A Talk With Jack Daniel’s Assistant Distiller By Richard Thomas Sitting down with Chris Fletcher, then working in the Lead Chemist at Buffalo Trace, was only the second interview I did for The Whiskey Reviewer, and just the third published. We spoke of Fletcher’s prior work in the lab at Jack Daniel’s and the differences between Lynchburg and Frankfort, but ...

By Richard Thomas Perhaps because I can date my first interest in good spirits back to a time when double and triple malts might have become a fad and Blanton’s was a new and novel product, I’m of two minds about whiskey glassware. Mindful that in the days of my youth, Kentucky’s master distillers would often call on each other ...

Updated December 3, 2022 By Richard Thomas Average Rating: B- Starting in October 2014, Michter’s became a company in transition from bottler to distiller, as they received and set up their equipment in Louisville’s Shively district. This achievement has confirmed that Michter’s will soon become a medium-sized fixture in the Kentucky bourbon industry, a development that is no doubt behind ...

By Richard Thomas When it comes to booze collecting, nothing really compares to the rituals and trappings of wine collecting. The careful selection of big reds suitable for bottle aging and from a fine vintage; the cosseting of these bottles for years in a properly arranged cellar; the acquisition of a rare, aged bottle and consequent risk that the contents ...

By Richard Thomas 2015 was The Whiskey Reviewer‘s fourth year, and its second as a web magazine. This is also the third year for our “Top Picks,” our own informal and annual awards. Rather than convene a formal awards panel, we instead allow staff members to make their own, individual choices in two “Best Of” categories: “Best New Whiskey;” and ...