By Kurt Maitland Rating: A The Four Roses that you currently enjoy owes much to one man: Jim Rutledge, the Master Distiller who retired last week. Noting some important dates will help you to understand why: In 1992, Jim asked to return home to Kentucky to help with the Four Roses brand (then owned by Seagram). Seagram had taken the ...

A Chat With Lawrenceburg, Kentucky’s Newest Master Distiller By Richard Thomas The September 1st retirement of Jim Rutledge, Four Roses’ longtime Master Distiller and the architect of the distillery’s comeback from relative obscurity, drew plenty of press coverage, and rightfully so. It was the last day in a full, respected and accomplished career, but sometimes overlooked was that September 1st ...

By Julia Ritz Toffoli One of my favorite childhood memories is going wild berry picking with my grandfather in the south of France. Papie Roger—Grandpa Roger—was a life-long lover of the outdoors, and knew more about edible plants than anyone else I’ve ever met. While my brother and I reveled in the berry-laden bushes—stuffing more blueberries into our mouths than ...

Updated September 19, 2019 By Richard Thomas Average Rating: A- Among the offerings in Diageo’s Classic Malts collection, arguably the most classic single malt after Talisker 10 Year Old is Lagavulin 16 Year Old. Like the other Classic Malts, Lagavulin 16 is the flagship expression from its distillery, and in this case the distillery in question is the Islay entry ...

By S.D. Peters Virginia, August 2015 I was at my local Virginia ABC Store to purchase a bottle of Wild Turkey Rye. The manager, who was working the counter, asked if I’m particular to Wild Turkey. “The 101’s my go-to bourbon,” I said; then, nodding at the bottle of WT Rye on the counter, “but that’s what I always keep ...