By Father John Rayls Rating: A When I started becoming acquainted with this English Whisky from Cotswolds Distillery, I wasn’t expecting much. This in spite of The Whisky Bible scorings of 94 points, 94 points and 95 points over the last 3 years. But I have to say this whisky is the real deal, and those scores are not exaggerated. ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C A few years ago, Will Kehler and Ian Smiley, the author of Making Pure Corn Whiskey and co-author of The Distiller’s Guide to Rum, teamed up to create and release Manhattan Moonshine. A few years is typically seen as a minimum aging period (two is the standard for the American “straight” designation; three is the ...

Updated January 6, 2018 By Father John Rayls Average Rating: B Smooth Ambler Contradiction Straight Bourbon Whiskey was a real surprise! I wasn’t expecting much from a blend of a somewhat young 2 year old “wheater” bourbon, made in-house by Smooth Ambler in West Virginia, and a 9 year bourbon rye from MGP in Indiana.  The Smooth Ambler wheated bourbon ...

By Debbie Shocair Rating: B American Craft distilling’s spirit seems to come up with new twists, methods and gimmicks, so it is both fascinating and amusing that a former prison 20 minutes northeast of Charlotte, NC has been rehabilitated and reborn as the home of Southern Grace Distilleries. Thus their Conviction Bourbon is touted as “the first bourbon to ever ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Highland Park has made a good move in revamping the look of their line of single malt whiskies. One thing to keep in mind is that line still has a divide between the age statement expressions, which were in clear glass bottles, and the no age statement (NAS) expressions, which are in opaque, black glass. ...