By Richard Thomas Rating: A- The new batch of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is now in circulation, and as soon as I scrutinized the label on my bottle I saw something that I knew would surely excite croaking in certain corners: the age statement for A125 is 10 years, 7 months. The croakers were not …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ For the last decade, Pappymania has crowded out enthusiast attention for wheated bourbons not made at a certain riverside distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. As Pappy Van Winkle gained popular renown, extending outside bourbon circles, a fever started building. First that fever swept up the other wheated bourbons (the Weller bourbons) …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ The brand history behind this latest release from Old Forester, the 1910 Extra Old Bourbon in their 117 Series, is actually a little convoluted. It began as an extension of the 1910 Fine Old Whiskey from 2018, which we were unable to write-up. In its turn, the 117 Series is …
By Richard Thomas The club of diehard fans for Lawrenceburg’s Four Roses Distillery may be smaller than, say, Buffalo Trace, but a good argument can be made their fandom is more devoted and authentic. Four Roses gives its devotees much to latch onto, such as the brand’s almost romantic restoration story: two decades ago, it …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Despite its illustrious name, Canadian brand Crown Royal has had the reputation of being a middling brand from nation now widely considered as fifth among the five traditional whiskey nations (Canada, Ireland, Japan, Scotland and the USA). Lately it seems parent company Diageo, the British drinks goliath, has decided to …
By Richard Thomas When the Hendersons, the founding family of Angel’s Envy Bourbon, announced the launch of their new whiskey company in September 2024, the word came with two new expressions. The company is called True Story, and the first expression was dubbed “Volume One,” a bourbon in an opaque black bottle. That was accompanied …
Updated January 19, 2025 By Richard Thomas Average Rating: B While working up a feature on the 2025 release of a Single Barrel Collection by Four Roses, one containing four of the ten bourbon variants the distillery makes, I realized that our review for Four Roses Single Barrel was published in 2011 and last …
By Alex Southgate Rating: B This review reaches into Speyside, and brings back one of my bigger love/hate relationships. I’m more of an Irish Whiskey fan, and the biggest reason for this is peat. I just don’t have a great fondness of peaty whiskies. The smokiness in heavily peated whiskies is something that I find …
By Richard Thomas Rating: Blue Note is a brand from B.R. Distilling Company in Memphis, Tennessee, which was founded in 2014 and the oldest whiskey company currently operating in that city. Their whiskey is distilled under contract with Bardstown Bourbon Company and then shipped to their Memphis facility for maturation. B.R. Distilling is also the …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- For a long time, the only brand in the Jim Beam portfolio that was more neglected than Old Grand-Dad was Old Overholt. The only two expressions in the line were the namesake standard and Old Grand-Dad 114, a favorite budget buy among fans of high rye bourbon. What is more, …
