Top Whisk(e)y Picks Of 2022

Here at The Whiskey Reviewer, we have never convened an annual rewards panel. Instead of handing out medals or drawing up a conglomerated list, every member of the team keeps her or his own voice, naming their personal choice in three categories.

• Best New Whiskey
• Best Whiskey To Pass My Lips (the absolute best, new or not)
• Biggest Disappointment

Richard Thomas, Owner-Editor

Usually my choices for Top Picks are clearly decided at year’s end, but that wasn’t the case this year, that being because 2022 was a banner year for whiskey. Or, at least, the whiskeys that came across my desk. Normally, I might hand out one or two A grades per year, and most years I don’t assign an A+ at all. This year saw four A whiskeys and one A+. Yes, it was that good of a year.

This time, I had to ponder the matter, especially since all five were new releases. Best Whiskey To Pass My Lips was obviously the A+, but what about the four contenders for Best New Whiskey? That was a thorny dilemma. Ultimately, I found it necessary to mention to runners up, and do them proper justice: King of Kentucky 2022, Heaven Hill 17 Year Old Heritage Collection and Knob Creek 18 Year Old.

Best New Whiskey, Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 19 Year Old, Fall 2022: Age isn’t everything in whiskey, as the maturation often has a sweet spot to it, a range in which the course of time typically reaches its apogee. That said, the exceptional stuff often is quite old, and an example is found in the oldest-yet installment of Heaven Hill’s bi-annual bonded bourbon series, Old Fitzgerald.

The simplest and most direct way I can praise this wheated bourbon is to tell you that after completing my evaluation, I drained all 200 ml of my sample bottle in a single evening. In so doing, I broke two rules: the first is about not drinking so much when I’m alone; and the second is about saving the good stuff for a later occasion, preferably when I can share it. This stuff was so wonderful I forgot all about that and kept on sipping, and I don’t regret it. Not one little bit.

Best To Pass My Lips, Teeling 32 Year Old Irish Single Malt: The Whiskey Reviewer hands out an A+ grade to a whiskey every now and again, but speaking for myself and not my team, I rarely do. So rarely, in fact, I had to look up the last time I did so: it was five years ago!

Teeling Whiskey Company took 28 year old Irish single malt, acquired what must have been an excellent Purple Muscat from Setubal in Portugal, and gave that whiskey an extra four years of secondary maturation. The result was ambrosia. The five years since I last gave an A+ have been busy, and saw me produce five books about booze and countless articles for other websites and magazines, on top of my own website. So take that into consideration and know that when I call it a drink worthy of the gods, I mean it.

Biggest Disappointment, Broken Barrel Small Batch Bourbon: I can’t say I’ve ever been particularly impressed with the spirits coming out of what was first the O.Z. Tyler Distillery, and is now called Green River Distillery. Although I strive to retain an open mind, the modern wave of techniques promising to use science to shorten the maturation process for brown spirits has yet to deliver anything that matches its hype. TerrePURE is one of the better examples, but my opinion is that it doesn’t equal the results of even four or five years of traditional maturation.

Keeping that in mind, I had hopes that by relying on what is essentially stave insert finishing, the folks at Broken Barrel had found a way to make something of Green River whiskey. After all, choice aging and finishing stock was how operations like Kavalan managed to turn tropical climate into a maturation asset; the wood one uses can go a long way, in the right circumstances. Alas, that wasn’t the case here.

Randall H. Borkus, Senior Contributor

Best New Whiskey, Widow Jane The Vaults 14 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey: Widow Jane Distillery has their new, annual series of oldest age-stated whiskey, “The Vaults.”  The Vaults 2022 is a blend of bourbons ranging from 14 years up to 19 years old, selected and set aside in Widow Jane’s Red Hook, Brooklyn rick house by their previous Master Distiller Lisa Wicker.

As with all Widow Jane whiskeys, The Vaults 2022 is non-chill filtered, and cut with limestone mineral water from the Rosendale Mines of New York, (aka The Widow Jane Mine).

I thoroughly enjoyed this bourbon whiskey.  It is rich and full bodied with loads of flavors and mature oak.   It sits well on its own neat, yet with a few drops of water the flavor continues to burst with cherry cough drops and it holds up very well with a My Father The Judge Grand Robusto cigar.

Best to Pass my Lips, The GlenDronach Cask Strength: The GlenDronach Distillery was established in 1826 and is one of Scotland’s oldest licensed distilleries.  This expression is created from the marriage of Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks.  Bottled at a barrel strength of 117.2 proof (58.6% ABV).

This has become one of my go to Scotch options, when I can find it.  It is simply delightful on the palate neat or with a few drops of water to further open the complex flavor profile releasing the sherry notes and it always holds up well with a fine cigar.

Biggest Disappointment, Jack Daniel’s Bonded: I saw all the hype, so I bought a bottle. It drinks smooth and suggests Tennessee whiskey start to finish.  I found it an average whiskey at best with nothing earth shaking, yet it drinks a little hotter than the traditional Jack Daniel’s.  I’m simply not impressed in the least bit, and the hype is mind-boggling.

Emma Briones, Senior Contributor

Best New Whiskey of 2022, Method and Madness Oats and Malt: Opening to the ideas of new generations can be tough, specially in the whisky industry. Method and Madness though, has proven differently.  With the second release of whisky produced in the Midleton micro-distillery, the brand has turned to a different mash bill, using 60% of Irish Oats.

It might not be perfectly rounded as some might rather, but this creamy and mild whisky hits different. A wonderful mix of sweet fudge notes and a chilly touch. Some whiskies were just born to be fun.

Best Whiskey To Pass My Lips, Widow Jane The Vaults 15 Year Old (2021): My latest obsession in the US whiskey landscape has been Widow Jane. And it’s been like this for a while. Their 10yo is a steady one of my top 3 go-to whiskies. But then, there’s The Vaults series.

Oh my! The moment I tasted the 2021 edition of Widow Jane The Vaults 15 I knew I wanted to steal the bottle. The right amount of sweetness and caramel, perfect warmth, a hug on the palate. I want to hold on to this one when I’m aline but also want to share it with friends and family. A keeper.

Biggest Disappointment of 2022, Frysk hynder: When I moved to the Netherlands, I was eager to discover all the whiskies produced in the country. Before that, I had only tried Millstone Rye (which was a great discovery).

So when I found Frysk Hynder in the local shop, I quickly grabbed a bottle. And, quickly too, left the bottle on my shelf. This is a really small production whisky, and I’m sure the team behind it has out a lot of heart and effort. But the result is still too young and too much unbalanced. It’ll be good some day, but just not yet.

Andrew Graham, Contributor

Kenrick Thurston-Wilcox, Contributor

Best New Whiskey, Hibiki Blossom Harmony:  A blended whiskey finished in Sakura casks and meant to symbolize what the cherry blossoms represent to the people of Japan. Everything people love about the original with an added elegance of floral notes and a touch of smoke and spice.