By Richard Thomas Rating: B- If OOLA started their Discourse series with the intent of starting conversations about non-traditional whiskey-making methods, I’m not sure if Discourse C was the right place to start. That release was essentially a bourbon whiskey finished in Cabernet barrels. While not exactly traditional, in an era when there are nearly 600 craft distillers making and ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B One of the signatures of the Virginia Distillery Company is blending their in-house malt whiskey with imported Scottish Highland malt whisky. Another is their reliance upon Virginia sources for finishing casks. Thus, the distillery reached out to Potter’s Craft Cider and acquired some of their used casks for a first batch of Cider Cask whiskey, ...

By Father John Rayls Rating: A With Little Book Chapter 02: Noe Simple Task created and supervised by Freddie Noe, we may have what is the most prominent expression of what could be broadly described as North American whisky, as part of the blend is from Kentucky and part is from Canada. This concoction is made by blending an 8 ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: A- If you’ve ever seen the label of a Virginia Distillery Company whisky and observed the “Virginia-Highland” reference, you might have thought it a reference to the distillery’s location. Virginia Distillery is located between Charlottesville and Lynchburg, after all, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. You would, however, be mistaken. One of the most ...

By Michael Cervin Grade: C Whiskey blends are nothing new, but in an effort to create something new-ish, Basil Hayden launched their Two By Two Rye in June 2018. This is a somewhat creative blend of two aged Kentucky whiskeys, blended with two aged Kentucky ryes. To be sure, this is not a new concept; it’s been done before (Wild ...