By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Newport’s New Riff Distilling is riding more waves of novelty than just those names. The distillery is part of a new class of medium-sized distilleries in Kentucky, and is also part of the group that followed Old Pogue in bringing bourbon-making back to Northern Kentucky. New Riff has also become …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ I first wrote up Compass Box’s Great King Street Artist’s Blend in Spring 2012, and we are fast coming upon the 10th anniversary. Much has changed in that decade, not just for Compass Box, but for this specific brand. Created as the standard bearer for Compass Box’s line of artfully …
By Richard Thomas Rating:B+ The premise behind The Glenmorangie’s Cadboll Estate line of single malt whisky is simple. The distillery is taking their estate-grown barley from the lands around the distillery itself. The whisky is matured for 15 years (or more) in first-fill examples of the most common cask type used in Scotland, ex-bourbon barrels. …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B+ This 2021 bottling is the first release of US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon in three years. The Toasted Barrel expression is distinctive from the standard US*1 Bourbon as it undergoes a second round of maturation, following its initial rest (my best guess 6-8 years) in an American charred oak …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Jeptha Creed occupied a special spot for me for a few reasons before I got hold of their new bonded bourbon. They were the first new distillery I visited upon returning to the United States from my long sojourn abroad; they were among the first (and are engaged in a …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B If one reads these pages about world whiskey or the business of whiskey at all, then the fact that France is the world’s second largest market for our thematic drink should be well-driven into your noggin by now. Because French whisky consumption is the highest in the world, at over …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B+ Irish Distillers has once again joined forces with the Mitchell family to unveil the famed, revived Blue Spot Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey. The last sighting of Blue Spot in the U.S. dates back to 1964. This year’s unveiling ends a 56-year drought and completes the historic Spot Whiskey …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ About a month ago, Brown-Forman brought a pair of Benriach whiskies across The Pond and to American Shores, these named for two seasonal practices of the distillery. Smoke Season is so named because Benriach sees only a single production run of peated whisky per year, a short run at that. …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ When I realized the latest installment of the King of Kentucky was the fourth, I shook my head in wishful disbelief. Has it really been four years for this revived brand, carrying cask strength, middle aged Brown-Forman juice in the single barrel format? Soon, I will be able to do …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ It’s hard for me to believe that Angel’s Envy Cask Strength has reached it’s 10th anniversary, but here we are! “”Back in 2012, our first Cask Strength release was a run of just 600 bottles available in only two states,” said company co-founder Wes Henderson in a press release. This …
