By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ When I read the stats on the 17th edition of Parker’s Heritage, I felt some sympathy for the folks working in PR and marketing at Heaven Hill, because I blanched at the thought of the response I knew was unfolding on bourbon forums: “A 10 year old cask strength? Yawn/fake outrage. That is just Heaven ...
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Isle of Skye 21 Year Old Scotch Review
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Ian Macleod Distillers is one of those fixtures of the Scotch industry that the average, casual drinker (even Scotch drinker) has never heard of. That is nothing to be ashamed of; I’d put down some money that 9 out of 10 of the folks who know what The Macallan is have never heard of the ...
Read More »Barrell Bourbon Batch 035 Review
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B+ Barrell Craft Spirits has two new expressions: Barrell Bourbon Batch 035 and Rye Batch 004. The latter has been a few years in coming, since Barrell Rye Batch 003 was released back in 2020, but I’ll start with the bourbon. Barrell Bourbon Batch 035 is a blend that consists of sourced bourbon whiskey consisting ...
Read More »Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled Rye Whiskey Review
By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ First off, the formal title of this whiskey is quite a mouthful, so forgive me for not using the every single word in the title of the article: Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled Special Release Heritage Barrel Rye Whiskey. Still, I don’t think that sentence-length title is necessary to either identify or categorize this particular bottle. ...
Read More »Square 6 Wheated Bourbon Review
By Richard Thomas Rating: B Perhaps the most perplexing thing about the feverish madness that surrounds Pappy van Winkle and all things Buffalo Trace is how in that fever, the Buffalo Trace-obsessives have blinded themselves to all the good wheated bourbon made at other distilleries. Wheated bourbon is literally the only thing Maker’s Mark does, as does Heaven Hill. Yet ...
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