Updated June 23, 2024 By Richard Thomas Rating: B Whenever I am asked about how to organize a trip on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, my first question is always “Where are you staying, Lexington or Louisville?” This is because these two cities, the largest in Kentucky, either embrace or sit on either side of most …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B+ On my recent visit to Leiper’s Fork Distillery, I had the good fortune to meet Sir Paul Bisset, Director of Tour Guides and Brand Ambassador, and pick up a bottle of their 7-year-old Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskey. Paul Bisset was gracious host, as well as an entertaining guy that had us …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Waterford Distillery’s Singe Farm Origin series of single malt whiskeys solves a particular problem facing any new whiskey distillery, but especially one in Ireland and Scotland: how to get spirits on the market without waiting several years or even more than a decade. The distillery began when Mark Reynier, the …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Utah’s High West earned its reputation as a fan favorite through their transparency. The company was among those that tried and proved the path of using sourced whiskey to develop a brand while mustering the resources and expertise to build a working distillery, develop whiskeys and mature them. What made …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ When Heaven Hill finally took the 12 year age statement off Elijah Craig Barrel Proof last year, several years after taking the Elijah Craig Small Batch no age statement in 2016, it was an even noteworthy for just how little comment it attracted. Sure, some croaked, but compared to the …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Larceny Barrel Proof has been bucking the expectations for what wheated bourbon is supposed to be lately. Through 2023, the expression became quite spice-driven, although how much so varied from batch to batch. Although they still had a softened character, and were certainly not falling into the spicy and dry …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- A sample of the latest Bernheim Original Barrel Proof, the A224 (meaning first batch of the year, February 2024) arrived at my house in a timely manner, because I was departing for visitation with my son a couple of weeks later. So I tucked it away in my luggage, took …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B- The brothers Ben and David Holladay founded the Blue Springs Distillery in 1856a, it was at a limestone well supposedly discovered by Lewis and Clark. The distillery changed hands multiple times; first to George Shawhan, who renamed it the Shawhan Distillery in 1900; again in 1936 to become the …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: “Novelty” Tamworth Distilling, a craft distillery out of New Hampshire, was founded by Steven Grasse. He is referred to as a Wonka-like character and was described as the “punk rock prince of small-batch spirits” by writer Alex Halberstadt. Among his other credits, Grasse co-created Hendrick’s Gin in 1999 in partnership …
By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ Before there was a Town Branch Distillery or even a sourced brand, there was a Lexington Brewing Company, with the distillery erected on the property of the original brewery. Today’s joint Lexington Brewing & Distilling Company isn’t quite what most people imagine when they think “brewstillery,” because the brewery and …
