By April Manning Rating: B- “When it comes to whiskey, go slow. It has to be smooth, and it has to be good” – Duane H. Maas So, who is this sage? Duane Maas is a noteworthy distiller of the 20th century, and his legacy (or his hangover, if you will) includes developing distilleries in eight countries. Not a small ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Ever since Jim Beam took Knob Creek from its classic 9 year old to an NAS bourbon in 2016 (a move they are slated to reverse next year), I’ve thought of Baker’s as the great sleeper of Beam’s line-up, because it was the last unchanged whiskey in the seminal Jim Beam Small Batch Collection. Introduced ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Maturing whiskey is a complicated picture, and the easiest way to identify a nincompoop out of his depth is to listen for someone saying “older is always better.” This is especially not the case for American Whiskey, where climate and new oak combine to produce whiskeys that are over-oaked as a matter of routine after ...

By Paer Johansson Rating: C+ “Blended by Angels, to be Shared with Friends” is the tagline of this new blended (vatted) malt from Grantown-on-Spey in Scotland. The whisky is a blended malt from independent bottlers Highfern (founded by Robert Ransom, formerly of Glenfarclas), crafted from Speyside and Highland malts. The creation is said to have been inspired by the legend ...

By Emily Mullis Rating: B- Basil Hayden is a staple go-to whiskey for a lot of people, but their limited Caribbean Reserve Rye release best fits a particular season and mood. The darkest of whiskeys I’ve tried in a long time is, paradoxically, described as a lighter whiskey (which it is) and one that pairs well with the summer months. ...