboy Spirits’ brand launched its luxury Rare Hare collection in 2022, which included previous releases of a 17-year-old bourbon and 1961 vintage cognac. This latest release is Lucky Bastard 30 Year Old Canadian whisky, a single barrel finished in Pineau Des Charentes casks for 120 days. Pineau Des Charentes …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B I remember thinking in 2014 that Mark Reynier scored a helluva deal. That was when Diageo, in one of the moves rendered utterly inexplicable by their byzantine corporate veil, sold the Guinness brewery they had spent €40 million upgrading over the course of a decade to him for just a …
By Alex Southgate Rating: B+ It’s always nice to go back and visit old friends and this is absolutely no different when it comes to the distilleries that we know well and love. This being said, I’ve been back to the Fettercairn Distillery on a couple of occasions now, and had a really enjoyable experience …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ When I read the stats on the 17th edition of Parker’s Heritage, I felt some sympathy for the folks working in PR and marketing at Heaven Hill, because I blanched at the thought of the response I knew was unfolding on bourbon forums: “A 10 year old cask strength? Yawn/fake …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Ian Macleod Distillers is one of those fixtures of the Scotch industry that the average, casual drinker (even Scotch drinker) has never heard of. That is nothing to be ashamed of; I’d put down some money that 9 out of 10 of the folks who know what The Macallan is …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B+ Barrell Craft Spirits has two new expressions: Barrell Bourbon Batch 035 and Rye Batch 004. The latter has been a few years in coming, since Barrell Rye Batch 003 was released back in 2020, but I’ll start with the bourbon. Barrell Bourbon Batch 035 is a blend that consists …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ First off, the formal title of this whiskey is quite a mouthful, so forgive me for not using the every single word in the title of the article: Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled Special Release Heritage Barrel Rye Whiskey. Still, I don’t think that sentence-length title is necessary to either identify …
