By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Arguably the best decision made by the powers that be at Brown-Forman in recent years was to take Jack Daniel’s in new directions, allowing them to introduce twists on their extremely popular foundation whiskey, Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 (“Black Label”). One natural course for the Lynchburg distiller to follow was to tinker with their ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ Like their Oregon Single Malt, the Oregon Rye Malt from Rogue Ales (famous for Rogue Dead Guy Ale) is not actually “beer made from whiskey.” Instead, it’s whiskey based on certain specialized grains particular to Rogue’s beer-making operation: their Dream Rye and their Dare & Risk Malted Barley. The rye is also malted, and the ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B A couple of years ago, talking about American Malts as “the next big thing” in whiskey came into vogue, and it still is a popular drinks writing meme today. The odd thing about it is that, following the logic of going to where the big distillers weren’t, some important craft distillers had been heavily engaged ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Rye Whiskey was weakened by Prohibition and then done in by the Whiskey Bust of the 1970s, and is decline too with it the distilleries of Maryland. Thanks to the concurrent whiskey and craft Distilling booms, whiskey-making has returned to Maryland, and appropriately that return is based squarely on rye. Sagamore Spirit opened their plant ...

By Michael Cervin Grade: B- If whiskey is music to your ears, then Three Chord might be on your scale. Musician Neil Geraldo, better know as rocker Pat Benetar’s long-time guitarist and husband, has composed a new whiskey. I can see you rolling your eyes: another celebrity spirit? Sure, that’s understandable. But there’s more. Three Cord is made of Kentucky ...