By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Among the old breed of rye whiskey fans, the folks that predate the Rye Craze of 2011-12, Wild Turkey’s rye holds a special place. Even though it has always been a Kentucky rye, in that era when sourced brands based on MGP’s 95% rye were only just becoming known, Wild Turkey 101 Rye was the ...

By Randall H. Borkus Rating: A July 2020, Louisville-based Michter’s Distillery began shipping the 2020 release of its 10 Year Single Barrel Rye. “This will be the only release of our 10 Year Rye this year because we continue to be in a position where we need to allocate our whiskeys,” commented Michter’s President Joseph J. Magliocco. “I am very ...

In September Michter’s Distillery will be releasing a limited amount of US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Rye. “The reception that our Toasted Barrel Finish whiskeys have received is a result of tremendously focused work done by our production team led by Master Distiller Dan McKee and Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson. Despite the continuing shortages across all our whiskey stocks, we ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Releases from Barrell Craft Spirits are periodic in nature, but we’ve been waiting more than a year for the coming of Barrell Rye Batch 003. This one is a whopper in its blending stock, though. They’ve drawn on sourcing in Indiana (of course), Poland (the novel source introduced with Batch 001), Tennessee and Canada. Given ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B This being Kentucky, our locals probably spawn more whiskey projects per capita than anywhere else in the world (and yes, I’m looking at you too, Scotland). An example is last summer, when Jason Brauner launched Buzzard’s Roost Rye. Brauner is the co-owner of Louisville’s Bourbons Bistro, and where this anywhere else one might expect a ...