By Richard Thomas Rating: A- The bourbon hunt springs off the starting blocks on Monday, and it’s first major (and arguably most interesting) quarry is Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition. This year’s installment is drawn mostly from 14 year old OESV and OESF, and 15 year old OESK. These three are from the 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% malted ...

Corrected September 19, 2022 By Richard Thomas Rating: B The middle rung of Royal Brackla’s regular range of single malts offers something special for fans of Sherried whiskies. This 18 year old single malt is finished in Palo Cortado Sherry casks. If that term leaves you scratching your head, read on. This is a rare type of Sherry that starts ...

By Randall H. Borkus Rating: A Barrell Craft Spirits launched Dovetail, a blend of bourbon and whiskey expressing the company’s favorite sources and flavors, in 2018. For 2022, they have released an ultra-premium Gray Label expression using the same blending. Here Barrell Craft Spirits chose older and rarer barrels with some of the spirits aged up to 20 years. This ...

By Michael Cervin Rating: B Nikka was founded in Japan in 1934 and currently uses two different distilleries to hone their blends. As the bottom tier blended whisky of the Nikka brand (The Nikka, and Super Nikka hold the top spots), the Days iteration is meant to be light, easy going and affordable for everyday use. If you’re new to ...

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) – ...