The Whiskey Reviewer A World of Whiskey, Poured Every Weekday

British-based drinks conglomerate Diageo announced last week that they would reopen to long shuttered, iconic Scotch Whisky distilleries: Brora and Port Ellen. Diageo expects to invest £35 million and reopen the facilities by 2020. Whiskies made by this pair of distilleries before their closures are among the most highly sought after in the world by aficionados and collectors. When Diageo ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Whisky-making is a feature of the Anglophone world, forming a complete circle when Australia changed its laws in the 1990s and allowed whisky distillation. Across a deceptively vast expanse of ocean in New Zealand, however, they had been up to it off and on since the 1860s. Ironically, the last distillery in New Zealand, Willowbank, ...

By Richard Thomas Many an American Whiskey purist scoffs at the notion of an independent bottler. Although the creations of Craft Barrel Spirits, High West and others have gained considerable appreciation, it’s still entirely common for me to run across people in whiskey bars declaring scorn for the idea that if a brand didn’t make the whiskey, it has no ...

Limestone Branch Distillery has brought out the 2017 Yellowstone Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Bourbon. This year’s limited edition combines hand-selected, seven and 12-year Kentucky Straight bourbons, with a special addition of Limestone Branch Distillery’s first available, in-house 4-year Kentucky Straight bourbon. The bourbon is then rested in once-filled, double seasoned barrels, which are toasted and then lightly charred. “We are ...

Union Horse Distilling announced last week the release of their Rolling Standard Midwestern Four Grain Whiskey. Rolling Standard is the first in the company’s “Distiller Series,” a collection of the experimentals. This first installment is made from locally-sourced barley, wheat, corn and rye and bottled at 92 proof (46% ABV). This release is in the wake of the Colonel E.H. ...