By Richard Thomas Rating: B Perhaps the most perplexing thing about the feverish madness that surrounds Pappy van Winkle and all things Buffalo Trace is how in that fever, the Buffalo Trace-obsessives have blinded themselves to all the good wheated bourbon made at other distilleries. Wheated bourbon is literally the only thing Maker’s Mark does, …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ The Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series, originally known as Tasters Selection, is now in its eleventh installment. During that time, the series has done a variety of iterations with their staple Tennessee Whiskey, such as finishing it in smoked hickory wood barrels and doing the barrel goes to beer than back …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Continuing up Ian Macleod Distillers’ ladder of Isle of Skye blended whiskies has taken me to their 18 Year Old expression. It’s a pretty typical progression, really, although one that seems to show large jumps to American eyes. The cooler, milder climate of Scotland and heavy reliance on used cask …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Old Potrero’s signature style is a 100% malted rye whiskey, which is why they call themselves a “single malt,” even though that term is most often associated with malted barley. The California distiller has been pursuing this style since the 1990s, part of a distinguished class of small distillers who …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Released in 2010, Maker’s 46 was the first major brand extension by the distillery that essentially invented premium bourbon as we recognize it today, way back in the mid-1950s. The idea behind Maker’s 46 is one borrowed from the wine industry, and first applied in the whisk(e)y business by the …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B+ The Glenturret Distillery is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. Located near Crieff in Perthshire, it lays claims to be the oldest working distillery dating back to 1775. Like many Scots distilleries, going back that far means pointing to some smugglers or Scottish moonshiners, so the “oldest distillery” …
By Richard Thomas Rating: Isle of Skye blended whiskies weren’t exactly unknown in American prior to this year. A quick Googling reveals US-based whiskey bloggers writing about it a decade ago. However, those reviews were based on special imports or something that the writer brought home with them from a trip to the UK. Now …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Heaven Hill was the pioneer of “urban bourbon” destinations in downtown Louisville. Although it is often forgotten, before they opened the Evan Williams Experience on Main Street, there were no destination distilleries in the city. Although Louisville was a center for the industry, what was there (in Shively) was very …
Updated July 18, 2023 By S.D. Peters Average Rating: B Colkegan Single Malt Whiskey is the “aged” version of one of the two Scotch-style whiskeys distilled by Santa Fe Spirits – and another fine example of an independent distiller making good things happen to whiskey in the 21st Century. An American distillery, set against a …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B- The first thing to understand about this bottle is who it comes from, which has more to it than merely where it comes from. The name “World Whiskey Society” makes this sound like club that does their own bottlings, akin to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Instead, they are a …
