By Richard Thomas Rating: B My first acquaintance with Iowa’s Cedar Ridge Distillery was 7 1/2 years ago, one of those things that serves to remind me just how long I have been writing about whiskey. I had traveled to Iowa to visit a different distillery, invited for the bottling and launch of a different …
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 …
Updated September 20, 2024 By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ The single barrel whiskey concept, in America at least, began with the introduction of Blanton’s in 1984 by the legendary Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee. Back then, however, that Frankfort, Kentucky distillery was known as the George T. Stagg Distillery. It wouldn’t be renamed Buffalo Trace …
By Douglas Fraser Rating: A Lodestar Whiskey is a women-owned and -operated spirits brand, based out of California. Two German-born cousins, Anna Axster and Wendelin von Schroder, founded the brand after discovering whiskey while working in the music industry. They found that, in their opinion, there was not a whiskey expression that spoke to everyone. …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B- One more block is laid into the case that the American Single Malt has arrived with the spread of the idea to North America as a whole, because now Crown Royal has released its own single malt. Perhaps the only thing missing is popular clamor, and I say that as …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Continuing with the recent practice of using the Basil Hayden brand to produce many, many iterations of Beam-made whiskeys, the latest such twist has yielded Basil Hayden Subtle Smoke. The journey that led the brand, which started out as a light, dry and 8 year old, 80 proof version of …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Situated an hour’s drive northwest of Glasgow, Glengoyne is a Highlands distillery, but only just. It’s the southernmost distillery of the Highlands region. Owned by Ian Macleod Distillers since 2003, it’s a small, farm-style distillery with one wash and two spirit stills with boil bulbs and a style rooted in …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ When Shane Baker and Pat Heist set out to get into the business of making whiskey (as the owners of Ferm Solutions consultantcy, they already had a foothold in the whiskey business generally), they had two wants. Both men are self-confessed whiskey nerds at a time when whiskey nerds in …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B O’Shaughnessy Distilling Company has certainly stirred up much buzz since getting started. While many new American distillers have procured the services of a master distiller from a big whiskey company, those are usually 1) retired and starting a second career as a consultant; and 2) American. Poaching such a person …
By Richard Thomas Rating: C Port and bourbon are one of those pairings that, when right, can be an absolute home run. Something that elevates the sweetness while controlling that sweetness through tannin and oak, being an easy drinker without veering into dessert whiskey. More often than not, however, the two are used somewhat haphazardly …
