By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ When Craft Barrell Spirits (aka Barrell Bourbon) released their inaugural batch of rye whiskey several months ago, it was a noteworthy groundbreaking for one of America’s most popular independent bottlers. Little did we realize at the time that the company had something even more noteworthy waiting around the corner. I say noteworthy because it’s novelty ...

By Debbie Shocair Rating: B Right from the heart of moonshine country, Franklin County, Virginia, comes a new member of the American Craft Corn Whiskey movement. Franklin County Distillery’s (FCD’s) White Label Corn Whiskey builds on the reputation that authentic bootleggers built, and claims to offer a “true taste of history and heritage in every bottle.” Corn whiskey can be ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Orkney-based distillery Highland Park rebranded their core range last year, and in doing so they fully embraced the Viking theme that had characterized their limited edition releases. Now everything is Norse at Highland Park, even if it doesn’t have a Norse name attached to it, because of the sexy bottling. One item that does have ...

By Father John Rayls Rating: B+ Jameson IPA Edition is the second and most recent release in the Caskmates series,  after the successful release of the Stout Edition. I naturally lean more towards a malt flavor rather than hoppy in my beer, but I do enjoy a hoppy influenced brew occasionally, so as to freshen things up. I’m also attracted ...

By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B- Arguably, Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American whiskey, as evidenced by what happened after The Whiskey Rebellion of 1791, which led to the migration of distillers to Kentucky to avoid Federal taxes. The boomtimes for American Whiskey has led to a revival of the Pennsylvania whiskey style, which disappeared completely some three decades ago. ...