Infectious Charm. Devastating Wit. Below Average Looks.
The barrel gets all the glory. And I have my suspicions as to why. First of all, and this is especially true for bourbons aged in the cruel inferno of a Kentucky warehouse, up to 70% of a whiskey's flavor makeup comes from maturation in the oak barrel. You can employ exotic finishings, possibly altering... Continue Reading →
We continue our look at the Colonel’s line of whiskies from Buffalo Trace Distillery. We will not recount the painstakingly researched historical details concerning E.H. Taylor’s comically absurd life covered in our review of the small batch (click here for that), so we hope you are not turned off by banality. For slightly less banality,... Continue Reading →
Just the other day I found myself curious about a particularly famous barely variety called Golden Promise and wondered which distilleries malted it, if at all. The timing was perfect as today we are looking at Glengoyne 10 Year Old Single Malt, whose distillery utilizes this interesting variety of Scottish barley. The reason why I... Continue Reading →
This may sound weird, but the day I realized that distillation is primarily a stripping operation, rather than some sort of magical, ethereal infusion of wonder and excitement with beer, that was the day my education really began. After all, the more you distill something, the closer you get to vodka, a spirit which is... Continue Reading →
Yes, I get it, blended whiskies are not inferior to their single malt counterparts. Looking back across time immemorial, I don’t think I ever jumped on that train. Johnnie Walker Black was one of the first whiskies I became acquainted with and I certainly enjoyed it then. Many blended whiskies later, my appreciation of the... Continue Reading →
Japanese whisky as a category hasn’t really buttered our bread as a club. We don’t have a whole lot of options to choose from on the shelf, the shortages have hurt the age stated expressions and biggest of all it is quite expensive across the board. We only have one rich dentist in the club... Continue Reading →
Never fret when you are presented with a young, peated Scotch. Surely, if you’re a peat lover, you’re not drinking Ardbeg 10 for the lovely vanilla sweetness. You’re drinking it for smoky napalm. Don’t lie. But if you’re an aged Scotch lover, and seeing 8 or 10 years on the label isn’t exactly bagging your... Continue Reading →
Believe it or not, India is the biggest spirit producer in the world in terms of volume. I had trouble believing this, but slap me around and call me Jim, these folks churn this stuff out. Granted, most of their product is a blend of distilled molasses and grain whisky, but more recognizable incarnations of... Continue Reading →
You will all be sufficiently forlorn to learn that the Pappy craze, having gone from annoying, then evolving to insane, and now to a new “blood shooting from my eyes” kind of psychopathy, has jumped every kind of shark in the ocean. The secondary market of re-sold Pappy Van Winkle bourbons and rye whiskies is... Continue Reading →
I am no high minded bourbon purist. I certainly do not think I am some sort of gatekeeper of the tradition or Keeper of the Bourbon Quaich, judging what one can and can’t do to their bourbon whiskey. I don’t think I need to be, bourbon is well regulated legally already and folks seem to... Continue Reading →
Upon learning about the warehouse collapse at 1792 Barton Distillery earlier this year, my first cruel thought was, “phew, at least it was a bourbon I don’t drink.” That’s how much of a dirtbag I am. If a warehouse on the grounds of Buffalo Trace had come crumbling down like a bourbon soaked Jericho, I... Continue Reading →
Because I am so cutting edge and hip to the scene and woke and everything like that, we present yet another review for a bottle that is leaving the shelf, Jura 16 Diurach’s Own. Jura is revamping their core range with new whiskies and labels, and unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your taste, the 16... Continue Reading →
Dalwhinnie’s story is a common one. The majority of their malt production is reserved for a blend, namely Black & White, while a portion is bottled as a standalone single malt. The recently reviewed bottlings from Royal Lochnagar, Aberfeldy have similar arrangements. While sampling component malts of major Scotch blends isn’t exactly a favorite hobby... Continue Reading →
Vintage Reserve is our first saunter into the Glenrothes universe. There is very little we know of the brand/distillery and perhaps that's a good thing. We focused our sensory gaze upon it, generally enjoyed it, and happily moved on with our fine day. But apparently, after a quick screening of information available online, there was... Continue Reading →
George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey might as well be called "that other Tennessee whiskey not called Jack Daniels." This phrase, on a plain white label in Times New Roman, on a bottle with a plastic screw cap on the bottom shelf, reflects really the strength of George Dickel's market share as compared to the taut Jack... Continue Reading →
God bless value bourbons. Especially the bottles that ain’t bad. Bourbon has long been a Helm’s Deep for whiskey people getting left out of the party by steeply rising prices for a decent bottle. Scotch skyrocketed. Irish, too. The good Canadian stuff is in the premium price category, and even the top end bourbon bottles... Continue Reading →
Being by far the biggest advocate for Canadian whisky in the club, I still have my criticisms. That being said, I don’t think I can often blame Canada for these nit picks of mine. One of the said nit picks is primarily a legal one in the famed “9.09%” rule for Canadian whisky sold in... Continue Reading →
Aberfeldy’s recent brand makeover seemed to me to be an attempt to remind the whisky world that their whisky still exists and is not just meant to be blended into Dewar’s. It is also promising that Aberfeldy didn’t just redesign the label, and if you’re into that sort thing, it was an improvement, but they... Continue Reading →
Continuing our treasured practice of reviewing bottles you will probably never find ever, we continue with an even more rare and hard to find specimen in Cadenhead’s Royal Lochnagar 18. Owned by J.A. Mitchell and Co., Cadenhead's is the oldest independent bottler in existence and specializes in single cask malt whiskies without chill-filtration or coloring.... Continue Reading →
Spokane Whiskey Club 