By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Laws Whiskey House got to my house, I thought “in a few years, I will need to stop talking about mature craft whiskey and start talking about middle-aged craft whiskeys!” That would be because this third batch of the Colorado distillery’s San Luis Bonded Rye is seven years old. Who …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ If you read my work, then you are probably familiar with Indiana’s Starlight Distillery through Lisa Rope Wicker’s past work with them, that being how I usually make mention of them. The distillery was started by Ted Huber as an outgrowth of his orchard and winery, the latter being a …
By Douglas Fraser Rating: A- Ed Belfour is a Hall of Fame NHL Hockey Player who was lucky enough to be a part of two Stanley Cup Championship winning teams. An avid whiskey fan with a strong palate too, he has now found a new venture in the bourbon business. This new spirits company, is …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Located in the Appalachian foothills of Virginia, not all that far from Charlottesville, Virginia Distillery made its initial reputation for skillfully created hybrid whiskies: they blended their youthful in-house American single malts with imported Scottish malts, and then gave the hybrid a “marriage” (secondary finishing) in used-but-native Virginia casks. An …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ This most recent release from the skilled folks at Barrell Craft Spirits is drawn from 6, 7, 10, 15 and 16 year old barrels sourced from the (now familiar) states of Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee. The company says the 6, 7 and 10 year old bourbons were of two groups, …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B One of the best outcomes of American whiskey becoming a truly national industry, with distilleries producing coast to coast for the first time in our history, is the creation of so many regional styles and appellations. One such is Empire Rye, a New York State appellation created by a growing …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Cask finishes figure highly in the annual limited edition game, but enthusiasts usually think only of the major and mid-sized distilleries. However, craft distillers do regular, annual releases too, and some of them are merit more attention than they get. A fine example of that is Laws Whiskey House Cognac-Finished …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye is a Canadian rye whisky made with 100% Canadian rye and spring water from the Canadian Rocky Mountains by Alberta Distillers Limited in Calgary, Alberta. There is not much detail on their website, but my online research asserts the whiskey is aged for at …
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 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. …
