By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ It would be fair to say Pennsylvania whiskey begins and ends with its rye, and Pittsburgh’s Wigle Distillery is as good an example of how that works in practice as one is likely to find. Rye isn’t the only whiskey–nor whiskey the only spirit–they make there, but their rye footprint is a large one. They ...

By Richard Thomas Redwood Empire Whiskeys comes from the Sonoma-based Graton Distillery, who created and inaugurated the brand with the release of three expressions in 2019: Pipe Dream, Emerald Giant and Lost Monarch. They followed up on that  last year with the start of a bottled in bond brand extension, with two redwood forest themed whiskeys, Grizzly Bear and Rocket ...

By Kenrick Thurston-Wilcox Rating: C+ Established in 2013, Copperworks was founded by 2 men, Jason Parker and Micah Nutt. Both possessing a background in craft brewing, they decided to try their hand at distilling once it became legal in Washington state. They chose to start with a craft beer wash instead of a normal distillers wash, still a novel practice ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Like so many other well-established small whiskey companies, West Virginia’s Smooth Ambler is in the midst of transitioning from being a bottler of sourced whiskeys to a fully independent distillery. Their current line-up reflects this, with a foot in all three types of products such a company might produce. Old Scout is their entirely sourced ...

Barrell Bourbon Batch 033 Rating: B Barrell Craft Spirits, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is an independent blender of sourced whiskey and rum. They have earned recognition as whiskey design experts, that continue to produce cask strength spirits. According to their founder Joe Beatrice, “Barrell Craft Spirits was awarded Best Bourbon twice at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) – ...