By Richard Thomas Rating: B Ever since the entire category of Japanese Whisky (finally) blew up and attracted international, popular acclaim more than a decade ago, the category has been beset by a shortage of aged stocks of whisky that has put classic brand names like Nikka and Yamazaki out of reach of most consumers. …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- The new batch of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is now in circulation, and as soon as I scrutinized the label on my bottle I saw something that I knew would surely excite croaking in certain corners: the age statement for A125 is 10 years, 7 months. The croakers were not …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ For the last decade, Pappymania has crowded out enthusiast attention for wheated bourbons not made at a certain riverside distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. As Pappy Van Winkle gained popular renown, extending outside bourbon circles, a fever started building. First that fever swept up the other wheated bourbons (the Weller bourbons) …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ The brand history behind this latest release from Old Forester, the 1910 Extra Old Bourbon in their 117 Series, is actually a little convoluted. It began as an extension of the 1910 Fine Old Whiskey from 2018, which we were unable to write-up. In its turn, the 117 Series is …
By Richard Thomas When the Hendersons, the founding family of Angel’s Envy Bourbon, announced the launch of their new whiskey company in September 2024, the word came with two new expressions. The company is called True Story, and the first expression was dubbed “Volume One,” a bourbon in an opaque black bottle. That was accompanied …
Updated January 19, 2025 By Richard Thomas Average Rating: B While working up a feature on the 2025 release of a Single Barrel Collection by Four Roses, one containing four of the ten bourbon variants the distillery makes, I realized that our review for Four Roses Single Barrel was published in 2011 and last …
By Alex Southgate Rating: B This review reaches into Speyside, and brings back one of my bigger love/hate relationships. I’m more of an Irish Whiskey fan, and the biggest reason for this is peat. I just don’t have a great fondness of peaty whiskies. The smokiness in heavily peated whiskies is something that I find …
By Richard Thomas Rating: Blue Note is a brand from B.R. Distilling Company in Memphis, Tennessee, which was founded in 2014 and the oldest whiskey company currently operating in that city. Their whiskey is distilled under contract with Bardstown Bourbon Company and then shipped to their Memphis facility for maturation. B.R. Distilling is also the …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B- When I sampled Gentleman Jack and took my notes some days ago with an eye on making it my last review work of 2024, I did so expecting to revise and update a review from more than ten years ago. I took it completely for granted that either I or …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Technically, the second round of 2024’s Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond still came out in the autumn: even if bottles didn’t reach shelves (or samples reaching reviewers) until it was officially early winter, the actual announcement was on December 12. For those who are not very aware of the calendar, winter …
