By Debbie Shocair Rating: B It only seems right that on the heels of Thin Mints and all the other delights proffered by the Girl Scouts this time of year, we should address the idea of a Chocolate Mint flavored whiskey. This is the second of four expressions from Ballotin, the happy brainchild of former Brown-Forman brand manager Paul Tuell, ...

The Second Step 03 is Box Distillery’s final step in the much talked about Second Step Collection series. A triptych, trio, that has showcased Box Distillery’s character, what the northern Swedish climate, careful cask choices and passionate craft can achieve with a young whisky. The Second Step 03 is released as a web release via the Swedish alcohol monopoly, Systembolaget, ...

By Richard Thomas Some may be surprised to learn that although whisky-making has been spreading around the globe in recent years, the industry had already long extended beyond the “Big Five” nations of Scotland, the United States, Ireland, Canada and Japan. Even if you discount the ersatz Indian whisky industry on technical grounds, the French and Germans have had whisky ...

By Debbie Shocair Rating: B+ For those of you who think I should be eschewing anything resembling a flavored whiskey, I have two answers: First, if it’s tasty, why not? Second, I have always viewed the flavored whiskies (the good ones, anyway) as “gateway whiskeys,” luring the unsuspecting and under-acquainted palate into the realm of traditional whiskey. Once that first ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B In the United States, the words “blended whiskey” are usually associated with cheap rotgut. To cite just one particularly infamous example, Four Roses went from a popular Bourbon to an unpopular American blend before being revived into what is now a popular Bourbon again. Many Canadian whiskies have a dubious reputation for precisely this reason, ...