By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Baltimore’s Sagamore Spirits has unveiled their oldest expression to date in a limited edition offering in their Reserve Series: a sourced 10 year old rye. The whiskey in question must have been drawn from the sourced stocks acquired by the company prior to the opening of their distillery, because while …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B+ Rabbit Hole Distillery Series Regallier begins with a good Kentucky Straight Bourbon and uses French oak casks to create something special. They use a high rye, double malt bourbon mash bill that begins resting in #3 wood-fired, toasted and charred new American Oak barrels and is finally tempered in French …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Introduced in 2014, Bomberger’s Declaration from Michter’s has become a fixture of late summer’s annualized releases. Although this expression and its sibling, Shenk’s, do not (yet) have the same buzz attached as either Michter’s other limited editions (such as Barrel Strength Rye or the 10 Year Old Single Barrels) or …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- In September 2025, Heaven Hill returned to its historic roots in Bardstown, Kentucky in grand style. Although the company never left Bardstown after the disaster of the 1996 fire that destroyed their distillery, the locus of Heaven Hill operations clearly shifted to Shively after the purchase of the Bernheim Distillery. …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B- The new First West line from 15 Stars has three bourbons, with the Toasted Oak Finish positioned as the middle expression, between the normal bourbon (the Small Batch) and the “extra aged” eight year old. The company started in a well-tested fashion, releasing older whiskeys sourced through Kentucky, Tennessee and …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A Minneapolis’s O’Shaughnessy Distilling Company has shipped it’s oldest offering yet through its Keeper’s Heart brand: a 32 year old Irish single malt. That is much older than the previous release from Keeper’s Heart of this type, last year’s 21 year old. O’Shaughnessy is the distillery that acquired the services of …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: A Bladnoch Distillery’s 30 Year Old single malt was unveiled in 2022. Many Americans do not know the distiller, which nonetheless has a long rich history. Bladnoch is part of the Lowlands Whisky Region, home to other well-known distilleries which include Auchentoshan, Girvan and Glenkinchie; and newer lesser well-known distilleries …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B One problem I’ve had with ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails is when the drink is watered down. Some of these things seem to be made to compete with boozy seltzers rather than function as true cocktails. That is definitely not an issue with Hochstadter’s Slow & Low 6 Year Old Fashioned. Made …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- To a bourbon fan, end of summer means more than more pleasant weather and the disappearance of mosquitoes. Autumn brings with it the annual limited edition release season, when all the most ardently sought, annualized whiskeys come out. Every year for the last eighteen years, the end of summer marked …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B- The Benchmark line was seemingly remade to check-mark all the boxes for how one can take the same basic stock of bourbon and bottle it, so naturally there is a single barrel version. The line starts with Benchmark Old No. 8, goes all the way to this single barrel expression, …
