By Randall H. Borkus Rating: C+ Redwood Empire Whiskey is located in the heart of the Russian River Valley wine region of Sonoma County, California. The name “Emerald Giant” comes from the fastest growing of the redwoods, a real tree that can be visited. The distillery focuses on sustainability, thus, for every bottle sold, Redwood …
By Douglas Fraser Rating: C+ Redemption Whiskey is a sourced brand owned by Deutsch Family Spirits, who are best known for Josh wines. Many Redemption expressions have used MGP whiskey from Indiana, and back in the early days of the Bourbon Boom the brand built a reputation for its age stated, mature rye bottlings. These …
By Richard Thomas Rating: C- Back in January, Rebel Bourbon announced that they would bring back their Root Beer Flavored Whiskey. One of the things we do here at The Whiskey Reviewer that so many blogs and magazines turn their noses up at are whiskey RTD cocktails and flavored whiskeys, if they seem like they might be …
By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ Another entry in Bulleit’s line of bottled, ready-to-drink (RTD) classic whiskey cocktails is the Whiskey Sour, readily identifiable from its bright yellow bottle. This one is such a recent addition that Bulleit had not updated their website to include it at time of writing. It’s made with real lemon juice, …
By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ When you’re Sazerac, thinking about creating a whole new line of mass market bourbons and casting about for ideas, Full Proof has got to be an easy one. The idea of “full proof” or “entry proof” bourbon is to cut the end product back to the same strength used when …
By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ For longer than The Whiskey Reviewer has been in existence, whiskey nerds have scoffed at the term “small batch.” If anyone was complaining about it in the actual small batch era of the 1990s, I was happy enough to not meet them; in those days, the bourbon fans I knew were …
By Douglas Fraser Rating: C The Samuel Maverick Distillery is named after Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803 – 1870), a lawyer and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He is therefore one of those founders of a First Family of Texas. Just a few steps away from the historic Alamo site, the distillery is located …
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 …
By Richard Thomas Rating: C- In introducing the new drinks line in early 2023, Jim Beam declared that, come summertime, Kentuckians like to drink lemonade or fruit punch with bourbon on their front porches. Well, I’m a born and bred Kentucky horse farmer’s son, and I prefer to make mules with our native Ale-8-One or …
By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ Before there was a Town Branch Distillery or even a sourced brand, there was a Lexington Brewing Company, with the distillery erected on the property of the original brewery. Today’s joint Lexington Brewing & Distilling Company isn’t quite what most people imagine when they think “brewstillery,” because the brewery and …
