By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Craft whiskey as we think of it today began in the middle 2000s, with a handful of pioneers inspiring and trailblazing the way for the first explosion of small distilling start-ups round about 2010. One such early entrant was Kings County Distillery, founded in Brooklyn 2010 as New York’s first legal and working distillery in ...

By Paer Johansson Rating: C+   Mackmyra is the oldest distillery in Sweden, the first drops distilled back in 1999. Since then, the distillery has opened four warehouses in different corners of Sweden, and has even constructed a “Whisky Village” in north of Sweden containing a new, unique distillery utilizing the power of gravity. The “Moment series” was created in ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: A Brown-Forman marked the 150th Anniversary of their foundation brand, Old Forester, this year by releasing three batches of cask strength bourbon. In a pattern similar to the Birthday Bourbons, Master Taster Jackie Zykan selected a 150 barrel set of Old Forester that was distilled and laid down in the same daily batch, ricked up together ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Two of the most exciting newcomers to Kentucky’s whiskey industry are Bardstown Bourbon Company (BBCo) and Copper & Kings. The former’s position as a leading contract distiller means they are very, very busy; the latter doesn’t actually make whiskey, but their barrel stock winds up being used in so many top notch finishes. The latest ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: A- The current batch of the Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond series, a limited edition brand of wheated bourbon released twice per year, is a 14 year old. Much is being made of this being the first time Old Fitz BiB has been a 14 year old, but the oldest yet came out a year ago ...