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John Distilleries Private Limited (“JDPL” or “Company,”), a leading Indian spirits company, announced at the end of last week that The Sazerac Company (“Sazerac,”) the largest family-owned spirits company in the United States and owners of Fireball, Southern Comfort, Buffalo Trace Bourbon and E.H. Taylor Bourbon, has acquired an equity stake in JDPL from Gaja Capital, who will continue to remain partially invested ...

By Father John Rayls Rating: A- Have you has a whiskey catch you absolutely taken off guard?  Imagine the instructors when James T. Kirk led the cadets in the combat training exercise The Kobayashi Maru (Star Trek fans?). It was designed to measure how a candidate would cope with certain defeat and ultimate death in a sure loser of a ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ New Zealand Whisky Company is unique among independent bottlers because it exists in a country with no active distilleries, and their stock in trade is whisky made by a single distillery, Willowbank, that was shuttered in 1997. The Oamaruvian story starts with Dunedin DoubleWood, which in turn began with 200 ex-Bourbon barrels of grain whisky. ...

Beam Suntory has introduced Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye, the first-ever permanent addition to the Basil Hayden’s portfolio. Much like Basil Hayden’s flagship bourbon, Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye is designed to stand out in the ever-expanding crowd of American whiskies. Uniting the duo of Kentucky straight rye whiskey and Canadian rye with a splash of California port, Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye ...

This is the favorite time of the year for bourbon fans, the annual release of the Van Winkle Bourbons is near.  Yields are a bit higher for the 10, 15 and 23 year old whiskies, but the 13-Year-Old Van Winkle Reserve Rye will not be released this year. “We have a one year gap in barrel inventory for the Van ...