By Kenrick Thurston-Wilcox Rating: B- Introduced in 1997, Chivas Regal 18 Year Old is a blend of malt and grain whiskies from all around Scotland. Chivas owns the oldest continuously operated distillery in Scotland, Strathisla, which is at the heart of the Chivas Regal blends. The 12 Year Old blend, being woody and fruity, was …
By Kenrick Thurston-Wilcox Rating: C Released at the same time as Batch 44, this whiskey is distilled from Fritz barley, which was grown in Skagit Valley, WA. It was then aged a minimum of 36 months in charred, new American Oak barrels, with a small percentage of the finished product being aged exclusively in used …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ A decade ago, Utah’s High West was a fan favorite, instantly earning a reputation for transparency at a time when a handful of whiskey bloggers led an often trollish obsession among enthusiasts with the sometimes shady marketing employed by non-distiller producers. High West was unusual in not only did they …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ It would be fair to say Pennsylvania whiskey begins and ends with its rye, and Pittsburgh’s Wigle Distillery is as good an example of how that works in practice as one is likely to find. Rye isn’t the only whiskey–nor whiskey the only spirit–they make there, but their rye footprint …
By Richard Thomas Redwood Empire Whiskeys comes from the Sonoma-based Graton Distillery, who created and inaugurated the brand with the release of three expressions in 2019: Pipe Dream, Emerald Giant and Lost Monarch. They followed up on that last year with the start of a bottled in bond brand extension, with two redwood forest themed …
By Kenrick Thurston-Wilcox Rating: C+ Established in 2013, Copperworks was founded by 2 men, Jason Parker and Micah Nutt. Both possessing a background in craft brewing, they decided to try their hand at distilling once it became legal in Washington state. They chose to start with a craft beer wash instead of a normal distillers …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Like so many other well-established small whiskey companies, West Virginia’s Smooth Ambler is in the midst of transitioning from being a bottler of sourced whiskeys to a fully independent distillery. Their current line-up reflects this, with a foot in all three types of products such a company might produce. Old …
Barrell Bourbon Batch 033 Rating: B Barrell Craft Spirits, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is an independent blender of sourced whiskey and rum. They have earned recognition as whiskey design experts, that continue to produce cask strength spirits. According to their founder Joe Beatrice, “Barrell Craft Spirits was awarded Best Bourbon twice at the San Francisco …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Introducing a distillery to The Whiskey Reviewer readership is a rarity these days, so it’s refreshing to take on task for Royal Brackla. The distillery was started in 1812 by an ex-soldier, Captain William Fraser, on the estate of the Earl of Cawdor. Despite frequently clashing with local tax officials …
By Kenrick Thurston-Wilcox Rating: B Mortlach is most likely not a household name to the average whiskey (or “whisky”) drinker, yet many have probably tasted at least some of what this distillery has to offer. That is because the distillery is known for it’s use in blends, particularly Johnnie Walker. It’s also known for it’s …
