By Alex Southgate Rating: A There are some brilliant independent bottlers out there producing some very fine whisky. Halcyon Spirits are a relatively new independent bottler, but they are part of that group, so I’m excited to see what their Burnside 27 Year Old Blended Malt brings to the table. To offer some background, Halcyon …
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 …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Tamdhu is one of many Scottish distilleries as part of the late 19th century whisky boom, and like most of those founded in that era, it was located first and foremost for proximity to a railroad. It closed between 1927 and 1947, was mothballed again in 2010, but then acquired …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating B+ The latest vintage release from Preservation Distillery and Farm, Old Man Winter, has been particularly elusive stateside and a rarely seen bourbon generally. Old Man Winter is a boutique bourbon brand, sporadically, with the counterparts to Old Man Winter including the likes of Very Olde Saint Nick, Wattie Boone, …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B- One more block is laid into the case that the American Single Malt has arrived with the spread of the idea to North America as a whole, because now Crown Royal has released its own single malt. Perhaps the only thing missing is popular clamor, and I say that as …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ The latest limited edition to come out of the Redbreast line, the Irish Whiskey brand that helped revive single pot still whiskey, gives the whiskey a particularly regional spin on American oak. As a Redbreast, it’s a pot still whiskey, which means it is made from a mix of malted …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ For many years, Rebel Yell 10 Year Old has remained one of the best kept secrets in bourbon fandom. Perhaps that is because it is a Rebel Yell, which is generally perceived as a bargain brand. Certainly bourbon bloggers have been raving about the expression all along, yet somehow it …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Jim Beam is almost making a point of taking the croakers who push the “bourbon shortage” narrative out back and smacking them in the face. First, they bucked the prevailing trend and put the age statement back on their flagship premium bourbon, Knob Creek. Then they introduced 12, 15 and …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ The Perfect Fifth is an American negotiant firm, otherwise known in the US as an Non-Distiller Producer (NDP) or independent bottler. Started by Karl J. Schoen in 2019, the company operates in familiar territory for such an enterprise, as it might operate in Scotland or Ireland: most of their offerings …
Laphroaig, the malt distillery on the famed Scottish island of Islay, has unveiled Elements 2.0, the second in its exploratory series of bold whiskies that experiment with different distillation techniques. This new single malt showcases the flavor impact of extending the fermentation period, producing a fruitier whisky that still retains the peaty character that makes …
