New Economic Numbers And Tax Breaks Leave More Questions Than Answers By Richard Thomas February saw the release of a key economic report from the Kentucky Distillers Association (KDA), the trade group that represents the Commonwealth’s bourbon industry. The statistics presented in the report were held up as a cause for celebration, billed as a picture of the Kentucky bourbon ...
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Bernheim Original Barrel Proof Wheat Whiskey Review (Winter 2024)
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- A sample of the latest Bernheim Original Barrel Proof, the A224 (meaning first batch of the year, February 2024) arrived at my house in a timely manner, because I was departing for visitation with my son a couple of weeks later. So I tucked it away in my luggage, took my notes one evening, and ...
Read More »J. Mattingly Distillery, Formerly Known As Bourbon 30, Joins KDA
The Kentucky Distillers’ Association today announced J. Mattingly 1845 Distillery in Franklin County is the newest member of the non-profit trade group that unites and leads Kentucky’s signature Bourbon and distilled spirits industry. According to founder Jeff Mattingly, the distillery continues the traditions first set out by his sixth-generation uncle, John Graves Mattingly, who was involved in at least nine ...
Read More »Bruichladdich Re/Define Eighteen Scotch Review
By Richard Thomas Rating: B For the whole of the 21st Century, Islay distillery Bruichladdich has been defined by its 1994 closure. Many Scottish distilleries have been closed and reopened, but those closures are often a matter of history and have little or no impact on the whiskies available today. Bruichladdich’s seven year gap is different, precisely because it is ...
Read More »Ben Holladay Rickhouse Proof Small Batch Reserve Bourbon Review
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B- The brothers Ben and David Holladay founded the Blue Springs Distillery in 1856a, it was at a limestone well supposedly discovered by Lewis and Clark. The distillery changed hands multiple times; first to George Shawhan, who renamed it the Shawhan Distillery in 1900; again in 1936 to become the Old Weston Distillery; finally turning ...
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