Infectious Charm. Devastating Wit. Below Average Looks.
In past reviews, we have used the phrase “perilously drinkable” to describe how well a whiskey can taste. If perilous is utilized, rest assured friends, it probably goes down easy, which, if you’re drinking whiskey, can be quite a perilous Friday night. It’s almost proper that most whiskey burns on the way down. It’s like... Continue Reading →
Because we are perhaps the oddest whiskey club currently running, it stands to reason that we display our oddness for you all to enjoy. Or hate, I don’t know. Pursuant to this character flaw, we will publish the results from an equally odd tasting theme from one of our recent meetings: beer cask finished whiskies.... Continue Reading →
Remember, just because you can blend weird whiskies together, even if you are David Perkins, it certainly doesn't mean you should. Just throwing that out there. Utah based High West Distillery is a mixed bag for me. I seem to like less of their blended expressions of god-like concoctions than others do in our uber... Continue Reading →
Not that I am rebelling for the sake of rebelling, but I have never fully participated in the Niagra of reverent praise bourbon enthusiasts offer up to the famed Stitzel-Weller Distillery and the whiskies produced there. The unicorn distillery closed in 1992, and as such the remaining stock was either kept in barrel form (so... 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 →
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 →
I remember the day I lost all of my whiskey connoisseur credibility. It was the day that Maker’s Mark reversed their decision to lower the ABV on their flagship Kentucky straight bourbon. This about face came as a result of severe push back from Maker’s Mark passionate consumer base. The mere thought of the red... Continue Reading →
Ezra Brooks was a Kentucky carnival barker who traveled from town to Kentucky town with his rainbow colored still selling magical bourbon whiskey for 5 cents a shot. His legend lives on today in such bottles as Ezra Brooks 12 Yr Single Barrel. And none of this is true. Everyone thinks Elijah Craig invented bourbon... Continue Reading →
To say that Woodinville’s newest bourbon is great for Washington state's whiskey industry merely starts the conversation. In this author’s opinion, Woodinville Straight Bourbon is a major step forward for the entire American craft whiskey industry, if I may be so bold. I should also stress that this opinion is not expressed flippantly or out... Continue Reading →
**This review was conducted by Ian Fallon, a founding member of SWC, and does not reflect the opinions of the entire club** Angel's Envy is a bourbon I have been wanting to experience for a while now. It's about time, pretty much every other blog on the planet wrote their review years ago. And what's... Continue Reading →
Bourbon brands do a great job, probably the best job, at tracing their lineage all the way back to the farmer-distillers of the late 18th/early 19th century. Way back then, farmers preferred to distill the grain they harvested and sell it for profit rather than travel the many miles to market hauling a few hundred... Continue Reading →
The craft distilling industry is succeeding on a few levels. The most important of which is innovation, ever rare in the crowded marketplace. Non-traditional grains, unorthodox finishing, old school comebacks (plain corn whiskies) and micro-barreling, to name a few, have seen success on the whiskey shelf. Things get interesting when a new innovation is added to... Continue Reading →
It’s always fun to see a craft distillery, relatively new on the scene, tackle something other than another vodka and go for that great old chestnut known as American Bourbon. Keep in mind that bourbon is a few hundred years old with generations of distilling history and tradition standing behind it. Arguably, to even get... Continue Reading →
Four Roses Distillery has the distinction of distilling ten different recipes it blends together for making its range of bourbons. There are five different strains of yeast applied to two mashbills: 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% malted barley; and 60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley, for a total of 10 different recipes. Their “Single Barrel”... Continue Reading →
We now take a look at Noah’s Mill Bourbon Whiskey. Like Rowan’s Creek, Noah's Mill is also bottled by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers. In years past this spirit was near 15 years old, but KBD moved in recently to include bourbons of two to twenty years old to eliminate the stronger oak tannins of a fifteen... Continue Reading →
As a general rule, we are really excited about the whole craft/small batch bourbon market. The quality and variety of bourbons out there bottled for our consumption and enjoyment can only be a positive for the consumer. In our opinion, this flood of new product is prompting the big producers to get innovative as well as encourgaing... Continue Reading →
So, the Scots and Irish of the whisky world have their prestige and elegance, dominating the industry not just in sales but also with their provenance. Bourbon, some say, could be classified as “not quite there, but maybe someday.” The goal of Chuck Cowdery, the book’s author, is to present Bourbon as dang near superior... Continue Reading →
This little Kentucky distillery is a unique one, to put it simply. Their reputation and fairly consistent presence on the store shelf rivals that of the distillery titans that surround them. Take Jim Beam, for example. Beam employs nearly 300 people to operate their massive distillery. Four Roses utilizes about half a dozen. Jim Rutledge,... Continue Reading →
Spokane Whiskey Club 