By Richard Thomas Rating: A- During the 2010s, Utah’s High West made a splash with whiskey nerds for their transparency. Although they were a negociant (or non-distiller producer, as bloggers who didn’t know there was a better term already in use in whisky circles preferred to call such a company), they had two characteristics that set …
By Richard Thomas Jim Beam has the ninth chapter of Little Book in the pipeline. This series was launched in 2017 to raise the profile of heir apparent Freddie Noe, the son of Beam Master Distiller Fred Noe. The brand name refers back to their legendary predecessor Booker Noe, and as originally conceived Little Book drew …
Today Woodford Reserve has released a new limited-edition bottle as part of its Distillery Series: Tawny Port Finish. In creating a partly cask finished hybrid whiskey, Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall has combined a rye and bourbon blend with bourbon finished in Tawny Port barrels, which accentuates the fruit character in the whiskey. This is then …
Colorado’s Tincup Whiskey is substantially overhauling their product line in 2025. First is Tincup Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the company’s lowest priced offering to date, $24.99. That price point and its low strength of 80 proof position it as a mass market product. Tincup Straight Bourbon is already in the pipeline for this month. Next, the …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Hybrids, or blends of two or more types of whiskeys, have been an interesting and rewarding niche ever since Wild Turkey introduced their now defunct hybrid expression more than a decade ago. Wild Turkey Forgiven was supposedly based on a batching accident, became something of a fan favorite, and consisted …
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 Hybrids remain one of the great sleeper categories in American Whiskey. Defined as a blend of two or more major types of whiskey, the granddaddy was Wild Turkey Forgiven. That defunct expression is now more than a decade in the past, predating Eddie Russell succeeding his father as Master Distiller …
Knob Creek has made a new entry into the category of hybrid whiskeys, a class made of blends of two or more major types. The name says it all here: Knob Creek Bourbon x Rye is a blend of the classic Knob Creek 9 Year Old Small Batch Bourbon with the Knob Creek 7 Year …
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 …
High West, the Utah-based craft distiller and negociant who earned a strong reputation for transparent sourcing more than a decade ago, has released its 2024 edition of Bourye. The Bourye expression is noted as a hybrid, drawing on stocks of both bourbon and rye that are aged for 10 years or more. In this instance, …
