By Richard Thomas Twenty years ago, if you were a genuinely devoted fan of a particular type of whiskey—Scotch, Irish, bourbon, what have you—you could acquaint yourself with most offerings in your field of choice in just a few years. One of the points of evidence that so undermines the shortage claims is how much this has changed: there are ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Highland Park’s Valhalla Collection, a line of celebrated-if-pricey single malts celebrating the Viking heritage of the distillery’s Okrney homeplace, proved quite the splash. This year Highland Park is following that success up with a “Fire and Ice” (or Surtur and Ymir, take your pick Thor fans) themed pairing of limited (but large) releases, starting with ICE. ICE ...

By Richard Thomas Only a few years ago, a controversy raged in American whiskey circles about the use of small barrels in the craft whiskey sector. A big part of why the issue caught on among bourbon enthusiasts for a time is because, until the craft distilling movement started, the 53 gallon American Standard Barrel (ASB) was the beginning and ...

By Father John Rayls Rating: B+ The Balvenie Caribbean Cask Aged 14 Years Scotch has been a very popular offering, and has been reviewed, tested, sampled and consumed by about everyone that could spell the word “Scotch.” Volumes have been written in untold numbers, exploring every nuance of the whisky. My attempt at a review reminds me of Bette Midler’s ...

Imagine a school that is open just three days a year and is devoted to its students’ favorite subject, and it is little wonder that there’s world wide appeal, and a lengthy waiting list, for the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Whisky School. That’s the view of four whisky legends who, with a collective knowledge of 200 years in the ...